Hi folks! After a long pause I am flying again, and now I am in the Rocky Mountains! The weekend weather turned out to be great. It was a little windy, but sunny and not gusty.
As I already mentioned (and you probably know) according to the FAA rules one needs to comply with the 6-6-6 rule for acting as a PIC (Pilot in Command) in an instrument flight. The rule says that you need 6 instrument approaches in the previous 6 months. If you did not do that, you have additional 6 months to comply, but only with a safety pilot. And after that the only option to regain currency is the IPC – Instrument Proficiency Check.
My previous instrument flight was back in the end of 2019, so I am definitely not current anymore. I booked some flight lessons to renew my skills, and today I have my IPC in a single-engine airplane.
We fly Cessna 172 again. The airport is rather busy on weekends, a lot of GA (General Aviation) airplanes flies here along with some private jets and airline turboprops, so we decided to make the approaches at the airport nearby. Usually in the US it is pretty easy to find any type of instrument approach in less that 20 miles around.
The check itself contains a ground and flight part, so it is something like a checkride. I had to prepare an instrument cross-country and answer some questions, and after that jump into the airplane and demonstrate the performance according to the standards.
Actually it is possible to use WINGS credit as a substitute for a ground portion, but my instructor prefers to do a traditional discussion.
BTW, Checkrideprep sometimes provides a free online instrument ground school – the program is rather time-consuming, but it really helps to refresh the necessary knowledge. Of course it is a part of their marketing policy, but the course is really good, I went through it about a month before, and it helped.
The flying part went well too, so I am current again!
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