The most counterproductive thing an instrument-rated pilot can do before an IPC is treat it like a checkride.
I see it regularly — pilots who haven't flown IFR in a while show up tense, defensive, and focused on not making mistakes rather than on actually flying well. The anxiety makes the rust worse. The approaches get choppy, the scan breaks down, and the whole flight is harder than it needs to be.
An IPC is not a checkride. There's no pass or fail, no official result, no record of failure if it doesn't go well. It's a proficiency check — the name says exactly what it is. The goal is to find out where you are and get you back to where you need to be. That's a completely different mindset than survival mode, and it produces a completely different flight.
What's Actually Required
Under 14 CFR 61.57(d), an IPC must include at least one of each of the following:
- A precision instrument approach — typically an ILS
- A non-precision approach
- Intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigation systems
- Holding procedures, including entries
- Instrument airwork — steep turns, unusual attitude recoveries
The IPC must be conducted by a CFII. Your regular CFI can conduct a flight review, but the instrument proficiency check requires an instrument flight instructor rating.
That last item — unusual attitude recoveries — is worth paying specific attention to. In my experience as a CFII, that's consistently where the rust shows up first. The recovery instinct degrades faster than almost any other IFR skill when you've been away from actual or simulated instrument flying. Pilots who are reasonably solid on approaches will still hesitate on an unusual attitude recovery if they haven't practiced it recently. That hesitation is exactly what you want to work out before you're flying in actual IMC.
How Long It's Been Matters
An IPC becomes required when you've failed to log six instrument approaches, holding, and intercepting and tracking within the preceding six calendar months. Some pilots show up having been out of currency for months. Some haven't flown IFR in years.
The preparation looks different depending on where you're starting from.
If you've been out of currency for a few months and have been flying VFR regularly, your scan is probably intact. A good ground review and one solid flight is often enough to get you back current and proficient.
If you've been away from instrument flying for a year or more, expect a longer process. The scan degrades. The instrument interpretation slows down. The automation proficiency — especially if you fly a glass cockpit aircraft — needs refreshing. Plan for at least a ground session and two flights before you're genuinely back to where you want to be, not just where you're legally required to be.
How to Prepare
Review the IFR regulations before you show up. Currency requirements, weather minimums, equipment requirements, lost communication procedures. These come up during the ground portion of every IPC and they're easy to let go soft when you haven't needed them recently.
Pull up the approaches for your home airport and brief them on the ground before the flight. Know the procedure, the minimums, the missed approach. Don't make your CFII wait while you orient yourself to a plate you should know cold.
Be honest about where your weak spots are. If you haven't flown a hold in two years, say so before you get in the airplane. If your partial panel work has always been shaky, mention it. The IPC is designed to surface those gaps — you might as well identify them yourself rather than discover them under pressure.
Get current in the sim first if you can. If there's a simulator available, even an hour of practice approaches before your IPC flight will knock off a significant amount of rust. Your scan will be sharper, your flows will be cleaner, and you'll spend the actual IPC flight demonstrating proficiency rather than rebuilding it.
What the Ground Portion Covers
Every IPC includes a ground component. Expect to cover IFR currency requirements, weather minimums for instrument approaches, alternate airport requirements, equipment requirements for IFR flight, and lost communication procedures.
None of this should be a surprise. If any of it is, that's a sign you need more ground work before the flight portion — which is a fine outcome. Better to identify that on the ground than to discover it in the air.
The Mindset That Actually Helps
The pilots who get the most out of an IPC are the ones who approach it as a diagnostic — who want to know where their instrument flying has gone soft so they can fix it. Not the ones who are trying to get through it without showing any weakness.
Your CFII isn't evaluating you for a certificate. They're trying to help you fly safely in the system. The more honest you are about where you are, the more useful the IPC becomes — and the faster you get back to the kind of instrument proficiency that actually keeps you safe in IMC.
I conduct IPCs out of KBAF in Springfield, Massachusetts. If your instrument currency has lapsed — or you want to get sharper before it does — book online at andrewserrazina.com/ipc. $125 per session.