It is Day VFR only airport. So getting my night currency is impossible.
Another advantage of the EASA IR checkride system is that night currency is always present if you have a valid IR. You do not have to perform any night landings.
One of the things after Ive found since I came to Europe is staying current. Both for night and for the IR. The trouble is that the airport where Im based is not on the Jepp data info. So while it is a Hungarian airport it is not really an airport recognized outside of Hungary. It is Day VFR only airport. So getting my night currency is impossible. I go to the states and a buddy of mine is an CFII and we do night work. He also does an IPC check for good measure. I do Approaches whenever I can. In the summer I have a safety pilot fly with me and I do a couple of approaches at a nearby IFR airport. In the winter I fly to either EDMA or EDMS a lot of times its IFR so can get enough approaches in actual.
All I can say is thank God Ive got TKS.
achimha 08-Feb-15 12:11 #82 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?
I’m not instrument rated and don’t have much interest, but I have found it interesting to be the safety pilot for a DA40 owning friend, maintaining currency with his G1000s under a hood. Since we’re flying into US airports I’m familiar with, typically in good weather, it’s no different than my normal flying in terms of traffic avoidance. We do it every once in while when he hasn’t been flying in weather much. There’s really nothing dramatic about it.
The advantage to him is that the exercise costs him only the price of fuel.
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.
IFR (you log the flight rules)
IFR or IMC?For Germans, the “requirement” to log flight time under IFR has always been there.
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.
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”.
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 
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…
