I'm following this thread with interest, having never done a circling approach.
Bookwork, your last post but one seemed, at first, to make a lot of sense. But then I got thinking.
The IMC-rated pilot needs only the same buffer as the instrument-rated one? I beg to differ.
Why? Because the IMC-rated pilot is less qualified?
Question (which I genuinely don't know the answer to, because I haven't done it yet): do IR students get to practice circling approaches? (If they do, I'd guess it's not always in the crappy conditions with no horizon and the barely-visible runway lighting that you're talking about, because how would the instructor ensure these conditions were available?)
If they don't, is there not an argument which says that the newly-qualified IMC-rated pilot is no worse-qualified to perform a circling approach than the newly-qualified IR holder? And that the minima should be the same for each? (Although obviously the IMC-rated pilot should acquire visual reference before descending below his (higher) MDA/DA.)
(This argument does not, of course, hold true for straight-in approaches, which both student pilots will have practiced during their training, but the IR student will have practiced right down to the lower minima.)
I'm just thinking aloud really, rather than agreeing or disagreeing with anyone... so what do you think?
FFF
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