What Are the IFR Currency Requirements the Instrument Oral Tests?

Quick Answer

To act as PIC under IFR you must have logged, within the preceding 6 calendar months, six instrument approaches plus holding procedures and tasks plus intercepting and tracking courses with electronic navigation (14 CFR 61.57(c)) — the "6 HITS in 6" memory aid. Lapse beyond that and you have a 6-month window to regain currency yourself; lapse past that window and only an Instrument Proficiency Check restores you (61.57(d)).

The Scenario Format DPEs Use

Examiners rarely ask for the rule in the abstract. They hand you a logbook and a date: "Today is July 15. Your last instrument work — all six approaches, a hold, and tracking — was December 20. Can you file IFR?" The answer is no: for a July flight the lookback window is January 1 through June 30, and currency from December flying expired June 30. Calendar months means currency always dies at month-end — approaches flown December 1 and December 31 expire the same day. Practice the counting until it is instant; DPEs watch applicants do this math in real time.

The rolling-window variant follows: three approaches in February, three in May — current in July, but when the window rolls past February the older three fall off. Well-organized instrument pilots track their oldest countable approach, because that sets the expiration date.

The Details Inside 61.57(c)

• The six approaches need no variety (six ILS approaches count) and no actual IMC — simulated conditions with a view-limiting device and safety pilot count equally, as does an approved simulator or ATD, instructor not required since the 2018 amendment.
• FAA InFO 15012 governs when an approach may be logged: in simulated conditions, flown to MDA or DA; in actual conditions, in IMC until MDA/DA or transition to visual on the final segment.
• Currency is category-specific: approaches in a multiengine airplane keep you current in a single — helicopter approaches do not.
• Safety pilot rules live in 91.109(c): at least a private certificate with appropriate category and class ratings, adequate vision, dual controls — and as a required crewmember they need an FAA medical (BasicMed alone does not work unless they act as PIC).

Lapsed, Grace Window, IPC

The timeline examiners want verbatim: current for 6 calendar months after your qualifying work; then a 6-month regain window in which you may NOT act as PIC under IFR but may regain currency yourself — safety pilot in VMC, sim/ATD, or with an instructor. The trap answer: "I have six more months to fly IFR" is exactly backwards. Beyond the window, only an Instrument Proficiency Check restores currency — a mini-checkride to the ACS Appendix 1 table, given by a CFII, examiner, or other authorized person. And no, an IPC is not a flight review, and a flight review does not restore instrument currency — separate buckets, both in 61.57.

The IFR Oral Exam Guide ($24) drills every currency scenario with dates and logbook math — part of 269 cited examiner Q&As and 12 scenario drills across 155 pages aligned to FAA-S-ACS-8C.