Regis,
I understand the syllabus and yes you are correct with the I/F time that you have quoted!
Yes I am aware the airspace in the USA is very different to that of the UK!
With OAT you still get the minimum required hours in the UK required for the issue of a CAA IR from an integrated course, which currently stands at 55 hours! Also the CAA will not let any training outside JAA airspace count towards the issue of a CAA IR! So all the I/F time in the U.S is additional to what a student would require so would defiantly benefit the student on return to the UK!
Also if you are criticising OAT for doing instrument training out of UK airspace then shouldn’t you be using the same argument in the FTE topic, since all there IR training is conducted in Spain!
Happy flying