Originally Posted by
milan.pilot
I would just add - whatever your reason is, try to keep your IR-ME current. It will be much cheaper than renew it at some point in the future. All IR renewals have to go thru ATO. So besides renewing your IR you would also need to renew your class rating - perhaps MEP(land). That will require additional training in ATO before they sign you off for a checkride.
That's exactly what's caused this problem. Every other year I used to renew in the sim, but I now need to have a valid MEP to do this. Due to changes in the rules, I had to renew my MEP last year to be able to use the sim which required the extra training by the ATO. The expiry dates of my IR-ME and MEP don't tie in together and it's all getting unnecessarily complicated for no actual gain! On this basis, it seems sensible to allow my MEP to lapse and revalidate the IR on the SEP. If I ever need the ME side of things again (unlikely at present), I'll find an ATO to help. That's until the next rule change....
Thanks everyone for their input and advice.