I am inclined to agree with Mme Frog......At least I'd advise anyone who was thinking of doing an IMC with a view to getting an FAA IR to use an IRI to cover their arse
I would agree, on the precautionary principle. However (and I am making a rod for my own back saying this) there are not many UK instructors on the PPL scene with
valid IRs. The ATPL hour builders usually had an IR initially but they cannot afford to renew it so they let it lapse until it starts to look like they might get an airline job offer, then they renew it. But they can teach the IMC Rating in the meantime. This situation is a legacy of the historically hard CAA/JAA IR, which has resulted in very tiny numbers of private pilots doing the European IR, and these few people have always managed to get it done at the commercial/ATPL schools. Almost nobody is doing IR training on the normal PPL scene. Of course most people do the FAA IR now anyway.
I "failed" my IR test before we even got in the air because I was missing 3 hours of night flying.
Well, yes, but you would not have got a standalone FAA PPL either, if you didn't have the night stuff. The IR doesn't need anything beyond that, IIRC (could be wrong).
I've been around this block far more times than I want to remember. These things highlight the absolute need to get in direct contact with the FAA examiner and get him to confirm that your logbook (send him a copy of it, with explanatory notes on eligible flights for Part 61) is acceptable.
Generally, the FAA instructor signing you off as ready for the checkride will do all these checks, but there are grey areas which the examiner alone must decide on - for example whether the 250nm cross country flights (IR and CPL have these) with 3 different landings all need to be done on the same day. The FARs are silent on this; John Lynch's FAA FAQ said it doesn't need to be on the same day, but the DPEs are split maybe 50/50. And if the examiner says "jump" you say "HOW HIGH
SIR"
