I completed my IMC in 17 hours. But a word of advice, make sure you get real IMC experience. Foggles and wot not are all very well, but there are still cues, there is nothing like the sudden onset of the white box teach you how to deal with the leans.
Self study ground school with Thom Book 5 and the RANT exercises were sufficient for the ground school.
The skill set which is required to fly IFR in any CAS is suprisingly small. But we must not destroy the IR mythology; a lot of professional pilot self esteem and jobs are hanging on it
So true. But bear in mind that professional pilots are generally operating more stringent criteria and in something considerably faster and due to their hours, are exposed to many more mistakes by themselves, other pilots and ATC. This does up the ante somewhat.
I notice that many people seem to recommend FS 2004, i have FS 2002 is there anything special about 2004 that makes it superior for practicisng instrument procedures or will 2002 suffice?
You would be better off with FS 98 or something that isn't as resource hungry. My gripe with FS generally is that I spend more time faffing with it than using so I just gave up. My preference is
ELITE Simulation Solutions - The PCATD Leader. More expensive for the disc but no need for an up to date powerful PC. It is specifically designed for instrument practice and it shows.