WorkingHard
There are pilots who fly hard IFR out of controlled airspace with just an IMCR.
It is their experience gained slowly over years which allows that not the IMCR training itself.
In some ways it is harder for them as they have to be more creative in their flying.
They have to keep away from controlled airspace, often flying solid IMC with poor radar coverage and flying in the greatest turbulence and heaviest weather.
The danger has to be the reason that a pilot gets the IMCR.
If its as an extra safety backup for going places in VFR then its an excellent rating to have.
If its to set off in IMC conditions or known IMC conditions enroute without a lot of experience to back that up then thats asking for trouble.
Many of us have done that and survived and hence gained the experience with a number of frights along the way.
Someone mentioned flying IFR in a C150 and that is a good example why flying with an IMCR coupled with a minimal performance and equipt aircraft brings in extra hazards.
I fly corporate jets which initially climb at 3000 fpm have sytem redundancy and capable autopilots and deicing anti icing systems.
The poor pilot minimally trained in a poor performance aircraft with no deicing anti icing and minimal systems has to be extra careful and self impose limits to the conditions he will fly in.
To not do so increases the risk levels dramatically as shown by a number of recent fatalities published in these threads.
There are many here in the private pilots forum who defend the IMCR because that is all that is available to them. Some go the FAA way as that is a practical IR which is achievable for a working man/woman. Fewer get the JAA IR because they cannot afford the time and expense of following that route. It is the sytem that is wrong not the pilots and that is a sad thing for all of us.
Pace