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Instrument Rating — Airplane & Helicopter
Instrument Oral Exam Questions: IFR Currency, the 6-6-HIT Rule & IPC
Instrument currency questions sound like trivia but examiners use them to test whether you can apply a layered rule to messy real life: 'It's June 12. Your last six approaches were logged December 30. Can you file IFR today? Can you next month?' The structure: a rolling six-month recency requirement, a six-month grace period during which you can restore currency yourself, and after that, an instrument proficiency check.
References: 61.57(c) and (d), 61.51(g) on logging instrument time, and the safety-pilot rules in 91.109. The most commonly missed subtleties: what the grace period does and doesn't allow, what a safety pilot must hold, and what counts as 'performing and logging' an approach.
The rolling six months — and the six after that
To act as PIC under IFR or in weather below VFR minimums, within the preceding six calendar months you must have performed and logged: six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational systems — the '6-6-HIT' memory aid (6 months: 6 approaches, Holding, Intercepting, Tracking). These must be in actual or simulated instrument conditions, in the appropriate category of aircraft (or an approved simulator/training device under the applicable rules).
Lapse the six months and you enter a second six-month window: you may not act as PIC under IFR, but you can restore currency by flying the required tasks with a safety pilot in VMC (under simulated conditions, e.g., a view-limiting device), in an appropriate simulator/ATD, or with an instructor. Let the second window expire too, and the only path back is an instrument proficiency check (61.57(d)) — given by a CFII, examiner, or other authorized person, covering the areas of operation in the instrument ACS.
Safety pilots, logging, and what 'counts'
A safety pilot (91.109) must hold at least a private pilot certificate with category and class ratings appropriate to the aircraft, occupy the other control seat, and the aircraft needs dual controls. The safety pilot must hold at least the medical qualification required for a required crewmember (a safety pilot is one) — discuss the BasicMed nuance carefully: current guidance permits a BasicMed-qualified safety pilot in qualifying operations when acting as PIC; offer to verify the current interpretation rather than asserting it. Logging: the flying pilot logs simulated instrument time and the approaches; the safety pilot may log SIC time (or PIC for the portion they act as PIC, if qualified and agreed).
What counts as an approach has practical teeth: FAA guidance (InFO 15012) says you may log an approach in actual IMC flown to or below the applicable minimums-relevant segment — practically, flown in IMC at least to the final approach segment — or in simulated conditions to MDA/DH. Vectors to a visual doesn't count; a practice approach in VMC without a view-limiting device doesn't count. And remember currency is rolling: each flight's approaches extend your window six months from when the full requirement set is satisfied — many pilots track 'currency expires' dates in their logbook app, and saying so demonstrates a system.
Practice questions with answers & rationales
Q1. What exactly must you log within the preceding six calendar months to file and fly IFR as PIC?
Answer: Six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses using navigation systems — performed in actual or simulated instrument conditions in the appropriate category (or in approved simulators/ATDs per the rule). All three elements are required: six approaches without holding doesn't keep you current. The 6-6-HIT mnemonic covers it as long as you remember 'HIT' isn't optional garnish.
Q2. Your currency lapsed two months ago. Can you go fly approaches by yourself under the hood to get current?
Answer: No — simulated instrument flight requires a safety pilot (91.109), so 'by yourself under the hood' is never legal. Within the six-month grace period you can regain currency with a safety pilot in VMC, with a CFII, or in an approved simulator/ATD — but you cannot act as PIC under IFR or in IMC until the requirements are restored. After the grace period expires, you need an IPC.
Q3. Who can act as your safety pilot, and what must they have?
Answer: At least a private pilot with category and class ratings appropriate to the aircraft, sitting in the other control seat of an aircraft with dual controls, and medically qualified to serve as a required crewmember. They don't need an instrument rating (you're in VMC; they're watching for traffic). Logging-wise, the safety pilot can log SIC while acting as a required crewmember — or PIC time for any period they act as PIC by agreement, if qualified.
Q4. It's been 13 months since you met the requirements. What now?
Answer: An instrument proficiency check — the grace period (months 7–12 after currency lapsed) has passed. The IPC is administered by a CFII, DPE, or other authorized person and follows the IPC table in the instrument ACS (a defined set of areas of operation, including a circling approach and unusual attitudes, parts of which must be in an aircraft or qualifying FFS). After a satisfactory IPC, you're current for six months as usual.
Q5. Do approaches flown in an ATD or simulator count toward currency?
Answer: Yes — 61.57(c) allows maintaining recency in full flight simulators, flight training devices, and aviation training devices, under the conditions in the rule (the device must be approved/authorized for the tasks, and the tasks performed as required; current rules allow this without an instructor present for recency, which changed in 2018 — worth verifying the current text). Many pilots keep currency through a monthly ATD session; the examiner mostly wants to see you know it's a legal pathway with conditions.
Q6. You flew an ILS yesterday on vectors and broke out at 2,500 AGL on a visual. Does it count toward your six?
Answer: Probably not. Under InFO 15012 guidance, a loggable approach requires actual IMC into the final approach segment (or simulated conditions flown to minimums). Breaking out high and continuing visually means the approach wasn't flown by reference to instruments in the segment that matters. Be conservative in your logbook: the standard you'll be held to is whether the approach exercised instrument skills.
Q7. Does currency to fly IFR have anything to do with the VOR 30-day check?
Answer: They're separate buckets that both must be satisfied: 61.57(c) is pilot recency; 91.171 requires the VOR equipment check within the preceding 30 days if you'll use VOR for IFR navigation — logged with date, place, bearing error, and signature. Add the aircraft's 24-month pitot-static/altimeter (91.411) and transponder (91.413) checks and you have the full 'can this pilot and airplane go IFR today' checklist — presenting it as a system earns points.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Believing the grace period lets you keep flying IFR while 'working on it' — month 7 through 12 means no IFR as PIC until restored.
- Flying solo under the hood, or using a passenger without the required certificate/seat/dual controls as a 'safety pilot.'
- Logging vectors-to-visual or high-breakout approaches toward the six. Know the InFO 15012 standard.
- Forgetting holding and tracking are required elements, not just six approaches.
- Confusing pilot currency with aircraft IFR checks (VOR 30 days, pitot-static/altimeter and transponder 24 months).
- Having no tracking system. 'When does your currency expire?' should have a date for an answer, not a shrug.