Originally Posted by Pace
How some here can promote 15 hrs training on an IMCR course and then state that they are IFR ready bemuses me
It takes a lot more than that to be safe in an IFR/IMC invironment.
Used with caution and self limitation as a back up for the VFR pilot the IMCR is a useful safety tool but thats all. Its not an IR which some here seem to think it is.
Peter - I think the thing you're forgetting here is it comes down to
personal attitude / responsibility / ability
There are some very good IMC pilots out there for whom the IMC is not a "get you out of trouble" rating but a "get you there" rating. Conversely there are some supposed IR's out there who I wouldn't trust to sit the right way up on a toilet seat. The number of 250 hour CPL/IR's with frozen ATPL's, in the right hand seat of a 737, who can't string two words together, is amazing!
You can't generalise the way you are doing. I agree - nobody is ready for complex IFR scenarios after 15 hours training, but then neither is a 40 hour IR who has done nothing but flown the same routes with the safety net of an instructor next to them.
NEITHER of them will have developed the decision making / captaincy skills that come with experience.
I used my IMC as an "IR light" until I got my IR. I learned a lot, used it a lot, stayed current. The end result was when I turned up to get my IR (the same one you had until you got your ATP I suspect) my instructor was happy with "training as required" - and it wasn't a great deal that was required. Why? I'd used, I'd learned, I'd
stayed current.
I think there is a place for it, but I do think the current 25 month currency is wrong and it should be brought in line with the IR - 12 months. This would hopefully weedle out the person who thinks they're ok even if it hasn't been used for a year and a half but keeping the person who, like me, was just as competent as an IR, albeit with higher minima (yes - I know it's only a recommendation before anyone says!) and uses it properly.
Until the current IR becomes more attainable, like the FAA one in terms of groundschool / exams and flight testing it is a useful addition to the UK pilots armoury and should be protected.