Logging instrument time and approaches under FAA rules

What counts as instrument time

61.51(g)(1) says "a person may log instrument time only for that flight time when the person operates the aircraft solely by reference to instruments under actual or simulated instrument flight conditions". An IFR flight plan does not make the time instrument time. A two-hour IFR flight that spends 25 minutes in cloud gives 0.4 hours of actual instrument time, plus any time you spend under a view-limiting device with a safety pilot.

An instructor may log instrument time "when conducting instrument flight instruction in actual instrument flight conditions" (61.51(g)(2)). In simulated conditions only the pilot flying under the view-limiting device logs instrument time.

In a full flight simulator, flight training device or aviation training device, two record rules apply. For a certificate or rating, "an authorized instructor is present to observe that time and signs the person's logbook or training record" (61.51(g)(4)). For recency, you need "a logbook or training record" that specifies "the training device, time, and the content" (61.51(g)(5)).

Safety pilot rules: 91.109(c)

Nobody may fly a civil aircraft in simulated instrument flight unless "the other control seat is occupied by a safety pilot who possesses at least" a private pilot certificate "with category and class ratings appropriate to the aircraft being flown", the safety pilot "has adequate vision forward and to each side of the aircraft" or a competent observer supplements it, and the aircraft has fully functioning dual controls. A single-engine airplane with a throwover control wheel is allowed if the safety pilot judges the flight safe and the pilot flying holds at least a private certificate with the right category and class.

InFO 15012 adds that "a safety pilot must possess a current medical certificate" because the safety pilot is a required crewmember (61.3(c)), and that "the pilot operating under simulated instrument conditions must also log the name of the safety pilot", which 61.51(b)(1)(v) and (g)(3)(ii) also require.

The safety pilot logs SIC for the hood portion. If the two pilots agree that the safety pilot will act as PIC during it, the FAA's Trussell interpretation (July 2012) says the safety pilot logs that time as PIC under 61.51(e)(1)(iii) and the pilot flying logs it as PIC under (e)(1)(i).

What counts as a loggable approach

61.1 defines an instrument approach as "an approach procedure defined in part 97". In its 30 June 2009 letter to Daniel Murphy the FAA repeated its 1992 Slater position that a pilot "must follow an instrument approach procedure to the minimum descent altitude or decision height", and applied the same test to the approach at each airport on the instrument rating cross-country.

InFO 15012 (8 September 2015) lists the conditions. You fly "solely by reference to instruments", you are "established on each required segment of the IAP to the minimum descent altitude (MDA) or decision altitude/decision height (DA/DH)", simulated conditions "must continue to MDA or DA/DH", and the flight is in actual or simulated instrument conditions. It states that "a pilot cannot log an IAP for currency in an aircraft without also logging actual or simulated instrument time".

Three details settle most arguments. Radar vectors to the final approach course replace the initial and intermediate segments, and a safety pilot or instructor may simulate them. In actual conditions you may log the approach if you break out on the final approach segment before or at minimums, since "the FAA does not require the ceiling to be at MDA or DA/DH". "Segment four (the missed-approach segment) is the only segment that is not required to be flown", and under the hood you may still log it if you deviate for traffic after passing the final approach fix.

Approaches for recency and in a simulator

61.57(c)(1) needs, "within the 6 calendar months preceding the month of the flight", six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses, flown in actual conditions or "under simulated conditions using a view-limiting device". Under 61.57(c)(2) you can do them in a full flight simulator, flight training device or aviation training device that "represents the category of aircraft", and "in any combination" with the aircraft. The FAA currency guide covers the window and the IPC.

InFO 15012 dates from 2015 and cites 61.57(c) paragraph numbers that have since changed: it lists methods (c)(1) to (c)(5), and the current rule puts aircraft in (c)(1), devices in (c)(2) and gliders in (c)(3). Its conditions for a loggable approach still match the current wording of 61.51(g) and 61.57(c). The regulation and your operator's procedures take precedence over the InFO, which is guidance.