To put it in perspective though....
There are a bunch of people on the Flyer website who started their IR's in Jan I believe. Some are just finishing now.
By contrast, I went to the USA and did my FAA IR when I had about 120 hrs TT in 2001. It took 5 weeks from start to finish, and I had never flown on instruments and was short of cross country time. Before I went I read the Jeppesen Instrument Commercial manual and some Gleim books, I then sat the exam a week or so after I arrived and aced it.
The flying standard is the same and some would argue the test is harder than JAR - no set format, 1.5 hr oral exam, so you can't say it was "easier".....Just far more achievable.
That's very true. However there are so many (mostly individually small) differences between the Euro and the US system that while a comparison is interesting it is never going to result in the Euro system coming into line.
Take me as I was 3 years ago. JAA PPL, FAA PPL, IMCR, 500hrs TT.
Had I gone for the JAA IR - 50hrs, 7 exams, probably a year to fit it all in (I did give it a very close look).
I went to Arizona, and 2 weeks later I had done the FAA IR, ~ 25hrs flying. Also sat the single CPL exam on the last day after the IR checkride; cost $90. Earlier in the UK, I had revised for a total of about 20hrs for the FAA IR written exam; also done in the UK.
To a degree, it is not a fair comparison because one cannot compare a solid 2-week project with the same project spread over 6-12 months. The latter will always be less efficient. However there is a vast difference in costs and general hassle. In the USA, you do your PPL and IR and the same place. In the UK, the vast majority of PPL holders will have to go elsewhere for the IR training and since most people live within realistic access of only one airfield, this introduces a major hassle. Add it all up, throw in the other bag of differences (custom made screen v. the hood, the rigid JAA exam timetable, etc) and one can see why so few bother.
History of this kind of group booking suggests that a fair % of the Flyer group will drop out. I believe they got a discount on the ground school (the training material etc) but not on flight training which is the really major expense. OTOH they benefit from being together with other pilots they know, which is nice. A lot of training in the USA is very lonely - I had precisely zero social contact in the two weeks. OTOH, had I gone to do the JAA IR say now, I'd be doing it with a load of mostly very young ATPL candidates....
The FAA oral is feared by ab initio candidates but pilots with previous experience find it easy - even if it stretches to several hours like mine did.