I am getting close to my checkride, and want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. I read that per the 2010 Gatlin FAA interpretation, you have to be a CFII. I have 3.2 hours of flight simulator time given by an IGI in 2003, which would be prior to Gatlin, but after the 1980 Ruth interpretation. Ruth states an IGI can give flight simulator instruction. Would that time still be good, or do I need to get up in the air and do some simulated instrument with my CFII before going for the checkride? I have 0.8 hrs of sim time from a CFII and 0.7 hood time with a CFII.

Comments, concerns?

There are two questions you need to get answered (and I don't have definitive answers)...

1. In the case of changes in FAA interpretations of the regs, is it possible to get "grandfathered" under the old interpretation?

I think the answer has to be yes for people who took their checkride prior to 2010 because otherwise the FAA would have to retroactively revoke their certificates.

2. Would said grandfathering apply to sim time prior to 2010 but a checkride after 2010? I doubt it. My guess would be that grandfathering would only apply for checkrides which had already occurred prior to the interpretation.

Also...this is not really an arbitrary change in interpretations. The old regs (long time ago) actually seemed to allowed GI's to give sim instruction. These regs changed years ago but some folks still kept doing things the old way. Eventually someone (Gatlin) got around to asking for clarification.

So I would consider your argument pretty weak, and probably not worth fighting with an examiner on checkride day...he'll probably just decline to give the checkride without clarification from the FAA. Save yourself the hassle and go get some flight time.

A DPE most likely wouldn't even touch this scenario, not with that big of a gray area. The other option would be to take it up with the FSDO and have a Fed do the checkride. But who really wants all that extra scrutiny and government red tape to cut through? Not worth it in my opinion.

Thanks for the answers. Rather than worry about it, I took the easy route and went up with my instructor yesterday and punched holes in the sky without seeing a thing. Got enough hood time to qualify even without the "gray area" sim time.