Bose X
There is indeed little point about arguing (was I arguing??) about something which may happen at the end of a long process.
We are at the beginning of this process. Let's not lose sight of this FACT.
To make an even more general comment, the way to lose a huge amount of opportunity in one's life, not to mention a huge amount of money, is to allow every piece of potential bad news to alter one's actions.
In GA, there is such a constant stream of bad news (the pilot forums live on bad news, and the printed media do too because good news doesn't make such good copy) that if one was to actually act on it, one would chuck it all in and take up fishing.
Take the absolute worst case scenario: a pilot who has got the IMCR and uses it for real (like I did before I got the IR, and like I believe you used to). If the IMCR is abolished, what does he actually lose?
- he can still fly in cloud (illegal but who can tell?)
- he can still fly above a solid overcast (may be illegal depending on the detail but who can prove there wasn't a hole)
- he can fly in cloud or poor vis safely
- the 3000m min VFR vis on a JAA PPL is IMC for most purposes, but he can fly in it safely while the rest of Engoland's VFR GA is firmly grounded
- he cannot fly a published instrument approach (short of declaring an emergency)
- he can still fly any unpublished approach (like loads of pilots do right now)
So he has actually lost very little.