Instrument proficiency check

Flying is a perishable skill. The FAA has rules that keep you legally current. It is a very low bar to leap. Every two years you are required to fly with an instructor and get a flight review. The minimum flight review is one hour of ground instruction and one hour of flight instruction. The contents of the training are not very well defined. The instructor must cover applicable parts of federal aviation regulations during the ground portion but the flight portion is completely at the discretion of the instructor. With freedom comes responsibility and humans come in all flavors. I have seen a business card advertising the “cheapest BFR around.” I learned in the Air Force that you should not be cheap with your training or your parachute.
Additional currency requirements include three takeoffs and landings within 90 days in order to carry passengers. The night and tail wheel requirements are to a “full stop.” Loss of directional control on rollout is a common error for non-proficient tail wheel pilots.
Flying in the clouds adds another level of risk and the currency requirements reflect it. To remain legally current one must perform six approaches including intercepting tracking and holding within six months in actual or simulated conditions. After that you have an additional six months to get a safety pilot and knockout your six approaches. If you don't get current within the additional six months you need to get an instrument proficiency check with an authorized instructor or FAA designated examiner. The minimum tasks are spelled out in the practical test standards.
Since I could not act as pilot in command until I had a medical it didn't matter that I was not legally current for IFR. Last week George and I knocked out my IPC so now I am legal. Fortunately, I have been spending a lot of time in the simulator practicing so it was relatively painless.
Teaching instruments is fun. It is not the visceral giggling fun that aerobatics brings but more of an intense mental game fun. Flying in the clouds has additional hazards. Mitigating those risks can make IFR flight a reasonable undertaking. There is nothing particularly hard about instrument flying; there are however, two or three hundred really easy things that will kill you if you get them wrong.
Don’t fly in crazy weather. Thunderstorms, ice, and crazy winds are not impressed with your ratings. Legal but stupid is a condition that we sometimes try to exercise; the weather conditions meet the legal minimums but exceed the capabilities of the pilot and/or the aircraft. Knowing when to continue a flight as planned, execute the alternate plan or cancel carries consequences.
Loss of control is another one of the risks. There are many reasons for the aircrew to lose control of the aircraft one of them is related to our vestibular system. We have awesomely designed dual sensors arranged to give information on pitch, roll and yaw. The semicircular canals of the inner ear are arranged at 90 degree angles to each other. Fluid movement inside provides a piece of orientation information. Unfortunately our sense of balance betrays us without reference to the horizon. When we start a turn the fluid moves once in response to a change in momentum. After a few seconds the fluid settles indicating that the turn has stopped. A conflict between what our eyes and body are telling us can lead to a condition know as spatial disorientation. It is a terrible feeling not knowing which way is up or down and leads to disaster fairly quickly. The solution is to scan all of your instruments, interpret them properly and THEN apply control inputs.
Controlled flight into terrain is another risk. This is a term that means a perfectly good aircraft is flown into the ground or an obstacle. Continually answering four questions helps maintain positional awareness. Where am I? Where am I going? How am I getting there? What are the next two things?
Where am I? I am alive and getting back to being healthy. Where am I going? That is a question I have been pondering lately. What should I do with my second chance? I am getting there with the grace of God and the help of my friends and family but what are the next two things? Love y’all. Fly safe.