Bookworm,
No, I use ICAO annex 6 part 2 - the standard that the UK CAA says UK aircraft operate to with the exceptions noted. There is no exception for fuel planning requirements or to the fact that a VFR flight can not depart for anything other than a local flight unless the weather is VMC all the way to destination.
I also use the UK AIP.
I can't remember how long the debate on IMCr minima was..........but it certainly told the world that here was a rating that the holders were very confused about exactly what it entitled them to do.
If you lived in a European country where the IR was not as costly to obtain as in the UK would you want this hassle?
Don't forget that if EASA expands the IMC rating to all of Europe, France, Ireland etc are going to have UK IMCr holders flying IFR in their airspace while their own pilots do not have the option and if they wanted that they would have permitted the IMCr's use in their countries before now.
A and C tells us about all the extra paperwork that engineers are having to do and how he is going to have to charge more for maintenance. God help us, he must have picked that line from the training providers who claimed all this paperwork of JAR-FCL is going to push up costs...........Can any ATPL, CPL, PPL or Instructor point me to all the extra paperwork?
A and C should indeed help the rest of Europe maintenance providers and push up his prices. Perhaps UK pilots will see sense and take their business elsewhere in what is now at long last becomming a "common market" in aircraft maintenance.
Regards,
DFC