Page 30 - Volume 16 Number 5

Instrument CurrencyProficiency versusWhy the IPC should matter to ALL instrument pilots.When I earned my instrument rating twenty-some years ago, there were questions on the written and oral exams about instrument currency and how to maintain, lose, and regain it. The FAA takes instrument currency quite seriously, recognizing that instrument flying skills erode rapidly.Exactly the same, but differentBack then, just as now, if a pilot allowed his instrument currency to lapse, he or she had six months to take advantage of a grace period for regaining it. During this six-month grace period, one can acquire the necessary recent experience to become current again, by flying with an appropriately-rated safety pilot or instructor. If the grace period lapses, it’s necessary to pass what was then called an Instrument Competency Check (ICC) with a CFII, rebranded an “Instrument Proficiency Check” (IPC) in the early 1990’s. Doesn’t it seem kinder and gentler to say an instrument pilot is not proficient, than to proclaim them “incompetent?”Clearly ambiguousThe regulations governing instrument currency and proficiency are in FAR 61.57(c) and (d). In a revision of 61.57(d) in 2009 and a “clarification” in late 2011, confusion was created and for a few months most industry “experts” believed that the revision had effectively eliminated28 • TWIN &MA&NE M2&TT T TUURRRBBIINAYYY 2200112