School close to London for IMC rating.

[DanT1982]

Hi,

I am looking for a good school to complete my IMC rating, ideally somewhere close to London. Was wondering if anyone had completed their IMC recently and might have any recommendations?

Currently flying from Wycombe but would be interested to hear any opinions before I commit to anything.

Thanks very much.

Dan

[Nashers]

i know stapleford do IMC ratings. i would presume camair elstree and denham would as well but not sure.

[BroomstickPilot]

The Pilot Centre at Denham might suite you.

They definitely do IMC.

Denham lies in the same direction out of London as Booker, but not so far out, so that might reduce your travel costs.

They have decent aeroplanes and, so far as I know, a good reputation.

Broomstick.

[DanT1982]

Thanks for the info. Would probably rather try and avoid Cabair if possible based on prior experience.

Will have a look at the pilot centre Denham through. I was advised to do it at a school that also teaches full IR training, so I’m taught by an instructor who teaches IR full time rather than one that just does part time instrument flying as I would imagine might be the case in a school that only teaches up to PPL level. Not sure if there is any truth in that but thought it worth considering.

Cheers

[denhamflyer]

Pilot centre would definitely be a place to try. Some of the instructors are IR rated so you they will cover all you need to know. I did my IMC there and they cover more than the basic syllabus so you are better equipped and more aware of your limitations. Best to book and do as much flying in the real fluffy stuff rather goggles.

[djtaylor]

Irecently finished off an IMC rating started in Florida last year at Wycombe Air Centre. They have a simulator and CY the 172 normally used for IMC has an HSI which I found made life easier. The standard of instruction was good with a choice of instructors. It is not the cheapest option but including sim time I did just under 20 hours in 4 weeks.

[wsmempson]

I did my IMC earlier in the year with BAFC at Booker and was taught by Dick Thurbin - a wise old owl, from the 'common-sense' school of teaching.

If I had a criticism of the IMC course as a whole, there is an emphasis on NDB holds and let-downs (which, come a dark and stormy night, would not be my 'get-out-of-gaol-free-card' of choice) as opposed to sensible things like radar vectored ILS's/PAR's/SRA's etc. Given the current proposal to grub-up a lot of the NDB's, perhaps this is time better spent elsewhere.

Anyhow, a very worthwhile course all in all.:)

[prettygrumman]

There are other organisations at Elstree apart from Cabair, try the Lion
Fling Group there. Continuity is assured as there is only one trainer.

[A and C]

The BAFC is the only game in town if you are already flying at Wycombe, with good aircraft, first class instructors and reputable business ethics I can't think of a better place to get an IMC that is available to the general public.

wsmempson

From a training point of view the ADF is the most difficult to grasp and so the most time is spent on getting it right, this will improve the standard of your flying making all the other aspects of IMC flight much easier. At first glance it may seem that not enough time was spent on ILS or the radar approaches but if you can fly a good ADF approach the real "get out of jail free card" the PAR is very easy!

[smortimore]

I agree that BAFC are most probably the best around the patch (I have done all my training there). However, they are runnning into problems getting approaches now (not there fault, just BAS (Big Airport Syndrome)) and I have decided to decamp to Bournemouth purely on the basis I know I will be able to get approaches etc.

Not as good but I cant afford a 170 mile round trip just to be told that we cant get an approach anywhere.

It might be better during the week as Brize and Benson are helpful I believe.

[Tall_guy_in_a_152]

If I had a criticism of the IMC course as a whole, there is an emphasis on NDB holds and let-downs
This is not true of the IMC sylabus in general which is wide open. The instructor and school have discretion according to their preferences and of course the local facilities available.

The IMCR can be granted without ever having tracked an NDB. Where I trained we had access to a good selection of ILS, LOC and VOR approaches in the local area (within about 20 minutes flying time), but the nearest NDB was over 30 minutes away and was en-route, not linked to an approach.

My current home base only has an NDB IAP so some post IMC training was required.

[FlyingApe]

If you are already flying there you should know that already !

Helpfull. laid back yet professional. friendly.

And the IMC instructors are GOOD. Most important they have a FRASCA sim, which will save you expesive hours in the aircraft - get on it as much as possible. Instrument flying is ALL about recency !

[A and C]

Getting approaches is a bit of a problem as Benson are replacing the ILS at the moment so it is off line for a few weeks.

[DanT1982]

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful.

[adz1616]

If you want a relaxed flying school with excellent standards try north london flying school at panshanger

[18greens]

As well as doing it somewhere who teaches the IR you should also try to find a field that has published approaches. That way you get an approach every time you land. (saves time rather than ferrying) and gets you used to operating from an IFR airfield . Places to consider -Southend, Cranfield, Biggin, Bournemouth.

You can also fly on a 600' day, -IFR departure straight into the pattern. 20 minutes airborne per approach. Better than sitting on the ground at Wycombe being told the wx is too bad to do IMC (which happened to me loads). At Biggin you'd be the only thing flying and have the whole approach to yourself.

[Duchess_Driver]

The important thing about flying in IMC is your instrument scan.

A competant, relaxed and well developed scan is far more beneficial to a developing instrument pilot than shooting approaches in IMC. It is about interpretation and understanding what the instruments are actually saying to you as well as being able to react in the correct manner.

Like everything else in aviation, you'll get pilots who recommend X because that's what they like and others will recommend Y because that's where they learned and others will tell that Z is the best place because they think that it has all of the right equipment.

The more correct relationship here is between the student and the instructor, not the student and school or the student and the simulator.

Visit each school, chat with each instructor and go with your heart and your head. If your wallet is in that equation then, I'm sorry, but aviation is no place for you. Yes you can spend alot of money very quickly, unfortunately you can also spend it in the wrong place.

There are good instructors at WAC, BAFC, WLAC, TPC, Cabair, SFC and all the other schools that have been mentioned. Go out and find one who you click with....

[MichelleM]

Wondering why you didn't want to carry on at Wycombe? You might find it you change schools the differences in basic flying methods are so different. Basically, about 90% of how I'd just got through my PPL was totally 'wrong', and had to add re-training as well as taking on a whole new wonderful world of flying on instruments.