Torquetalk,
Just telling it how it is, I'm afraid.
I can give you a couple of recent examples but I am hesitant to because I don't really want the individuals concerned to read this. But one FAA IR holder required 36 hours of training pre-test (ie more than the required 15hrs!) and another FAA CFII who couldn't even track an ADF needle.
I didn't say that all FAA IR holders require more than the 15hrs but from speaking to the IR instructors, it would certainly seem that a lot do. Remember that we are talking about budgeting for training here - I was just warning SL to not just budget for the 15hrs.
Out of interest, have you sat the UK JAA IRT yet?
And you've got the wrong end of the stick re my reference to 'reputation'. I wasn't implying that all US trained pilots have a bad reputation. I was saying that because nobody in the UK knows who you are personally, you won't have any reputation at all. And when it comes to getting that first job, this can be critical. Your prospective new boss is going to call whoever you did your training with - because the chances are that he knows him!