"Do you have to inform ATC when you go imc?Just getting a couple of things sorted in my head!I understand you would have requested a RAS or RIS,you would class your flight IFR.Or the opposite you would report VFR when below/OUT OF CLOUD.Any tips would be great."
To request a RAS or RIS doesnt necessarily mean you are IFR or in IMC. You are at liberty to request either service in VMC and for example when flying directly into a low sun I often find a RIS very helpul in otherwise excellent VMC.
As I am sure you know a flight is either VFR or IFR. For the flight to be VFR you must be in VMC but of course for a flight to be IFR you may be either in VMC or IMC BUT if you are IMC then the flight must be IFR. Therefore you might have "declared" the flight to be VFR, to find that during the flight conditions changed. You would then notify the ground unit you were working that you were now IFR. I dont see any requirement to tell them you are now IMC but equally it does no harm. In fact I often find it is helpful because the controller knows your work load may have risen and usually they are even more helpful and certainly far more likely to give you the service you request.
FullyFlapped
- well said!
Pipertommy - without in any way wishing to sound patronising I also agree that some of these questions seem strange given that you have just completed an IMCR. Presumably during some of your training you must have transitioned from VMC to IFR and "arranged" to make a number of approaches in class D airspace - or was in fact all your training with the fogels??