Doing IMC
Hi Gav,
This is a very personal viewpoint. Others are sure to disagree.
I'm doing my IMC at the moment. I am about seven hours in at a good establishment and don't feel anywhere near half way through what has to be learned. Make no mistake, IMC is a difficult course!
In regard to training materials, I am using RANT and find it extremely good. One of its main virtues is that it is simple to get a quick grasp of and put into immediate use. Another virtue is that it is available to me both at home and at the flying club, where I can also get help with it from any instructor.
I do also have FS2000, but rarely if ever use it. I suppose it could be used for IMC work at a push, but it would be much more complicated to use and I would have to spend a great deal more time just learning to use it before I could employ it for learning IMC techniques. I believe in keeping things simple, so I'm sticking to RANT.
Yes you could probably learn all the theory you need to pass the written exam from just working through the confuser alone. But this means regarding all the theory as merely a tick-box exercise: something you just do and forget. It isn't. You need to learn your theory properly and know it.
In regard to hours flown, the IMC is now an old syllabus probably in need of being updated. So while I don't doubt that a really good and very current PPL might be able to complete the course 15 hours and pass the skill test, whether that person would be likely to feel competent, (or confident,) to fly in IMC I am not sure. Certainly, I wish to be competent to use the techniques of the IMC and have budgetted for 30 hours, or if necessary more, to complete the course.
One thing about the IMC that is not mentioned is the amount of technique, necessary for flying exercises, that has to be learned beforehand on the ground. It is not like PPL where you can fly twice a day and by that means shorten your course. I have had to cancel several flights because I have not yet felt comfortable with the technique I would be using.
There are quite a few people about who hold the IMC Rating but would avoid like the plague having to actually use the skills it entails. Invariably, these ratings are not renewed. If you intend to make serious use of the IMC, then you really need to take learning the skills it entails seriously. Instrument flying is a difficult skill to learn and it needs to be done properly.
Good luck.
Broomstick.