Using Flight Simulators as Proficiency Tools and to Log IFR Currency Requirements

Both are important matters, of course, and if you are anyone other than a brand-new student pilot, you should—and probably do—already have a good answer locked and loaded. 

Usually, currency and proficiency are discussed in the context of actually flying the airplane, for obvious reasons. But is it fair to allow the world of home flight simulators and aviation training devices to enter the conversation as well?

To be current is to be “legal” to do a given kind of flying. Want to carry passengers in the daytime? 14 CFR 61.57 tells us that pilots who plan on carrying passengers in the daytime must have made at least three takeoffs and landings in the past 90 days in the same category, class and, if applicable, type of aircraft as will be flown with the passengers. 

Then there are further requirements for those planning to fly passengers in a tailwheel aircraft or at night. Three takeoffs and landings to a full stop for tailwheel, and for night flying, three takeoffs and landings to a full stop that must occur, naturally, at night. 

But just because I did my three takeoffs and landings to a full stop at night in my thoroughly rudimentary Cessna 150 after a six-month break from flying does not in any way imply that I will be a safe and proficient pilot if I then jump into the cockpit of a Cirrus SR22T for the very first time. Assuming I have my high performance endorsement and all is in order with my medical and certificate, I will be legal to carry passengers at this point.

Even so, the layout of the controls, the glass Garmin avionics, and the drastic differences in the aircraft’s systems and performance characteristics would render my currency nearly irrelevant in practice.

Granted, that’s perhaps a bit of an extreme example. Still, the principle remains across all sorts of scenarios. 

What if I fly a Piper Cherokee almost daily over the mild, low-elevation terrain of north Texas but plan on taking a trip this summer to the high-elevation, mountainous terrain of Angel Fire, New Mexico? 

What if I’ve flown the same Beechcraft Debonair for years but will pick it up from the shop later this week, where it received a brand-new suite of fully upgraded avionics? 

What if I’ve put a couple hundred hours on my flying club’s ancient straight-tail 172 from the 1950s but want to go take the new early 2000s model it just acquired up into IMC?

These are matters of proficiency. 

Both currency and proficiency are hugely significant, yet at times, can both be hard to come by. How, for instance, might the Debonair pilot get ready to use the new glass panel? It will be a great idea to bring a CFI along for the first flight or two, but is there a good way to arrive with a level of proficiency from the start?

The pilot who is not used to mountain flying will be well advised to take a refresher course on aviation weather and to spend some time discussing mountain flying with an instructor ahead of time, but it might not be possible to take the instructor along for the actual flight. What’s the pilot to do?

While they are certainly not in themselves wholesale replacements for real-world flight experience, these are the sorts of proficiency scenarios that simulators are made for. Even good home simulator setups can be excellent tools for targeted proficiency tasks. 

A student pilot looking to get more proficient with the school’s G1000-equipped fleet might benefit from equipping her home simulator with a G1000 PFD/MFD, for instance. That same student pilot might later purchase an airplane or join a flying club with planes that use a GTN650 or perhaps have G5s installed and work on proficiency with that equipment using a home simulator.

Home simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 (MSFS2024), as well as certified platforms like Basic Aviation Training Devices (BATDs) or Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATDs) can also be used to familiarize oneself with unfamiliar approaches or terrain, for instance, ahead of a real flight. 

BATD and AATD options often come with the advantage of more closely mirroring the layout and “feel” of a specific cockpit setup. Pilots can utilize this to help solidify their checklist flow throughout each stage of flight, for example, allowing them to free up attention in the real-world for other in-flight tasks.

Flight simulator tools are not just for proficiency, though, as some can be used to log recent flight experiences for certain currency purposes. 

It should be said that simulators are not always practical options for all forms of currency. For instance, pilots would need to use a full flight simulator or flight training device—in otherwise, a simulator with what is essentially an exact replica of a real flight deck—in order to log general day and night experience requirements. While often useful for type-rated pilots, these sorts of simulators are usually too impractical (or simply nonexistent) for aircraft typical GA pilots fly. 

Such pilots can benefit from simulation tools for logging IFR currency requirements, though. Instrument pilots will know that, in order to be considered current and, therefore, legal to fly in IMC, they must have logged within the last six months at least six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepted and tracked courses through the use of navigational electronic systems. 

They can either log these tasks in actual IMC or under simulated conditions. One common way to simulate these conditions is to fly with a safety pilot, who might either be simply a fellow pilot or, perhaps, an instructor, while using a view limiting device. 

This is not the only option, though. Per 14 CFR 61.57(c)(2), pilots may use a “full flight simulator, flight training device, or aviation training device for maintaining instrument experience.” The simulator or training device must be representative of the category of aircraft the pilot is rated with instrument privileges for. 

No, this does not mean you can go home and log your approaches on MSFS24. It does mean, however, that you can log your instrument experience requirements in a BATD or AATD, both of which can easily be found in many local flight schools or flying clubs.

Bear in mind that time in these training devices does not generally count towards your total flight time. That said, to those of you in the throws of time building, I’m afraid that, no, you did not just discover a time-building hack. 

Even so, the freedom and flexibility meeting your instrument currency requirements in a BATD or AATD offers is immense, especially for pilots who do not often use their rating. I’d place myself in that category, in fact. Although I have an instrument rating, getting that rating was more about gaining skills to protect myself in the event of being in poor visibility, rather than necessarily something I planned to use frequently. 

For people like myself, then, staying current in an aviation training device is a good way to help ensure our ratings are usable if necessary without needing to frequently put ourselves in actual IMC or having to shell out to fly with a CFI-I every few months. It should be reiterated, though, that ATDs are not replacements for the real thing.

Wisdom dictates that you should not rely on training devices for all of your currency in perpetuity. I, for example, still make it a habit to fly with a CFI-I at least once or twice a year, especially if I plan to take a longer flight soon that could encounter IMC. 

Home simulators and aviation training devices are in any event quite valuable tools for aiding pilot proficiency. Getting access to a home simulator is as simple as downloading one of the options on the market and will be greatly enhanced by getting good controls and other hardware to make things as realistic as feasible. 

BATDs and AATDs are certainly more expensive to purchase than most home setups but may still be within reach, depending on your budget. If you can afford to pick up something like Redbird’s TD2, you can have access to a capable BATD with which to practice various proficiency tasks as well as to log instrument currency experiences. 

For the rest of us who do not have the spare change for something like that at the ready, many similar options can be found in local flight schools and flying clubs. I usually take advantage of my old flight school’s Redbird FMX AATD or my flying club’s Redbird LD AATD, either of which I can rent for less than $50 per hour. 

If your flight school or flying club does not have a BATD or AATD, consider pitching the idea. Not only can they provide a reliable flow of steady, high-margin income for their owners, but above all else, these devices are fantastic resources their students, customers, or members will greatly benefit from in the ongoing quest for proficiency.