The way I see it is that if you want to fly above or through clouds on purpose, the you need and IMC/ IR. Is this right???
I'll stick my neck out and say "in the UK, yes that is correct". There is debate and qustion of what constitutes a cloud base - for example is it wrong for a vanilla PPL (i.e. no IR/IMCR) to fly above 2-4/8 of cloud? At what point is there enough cloud to no longer be in sight of the surface? But that debate has been done to death on these forums before...
I think this is the second confusion the
Nice day for flying VMC on top thread has caused. As Aussie Andy pointed out on that thread recently -
The context here is properly trained and qualified UK IMC Rating holders who are able to conduct instrument let-downs. Of course appropriate weather decisions must be made - as with all flying - in accordance with experience (personal minima), aircraft capabilities, forecast outlook, etc