Nice to see that gentlemens agreements still exist your side of the water. This side, namely North sea, bondings are the norm. At the moment I believe it to be around three years for an initial rating, and two to three years for an instrument rating depending on previous experience! At least with the introduction of JAR OPS one will have to have both to work on the North sea and so both bondings will run concurrently. Previously, you would just about have paid off you initial rating when the instrument rating came along and you would have to start all over again!