Currency Schmurrency

Last night, I was looking at my electronic flight log spreadsheet. One of the things that stood out was that I had 66 approaches in the last 60 days. 66 reminded me of 14CFR61.157 which basically states: For instrument flight, you must have in the last 6 months, 6 instrument approaches, holding procedures, intercepting and tracking through the use of navigation equipment.

Today, I sat in the Seneca FTD ready to do some approaches. Basically, I limped through them. The mistakes I did make were corrected, yet shouldn't have been made in the first place. On one approach, I put the main VOR in as the cross radial backup and the secondary as the primary. Even though I caught it quickly, it put me behind the approach and all that does is create stress. Careless mistake.

On an ILS approach, I failed to change the button from a previous GPS approach to CDI. I caught it after noticing the glide slope flag was on. I wondered if the instructor disabled the glide slope. Did he want me to change to a non-precision localizer only approach? NOPE. Press the damn CDI button on the Garmin, doofus. All the distraction caused me to blow through the localizer, so I had to turn back to intercept. All was good well before the final approach fix, but again, it shouldn't have happened.

I also made a few careless mistakes with holds, too. I basically had my *ss handed to me. It's amazing how quickly instrument proficiency dissipates. The scary part is that, technically, I'm instrument current. Would I embark on a trip into IMC right now? Not a chance. Over the next few weeks, I will regain my instrument proficiency...and confidence.

Are the requirements of 91.157 really enough for a casual private pilot with instrument rating to be safe? I'm not asking a rhetorical question. I really do wonder. Would or should a private pilot with just 91.157 minimums forge into IMC?

Is there anyone out there with an opinion? (Now that's a rhetorical question)