bose - are the proposals put forward availiable in the public domain, or on another thread here, or are they for EASA's consumption only currently? Apologies, I'm sure I've seen it on here already - I'll have a search - unless you have a handy link
For those with the time/availiability, possibly an FAA IR would be a better plan as it'll confer automatic IMCR privalages in G-reg and full IR in N reg. And once EASA take over, if the IMCR is not retained, at best we could hope that for a PPL with an FAA IR, to gain an JAA IR would result in 15hrs training and (hopefully) reduced exam requirements?
I'm just trying to work out which is the best route for me. I'll probably decide to do the IMCR anyway, use it for the 2 years before it gets chucked.
My choices seems to be:
IMCR - in the UK, for around £2k - 15hrs, done up the road, should nail it in a week or two.
FAA IR - in the states, around £4-5k, would take me a good few weeks - wife liable to kill me, if I don't take her with me!
JAA IR - possibly somewhere like Aerodynamics - circa £7k (£10k in blighty), but loads of exams - so many months more studying, take a good few weeks, wife liable to kill me in general.
As much as I want to do something which won't get dumped in 2 years, I want to get on and use the rating as marginal VMC definately keeps me stuck on the ground at the moment. I don't need class A access, and I don't need airways, and I'm not going to have access to an N reg any time soon.
I think ultimately I'll just have to take the IMCR route then become a staunch campaigner against it's removal! And possibly add a personal £5-10 an hour "IR fund" in case the worst happens!
Either way, us PPLs wanting an instrument qual are in limbo. But at least I'd get a couple of years (hopefully) use out of it.
And as someone said previously, it's not necessarily the hours requirement which is irritating, it's the exam requirements which assume I want to be an fATPL. If at least those were removed, it would be a great boon. The UK will always remain very expensive (probably even more with the loss of the IMCR), but at least there's the other european outfits who should be able to fill the gap at a lower rate. I'm surprised no eastern european outfits have got in on the act yet - or are they not part of JAA yet?