“’Conventional pilots’, i.e. Fixed Wing (airplane) pilots are not required to fly under the hood, unless they are training to obtain an Instrument-Airplane rating.”
§ 61.109(a)(3) — “3 hours of flight training in a single-engine airplane on the control and maneuvering of an airplane solely by reference to instruments...”
Thanks, I was not aware of that regulation. I went through Navy/USMC flight training in Pensacola, 47 years ago, so never actually got a Private Pilots rating. Years later, I took my logbook to the FAA and was issued my Commercial Pilot, SEL, Rotorcraft-Helicopter and Instrument-Airplane.
They did not issue an Instrument-Helicopter because my last check ride (in a Sikorsky CH-53D) was stamped in the Log Book on the date of the flight, not in the front of the log book. Although my initial Instrument training was in a T-28, the vast majority of my actual instrument time, training and check rides were all in Helos.
Ahhh, bureaucrats!