A person who applies for an instrument-airplane rating must have logged:
- Fifty hours of cross country flight time as pilot in command, of which 10 hours must have been in an airplane; and
- Forty hours of actual or simulated instrument time, of which 15 hours must have been received from an authorized instructor who holds an instrument-airplane rating, and the instrument time includes:
- Three hours of instrument flight training from an authorized instructor in an airplane that is appropriate to the instrument-airplane rating within 2 calendar months before the date of the practical test; and
- Instrument flight training on cross country flight procedures, including one cross country flight in an airplane with an authorized instructor, that is performed under instrument flight rules, when a flight plan has been filed with an air traffic control facility, and that involves:
- A flight of 250 nautical miles along airways or by directed routing from an air traffic control facility;
- An instrument approach at each airport; and
- Three different kinds of approaches with the use of navigation systems.
