Where to do IMC and Night Rating

[Pekae]

I'm looking at doing my IMC and Night Rating (in my mind, they very much go together!), but want to avoid the horrendous costs in the UK (unless anyone knows different?).

I've toyed with the US and also Spain (I do like my sun :O)

Anyone any experience of this ?

Thanks

[gcolyer]

I would choose a specific school in Florida.....one that has an unbeatable price and has beach in it's name.

One of the IMC pre-reqs is to have the night qualification.

[Anonystude]

One of the IMC pre-reqs is to have the night qualification.

Absolutely false. You get a 'discount' on hours required from the basic phase, but it is most definitely not a prerequisite.

[gcolyer]

Absolutely false. You get a 'discount' on hours required from the basic phase, but it is most definitely not a prerequisite.


I take that statement back. I just had a good read of Lasors. Regarding the Discount on night hours it states that only applies to a Night Rating and not the Night qualification. I am not sure what the difference is.

[pistongone]

i would have thought the place to do your IMC was in cloud:} :8 :D and the night rating should be done in the darkness, not the band mind:}

[gcolyer]

Another thing i might add...is think long and hard on where you do the IMC rating.

For instance in the US there are not many NBD approaches or NDB's, where as in the UK there are tons of them. Plus you will have to get an M1 VISA. By the time you have the M1 and paid your flight to the US then you have already spent more than it would cost to do at home.

I would only consider doing it in the states if you plan on doing a big block of hours or MEP or something that would justify spending more money on doing a cheaper course.

[Lance Murdoch]

The problem with going abroad to do a course is that you only have a limited amount of time to do it in. These things always take longer to do than you think for one reason and another. The IMC is a relatively short course of approx 15-20 hours and after youve paid for airline tickets etc you may not have saved any money, in fact if you dont finish the course in one go youll probably lose money.
I have just finished my IMC in the UK. I do not have a night qualification so it is certainly not a CAA requirement. It may be a requirement of the flying school though.
The NDB is the most difficult radio nav aid to use and most of your time will be taken up learning how to use it. VOR and ILS are much more user friendly and you should pick them up easily enough.
I think it may be best to make sure that wherever you learn that the flying schools home base has an NDB so you dont waste hours travelling back and forth to it.

[gcolyer]

That's not exactly true about courses always taking longer. My PPL took exactly 21 days which is what I booked. I am not saying this is the case every time.

Like i said with the IMC i would only do it in the states if I had other flying activities arranged with it, or like you it simply is not cost effective.

[drauk]

Pekae,

I bet you a pound to a penny that IO540 will be along any minute (rightly so) to tell you that there is NO point in bending over backwards to save a couple of hundred quid on an IMC rating. He will explain that this is because keeping it current (which is what matters) is going to mean owning (group or outright) a decent plane, which is going to cost thousands. If you can find a plane well equipped enough to do IMC flying that you want to trust your life to then you're lucky and even then it'll cost a fair bit per hour.

I'm not saying don't try to save money on the training and you can do it wherever you like ultimately, but understand that flying in IMC costs more than VMC.

[FullyFlapped]

Pekae,

Drauk is right - you need to look at the costs in the round. Having done so, I'd be very surprised if you could end up with a much better deal than you could get in or near to Leeds ... I'd recommend a flying school but I'll get a slap, so PM if you'd like my tuppenceworth ! :)

As for "liking your sun", if you're going to learn to fly in IMC, I strongly suggest you'd be better off with some actual flights in IMC rather than blazing sunshine !

FF :ok:

[Fuji Abound]

Why do you want to do an IMC??

Is it for the satisfaction of adding the rating, to enable you to cope better with "marginal" weather or as a platform to develop your instrument skills.

If it is as a platform to develop your instrument skills then it would be far better to search out an instructor in the UK who is prepared to teach in IMC. As Drauk says, if you are too remain current and develop your skills you will then need access to a well equipted aircraft, and will need to spend time with it and others who have more experience. More than likely in the States or Spain you will rarely see IMC conditions.

[Pekae]

Thanks all, for your responses (both whitty and or informative)!
I'd certainly already started to weigh up the budgetary pro's & con's, but also fancied a holiday in the sun, into the bargain (I use the term loosely!)

Certainly, I'd prefer to do it where I am going to get some real IMC conditions to do it in, but generally it's foggles and screens, when you ask most schools - which I can do AND get to sunbathe the rest of the time :cool:

FF - Knowing quite a number of people around the Leeds flying arena, I'll definitely PM you to get your view....

Again, thanks to you all for the taking the time.

Pekae.

[IO540]

It took me a good deal longer than "any minute" :)

I did my IMCR in 2002 using the "conventional" process and would never do it again that way. Mine was done in a string of C152s, PA28s, all having various combinations of defective instruments and different lessons having to be done in different types. It's a waste of time and money.

Assuming one is doing it for real flying, IFR around the UK, plus the VMC on top privileges which it gives you potentially worldwide, there is only one way: find yourself a real IFR pilot who has done a large amount of long IFR flights between real IFR airports. Most likely, a retired airline pilot who has been instructing for many years.

It's also best to do the training in the type which you will have access to afterwards. Often this won't be possible but currency on TYPE is very important.