Instrument Rating 40-Hour Tracker
Instrument Rating 40-Hour Tracker — log qualifying flights and watch each requirement line fill toward your checkride, privately in your browser.
Requirement: the IR requires 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, 15 of them with a CFII, plus the 250 nm IFR cross-country.
No entries yet — add your first one above. Data stays in your browser.
⚠️ Not for operational decisions. This is a record-keeping and planning aid only — not certified avionics, not a source of regulatory truth. Always verify against official sources (FAA) and your operator's approved documents before flying.
Free instrument rating 40-hour tracker: log each training flight against the requirement bucket it fills and see your remaining gap to the checkride — simulated/actual instrument hours toward 61.65's 40-hour requirement, with the 15-hour CFII line.
About Instrument Rating 40-Hour Tracker
the IR requires 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, 15 of them with a CFII, plus the 250 nm IFR cross-country. Most training delays aren't flying problems — they're bookkeeping problems discovered late: a sub-requirement everyone assumed was complete turns out short when the examiner's paperwork is being assembled. This tracker prevents that by making every flight declare which bucket it fills (simulated/actual instrument hours toward 61.65's 40-hour requirement, with the 15-hour CFII line). The totals stay live, the 30-day tile shows your training tempo, and the CSV export gives your instructor the same picture you have. Students who arrive at checkride scheduling with this record complete schedule once; the alternative often reschedules twice.
How to use Instrument Rating 40-Hour Tracker
- 1Log each flight and tag which requirement bucket it fills.
- 2Review totals against the requirement before each lesson block.
- 3Export the record when scheduling your checkride paperwork.
Why use Instrument Rating 40-Hour Tracker?
- ✓Tracks the actual requirement: the IR requires 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, 15 of them with a CFII, plus the 250 nm IFR cross-country
- ✓Bucket-tagged flights make every sub-requirement's progress visible
- ✓30-day tempo tile shows whether your training pace is decaying
- ✓CSV export aligns you and your CFI on what remains
- ✓Browser-private and free — your training file stays yours
Frequently asked questions
Can simulator time count toward the instrument rating's 40 hours?+
Yes, substantially: up to 20 hours in an approved FTD/AATD (or more in higher-fidelity FFS under Part 142 programs) may credit toward the 40, which roughly halves the aircraft cost of the rating. The split matters though — the 15 hours with a CFII and the long IFR cross-country must still happen, so this tracker keeps sim, aircraft, and instructor-given instrument time as separate filling bars.
Why do students discover missing requirements so late?+
Because school records track lessons while the regulation tracks categories of experience, and the two drift: a night flight logged without the XC tag, hood time without the instructor's name, a 'cross-country' that doesn't meet the distance definition. Tagging each flight against the regulation's own buckets at logging time — not at checkride-prep time — collapses that drift to zero.
Does this replace my official logbook for the checkride?+
No — examiners verify your endorsed paper or certified electronic logbook. This is the planning layer that makes sure the official record will SURVIVE that verification: complete buckets, no surprises. Bring both: the logbook as evidence, this export as the index that lets you answer 'show me your night cross-country' in five seconds.
Why doesn't this tool sync to the cloud?+
By design: career and currency records are sensitive, and the simplest privacy guarantee is never transmitting them. Local-only storage means zero servers, zero breach surface and zero subscription. If you fly from several devices, keep one as the master record and move snapshots between machines with the CSV export.
Can I get my data out if I switch tools later?+
Always — the CSV export is a complete, lossless dump of your training progress record, generated locally in one click. Import it into commercial logbook software, archive it in your records folder, or post-process it in a spreadsheet. No lock-in is a deliberate design decision: data you can't take with you isn't really yours.
Related Aviation tools
FAA PPL Pilot Logbook
Free digital FAA pilot logbook for PPL holders — log flights, auto-total hours and watch 90-day recency, privately in your browser.
● LiveFAA CPL Pilot Logbook
Free digital FAA pilot logbook for CPL holders — log flights, auto-total hours and watch 90-day recency, privately in your browser.
● LiveFAA ATPL Pilot Logbook
Free digital FAA pilot logbook for ATPL holders — log flights, auto-total hours and watch 90-day recency, privately in your browser.
● Live