#231 61.65 - Aeronautical experience for the instrument helicopter rating
22 Nov 2025 · 3 min
Kenny Keller breaks down FAR 61.65 requirements for an instrument helicopter rating: 50 hours cross-country PIC time, 15 hours in helicopters, 40 hours instrument time, and 15 hours with an instructor. He walks through how airplane and simulator hours can count toward the totals.
Questions this episode answers
50 hours of cross-country flight time as pilot in command (except as provided in paragraph g).
10 hours must have been in a helicopter.
40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time.
15 hours must have been with an authorized instructor who holds an instrument helicopter rating.
Chapters
Day 231. Coffee with Kenny. We're going to talk about the instrument rating a little bit today for the instrument rating in a helicopter. Follow up from yesterday's video. Thanks for all the comments and the people that sent me questions. So I thought we're going to go through the aeronautical experience for the instrument helicopter rating. So I'm using the iPad. I'm just using the Far AIM on the iPad. Very easy to look stuff up a little quicker than the old days. So go to part 61 because that's how you get your license. Part 61 is how you get your license. You break a rag in part 91, that's how you lose your license. So you go to 6165 instrument rating requirements. Scroll down. A person who applies for an instrument helicopter rating must have logged, except as provided in paragraph G Of this section, 50 hours of cross country flight time as pilot in command of which 10 hours must have been in a helicopter. Also, 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time in areas of operation listed under paragraph C of this section of which 15 hours must have been with an authorized instructor who holds an instrument helicopter rating in the instrument time includes. Okay, so you can go on down the list and finish off those requirements. And the point I wanted to make was give you an example of how I did it. I had 10 hours of simulated instrument time in an airplane working on my commercial. So I had 10 there. Then I did 15 actually in the helicopter. Then the rest I did in a simulator. So a lot of questions are coming in on what, can I use an airplane? Can I use a helicopter? Can I use a simulator? So there you go, part 6165. You know, being good at looking this stuff up is key for any of these ratings that we go for. There might be some really super duper smart individuals out there that can remember actually absolutely everything that's written in the FAR aim. But I think that's very few. Knowing how to use the FAR aim, knowing how to quickly look stuff up is key for anybody that's just getting into this. If you don't know yet, you use the Far AIM to look up the requirements for any rating. And over the years, all the times that I've done a rating with someone, I've always had to sit down, go back to the far aim and go through it again when you're sitting down and checking the requirements to make sure that you get everything that you need for any specific rating. It's Saturday, favorite day of the week. Getting ready to go take off and do some fun stuff with my daughter. So I just want to make this quick video to follow up from yesterday because we talked about the instrument rating going from private, then doing the instrument, and then doing the commercial to save yourself some time and headache. So do us a favor, subscribe the channel. Click the little bell when you do so that you'll be notified of the daily video. Make a comment down below, give us a thumbs up and we will see you in day 232. And by the way, you can go down below to helicopterground.com in the description box below. Check out all of our courses, private, commercial, CFI and instrument. They all have a 24 hour test flight on the monthly and yearly options. So go down below, click that link to check that out and we'll see you in day 232.
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