FAA IFR Currency - exact requirements for the 6/6 IR rolling currency (merged)

The term is defined in the FAA Pilot Controller Glossary and the glossary is supposed to indicate if there are any differences in the meaning between ICAO and the FAA, the ICAO definition is also added. Since there isn’t a unique ICAO definition, it is not published in my FAA reference. After all this was a topic about FAA guidance for logging approaches. Even though you say that everybody here means the same thing when they use the term, I suspect there are differences in meaning. Which of the following are IMC and which are VMC? (All airspace references are to FAA CFR 14 part 91)

1) Class E airspace, 500 feet above a solid cloud deck, visibility unlimited, daytime.

2) Class G airspace, 100 feet below a cloud deck, visibility 1 SM.

3) Nighttime with high clouds above, no lights on the ground or a visible horizon, visibility unlimited.

4) In a surface E airspace with the visibility of 2 and 1/2 SM

NCYankee wrote:

The term is defined in the FAA Pilot Controller Glossary and the glossary is supposed to indicate if there are any differences in the meaning between ICAO and the FAA, the ICAO definition is also added. Since there isn’t a unique ICAO definition, it is not published in my FAA reference.

Yes, there is a ICAO definition…

Otherwise I agree with you. People are constantly confusing the distinctions of VFR/IFR, VMC/IMC and flight with/without visual references. They are not the same and all eight combinations of the three are possible!

I would appreciate a quote of the ICAO definition of IMC and VMC, since they are missing from the FAA PCG. I may be able to get the FAA to add the ICAO definition.

Answers to my own questions:

1. IMC but can’t log actual instrument time
2. VMC but can’t log actual instrument time
3. VMC but can log actual instrument time
4. IMC but can’t log actual instrument time

NCYankee wrote:

I would appreciate a quote of the ICAO definition of IMC and VMC, since they are missing from the FAA PCG. I may be able to get the FAA to add the ICAO definition.

From ICAO Annex 2:

Instrument meteorological conditions. Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from cloud, and ceiling, less than the minima specified for visual meteorological conditions.

Visual meteorological conditions. Meteorological conditions expressed in terms of visibility, distance from cloud, and ceiling, equal to or better than specified minima.

N-regs: How easy is it to maintain your FAA IR 6/6 rolling currency?

I have often heard that for non-owners this is very difficult, especially if their base doesn’t have an IAP…

Peter,

I have never gotten an answer on the topic of what satisfies the definition of a Part 97 approach.

Peter wrote:

I have often heard that for non-owners this is very difficult, especially if their base doesn’t have an IAP…

The difficulty for owners and non-owners alike is probably as much related to the frequency of experiencing IMC between FAF and MAP in the particular part of the world you fly in…thus requiring a suitably rated safety pilot to accompany you every six months so you can fly under the hood…. I like the idea of alternating between doing an IPC with a CFII every year and a safety pilot in between (if unable to log enough actual IMC)…

I’ve found that the hold is the one you never get in real life, so I ask for that randomly when I can. Although here, hold-in-lieu-of-procedure-turn counts as a hold and there are a quite a few of those approaches. Problem is ATC gives you direct almost all the time, so you need to ask for the full procedure. When I had plane (that wasn’t in shop forever) and actually flew a bit, it was still hard to get the approaches here in California. Just did new currency in April.

But back to the hold. I’ve come to conclusion you need to do one hold and one approach each month, or else risk being not legal down the line. You get “holded” out. Because what otherwise happens is you might end in real world scenario:

Jan: 1 hold
Feb: 2 approaches
Mar: 3 approaches
Apr: 0 approaches
May: 3 approaches
June: 0 approaches
July: 0 approaches

Now come Aug and you’ve got tons of approaches and are IFR legal in your mind, but have no hold. No go. So to be absolutely sure you can future proof every month even with no approaches in previous months, you have to have a hold in each month.