Maintaining Instrument currency in the USA
Tried this in the Flight Instructors forum but it died before I got an asnwer. Try again here?
Re FAR 61.57 (c) Instrument experience.
There is a new regulation. I am trying to see what it means. So far as using an airplane is concerned I see no change, you still need, within the last 6 months, the required approaches, holds and tracking. However I always thought that if you went more than 6 months you would need to do some training with a CFII in an airplane to become current again, and if you went more than 12 months you would need an instrument proficiency check ride. The way I read this, you could go 11 months and still regain your instrument experience by doing the approaches in an airplane on regular IFR flights, or with a safety pilot, then be good for another 6 months, never seeing a CFII. Am I right?
The next query is when using an ATD to maintain instrument experience. The new reg says that you can do this by flying 3 hours in the ATD, plus 6 approaches, a holding pattern, tracking plus four unusual attitude recoveries, all within the last 2 months. So if you were only using an ATD, you would have to do this every 2 months to remain current? And the ATD is not specified so any ATD would work for this (not necessarily a BATD for example, since this is not so specified in this regulation). True?
I also do not see any requirement to have a safety pilot or CFII when using the ATD, since this also is not specified. I remember the discussion last year and this point was raised then; if you don't need to have a CFII in an airplane, why would you need one in an ATD? I know that one is required when logging time in an FTD, but there is no such requirement for an ATD in the regs that I have found (if there is, please point me to it).
Then the final part that interests me, using a combination of airplane and ATD. I read that as being the easiest, in that one approach in the airplane and six in the ATD (plus the hold, tracking and UA training) will do you for 6 months.
How does this work? I guess that if I am going to fly IFR and see I don't have the required approaches and holds, I can go to my local ATD and fly the approaches, holds and tracking and be good to go. No CFII or minimum ATD time required.
Or have I missed something?