Instrument Proficiency Check
If you have not kept up with your 6 HITS, an Instrument Proficiency Check gets you current again through required ACS instrument tasks. Gomez Aviation offers IPCs at Long Beach Airport in the G1000 Skyhawk, an analog 172, or your own airplane.
Gomez Aviation is Dylan Gomez, an independent FAA-certified flight instructor offering one-on-one, Part 61 flight training at Long Beach Airport (KLGB) in Long Beach, California.
When You Need an IPC
Instrument currency under FAR 61.57(c) means that within the preceding six calendar months you have logged six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses using navigation systems. Pilots remember it as the 6 HITS: six approaches, Holding, Intercepting and Tracking, within Six months.
If you let those six months lapse, you get a further six calendar months to regain currency on your own, by flying the same tasks with a safety pilot or in an approved simulator. Once you have been out of currency for more than six calendar months, the only way back is to satisfactorily complete an Instrument Proficiency Check with an authorized instructor.
Unlike a flight review, there is no minimum ground or flight time for an IPC. There is, however, a required list of tasks, set by the Instrument Rating Airman Certification Standards, and all of them must be completed to standard.
What an IPC Looks Like
A good rule of thumb is to expect around one to two hours of ground review and about an hour to an hour and a half of flight time. Pilots who have been out of the system for a few years sometimes split the flying across two sessions.
The ground portion covers the IFR regulations, charts, and procedures you will actually use: reading approach plates and the new GPS approach minimums, departure and arrival procedures, alternates and fuel requirements, lost communications, and the weather products that matter for an IFR go or no-go decision.
AATD and Airplane Requirements
A portion of the IPC can be accomplished in an AATD. Gomez Aviation has access to Advanced Aviation Training Devices at Compton Woodley Airport at $50 per hour plus instruction, which is an efficient way to knock the rust off holds and approaches before getting in the airplane.
The circle-to-land approach and the landing from an instrument approach must be completed in the actual airplane, so every IPC finishes in the air.
Required Flight Tasks
The flight portion of the IPC is built around required Instrument Rating ACS tasks.
- Holding procedures.
- Recovery from unusual attitudes.
- Intercepting and tracking navigation sources, including VOR, ILS, and GPS.
- Precision approach, non-precision approach, missed approach, and circle-to-land approach.
- Emergency procedures, including partial panel for airplane single-engine land.
- Landing from a straight-in or circling approach.
How to Prepare
- Re-read the approach plates for the approaches you are likely to fly locally and brush up on LPV, LNAV/VNAV, and LNAV minimums.
- Practice holding entries and partial-panel scans on a desktop simulator if you have one.
- Bring your logbook, certificate, medical or BasicMed documents, and current charts or EFB.
- If you fly your own airplane, make sure the GPS database and the pitot-static and transponder checks are current.
Cost and Scheduling
Gomez Aviation offers IPCs with or without your own airplane at a competitive rate of $60 per hour of instruction. In the fleet, N1484B (G1000 WAAS) runs $210 per hour and the analog N52139 runs $185 per hour, both including fuel, so a typical IPC comes to roughly $500 to $700 all in.
If you would like to schedule an IPC, please reach out to Gomez Aviation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the 6 HITS?
The instrument currency requirements of FAR 61.57(c): within the preceding six calendar months, six instrument approaches, Holding procedures and tasks, and Intercepting and Tracking courses with navigation systems. The S stands for the six-month window.
How long can I be out of currency before I need an IPC?
Once your six-month currency lapses you have another six calendar months to regain it yourself with a safety pilot or approved simulator. After that, an IPC with an instructor is the only way back.
Can the IPC be done in a simulator?
Partly. Many of the tasks can be completed in an AATD, which is cheaper and efficient, but the circle-to-land approach and the landing from an approach must be flown in the airplane.
Is an IPC a checkride?
No. There is no examiner and nothing goes on your record. The instructor endorses your logbook once every required task has been completed to the Instrument ACS standard; if something needs more work, you fly it again.
Can I do the IPC in my own airplane?
Yes, provided it is airworthy and IFR-legal with current database and inspections. If the airplane is not yours, Gomez Aviation needs written authorization from the owner.
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Ready to plan it?
Reach out with your current certificate, goals, timeline, and questions. Gomez Aviation can help map the next flight block.