Technical Subject Areas: Regulations, Endorsements, Logbooks
The regulatory core
Expect questions on 14 CFR 61.65 (instrument rating eligibility and experience), 61.57(c) (recent instrument experience), 61.51(g) (logging instrument time), and 61.195 (flight instructor limitations). Section 61.57(c) requires, within the preceding 6 calendar months, six instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigation systems. Section 61.195 caps flight instruction at 8 hours in any 24-hour period and restricts instrument instruction to instructors who hold an instrument rating and to aircraft approved and equipped for instrument flight.
Endorsements and logbooks
AC 61-65 is the source for endorsement wording. As a CFII you endorse instrument experience, an instrument proficiency check, the knowledge test, and the practical test. You must sign the logbook and, under 61.189, keep a record of each endorsement for 3 years. Log entries are legible, in ink, and show date, total time, type of instruction, and your signature with certificate number and expiration date. Instrument time may only be logged for flight conducted solely by reference to instruments in actual or simulated conditions.
Worked example
A pilot completes six approaches, a hold, and course intercepts on June 2. 'Six calendar months' does not run to December 2 of the following year - it expires the last day of the sixth calendar month after the month of the experience, here December 31. Anything later requires an IPC.
Trap: confusing the 6-calendar-month currency window with a rolling 6 x 30-day count, and assuming an endorsement you gave two years ago need not still be on file.