VFR Landing Skills Can Become Rusty During IFR Training

Missed approaches often mean less practice for pilots.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Landing in New York aboard a Tailwind Air Cessna 208B. [AirlineGeeks/Katie Bailey]

Key Takeaways:

Pilots often experience a decline in landing proficiency while pursuing an instrument rating because training prioritizes approaches and missed approaches over extensive landing practice.
Instrument flight training provides fewer opportunities for traditional VFR landing practice, causing skills like precision and centerline adherence to become rough.
Beyond landings, other fundamental VFR skills such as ground reference maneuvers, slow flight, and stalls can also degrade due to the intense focus on instrument procedures.
It is crucial for pilots to intentionally practice and maintain proficiency in these foundational VFR skills, including landings, even while concentrating on instrument flight.

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The private pilot was well into earning his instrument rating. Every training flight consists of multiple approaches that terminate in a missed approach, followed by the return to the home airport for a full-stop landing.

His flight planning skills were good, his scan was spot-on, and his radio skills were improving with each flight. Unfortunately, his landings had become a bit rough. Too fast. Not on centerline. They were passable, but not the level of precision on which he prided himself.