eyeinthesky,
Are you sure that you must maintain 1000'/1500m, if you are IFR without an IR/IMC rating?
My understanding was that you must keep to the most stringent of the rules for the airspace you're in under the rules you're following (VFR/IFR), and the restrictions of your license. The 1000'/1500m rule is part of the VFR rules. The restriction of the basic PPL only stipulates clear of cloud and in site of the surface. In fact, I seem to remember a thread a couple of months ago where someone suggested that avoiding the 1000'/1500m rule is about the only practical reason for wanting to fly IFR if you don't have a IR/IMC rating (although even then you could usually keep below 3000', where the rule doesn't apply anyway, unless there's some airspace or something down there that you don't want to bother with).
As for having two threads on the same subject, perhaps one of the thread-starters (NigelS or pil) could close his thread, and we can carry on with just one thread?
FFF
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