I'm seriously considering doing the IMC, as based in (non) sunny Aberdeen, we're constantly beset by fog/haze and a layer of low cloud on otherwise fine flying days which makes VFR flight infrequent (at least this summer anyway). Being able to push above it and actually *get* somewhere would be wonderful - I've had many oppertunites to go to Dundee/Inverness/Perth which I've had to cancel as the weather hasn't been VMC and I end up driving instead - the Inverness road in particular is a nightmare - 2.5/3 hours to do 105 miles compared with a 40 min flight in a 172.
So I'd like to use it to actually go places rather than a "get out of trouble" rating.
As previously intimated, if you don't keep it pretty current, it'll go from a "get out of" to a "get into" trouble rating when you try an approach in cloud having not done one for 6 months. I intend using it very regularly.
That said - the IMC or the IR??
I have a young son, I managed to get my PPL completed before the nipper arrived but the thought of me heading off for X weeks to do the full IR (55hrs I believe) would put the wife in a bad mood. Add to that the exam requirements - I don't really have the time or the inclination to sit 7 exams, and I'm not going to go ATPL in the future.
I'm also not going to be flying into any Class A/B airspace unless I'm SLF (or I'm *really* confused about where I am!!!), and based in Aberdeen - I need to fly about 4/5 hours south before I can go to a foreign country, which makes me popping over to Euroland IFR virtually non-existant.
So - the IMC looks like a better fit for what I want to do with it.
25 hours training will be much more wallet friendly (especially in Aberdeen!) given (iirc) that I can't use my group aircraft to train for the inital grant of a licence.
1 exam also sits better with me. Do the IR exams reflect airline/commercial flying rather than GA? The 7 vs 1 seems like quite a difference, but if most IRs are ATPL exam passers anyway, that probably explains it.
So, on balance, the IR exam and hourly requirements seem untenable to someone in my position.
Would I love to have an IR? Absolutely.
Can I afford it? No.
Would I be divorced afterwards? Possibly (unless I planned to go commercial - but that would be financially undesirable for me)
So the IMC -
can I afford it - yes.
Will it let me do what I'd like to? Looks like it.
Now the only sticky wicket is if the IMC is withdrawn in the next few years. However, by that time I'd assume that any future PPL/IR would be easier, on the wallet and theory, to obtain and hopefully there would be a credit from an existing IMCR.
So - I'll go for the IMC in the near future.
Until someone has a timescale for the 'new' IR, with concrete requirements and costs - I can't afford to do the IR anyway...
