Bosco, you just took IFR currency from a lot of forum members 
No way I could manage that rolling currency and I would never fly IFR in VMC with a hood but without a qualified co-pilot. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal and it’s dangerously stupid. When on an ILS im IMC, I can be fairly certain there won’t be microlights and gliders crossing my flight path but in VMC I better look out.
So you’re saying the FAA IFR currency scheme is a charade (to use one of Peter’s favorite words)? People just ignore it?
If somebody can dig out an FAA Chief Counsel opinion on this, I would be very interested.
I always make sure that any approach I log for that purpose has some IMC on it (to expect IMC from the IAF all the way down to exactly minima would be self evidently ludicrous) and normally it’s not an issue because I am normally ahead of the 6/6 requirement by a factor of 2-3 times.
And so is anybody who flies regularly enough to be generally current, IMHO, but the trick there might be to sometimes fly locally for currency. If one only ever flies IFR to the Adriatic in the summer then one might indeed have problems. But then if I was doing that I would never pass the annual JAA IR revalidation; I would be a totally crap pilot in IMC.
This subject has been one of the most hotly discussed topics in the USA and I don’t recall seeing an FAA CC view on it. The general view is that it is ambiguous but it does work and the FAA Part 91 accident rate is very low and as low as anywhere in the world where there is an annual IR checkride. Yes this could be due to risk compensation (most IR holders are intelligent and realise that it’s not a good idea to fly down in OVC002 +TSRA after not having flown for 6 months) but that comment applies to most risks in our lives (we try to avoid the ones we know about, usually).
Yes it is open to abuse but then anything you write in your logbook that relates to in-flight conditions is open to abuse and is 100% unverifiable. The entire “50hrs instrument time” of the CB IR (or some previous proposed incarnation of it) could have been done with a pen.
Well isn’t it clear what they mean by actual weather when the alternative to “actual weather” is a “view limiting device”?
So you’re saying the FAA IFR currency scheme is a charade (to use one of Peter’s favorite words)? People just ignore it?
No, they don’t ignore it, but many people are just not aware that you need actual instrument conditions for the appoach to count towards FAA curency. Can’t just fly an ILS in good weather whilst mostly looking out and enjoying the ride down.
But as I said, it’s almost unenforceable, because one usually just logs something like “1 ILS 25 EDDS” in the notes section of the logbook and nobody will ever go back in time to see if there (probably) was some IMC conditions during that approach. One problem I see though is that many European based FAA IR pilots (especially in Germany) don’t log flight time under instrument conditions, only flight timeunder instrument flight rules. So, if you have not logged any flight time under instrument conditions on a flight that is crucial for you in oder to demonstrate your FAA IR currency, an inspector might say it was clearly not an approach in actual conditions, since you logged zero flight time under instrument conditions…
One problem I see though is that many European based FAA IR pilots (especially in Germany) don’t log flight time under instrument conditions, only flight under IFR. So, if you have not logged any flight time under instrument conditions on a flight that is crucial to demonstrate your FAA IR currency, an inspector might say it was clearly not an approach in actual instrumemt conditions, since you logged zero flight time under instrument conditions
I agree. “IFR time” logging was always slightly bizzare – until the CB IR made it a requirement 
For Germans, the “requirement” to log flight time under IFR has always been there. That is because, pre-JAR, it was possible to convert an FAA IR to a German IR if you had logged at least 100 hours of flight time under IFR.
The German LBA has always been fixated on “flight time under IFR”, or, to be even more precise " flight time under an IFR flight plan" (which in turn is because in German IFR doctrine, there is no IFR flying other than under an IFR flightplan).
This is why most Germany-based FAA IR pilots only log this, and not “flight time in IFR conditions”.
normally it’s not an issue because I am normally ahead of the 6/6 requirement by a factor of 2-3 times.
If you check your logbook for IFR approaches, I bet it will be ca. 70% EGKA. Now assume you’re located at an airfield without IAP, that makes it an order of magnitude more difficult.
And so is anybody who flies regularly enough to be generally current, IMHO, but the trick there might be to sometimes fly locally for currency.
I personally hate flying for currency, in general I try to avoid flying without having a destination. I just think it’s boring and can be done in a flight simulator at home. Traffic patterns are OK from time to time but IFR training flights suck IMHO. I can’t do them in bad weather anyway because I have to get back home. Also even though the number of airfields in convenient distance are relatively high for me (because I live in a densely populated area), it’s still only a handful and I am not sure there is much to be learned from the 25th IAP to EDDS 25 or EDTY 28 esp. since they will be in good weather anyway (I wouldn’t leave my VFR airfield otherwise).
Not always that easy… Fortunately flying IAPs is not that difficult, it’s more the whole decision making processing before and during the flight that requires experience.
IFR or IMC?For Germans, the “requirement” to log flight time under IFR has always been there.
IFR (you log the flight rules)
If you check your logbook for IFR approaches, I bet it will be ca. 70% EGKA. Now assume you’re located at an airfield without IAP, that makes it an order of magnitude more difficult.
Just counted the current logbook which started Jan 2013.
Total IAPs 88
EGKA 26
pre-JAR, it was possible to convert an FAA IR to a German IR if you had logged at least 100 hours of flight time under IFR.
Gosh that is amazing! Actually it helps me understand why there are so many more IR holders in Germany with the JAA IR, than in the UK where nearly all IR holders were FAA. It would have been trivial to convert an FAA IR to a German IR which would then become a JAA IR. Just doing an FAA IR in the USA would have given you quite a lot of hours towards the 100.
In the UK there was a “700hr” route which avoided doing 50/55hrs at an FTO but was terminated by JAA in 1999. Whenever I met a group of UK-CAA IR holders, most of them were in their 60s and most of them did it using the 700hr route. But 700hrs is still many years of flying, for most private pilots.
