To add to my earlier post; pprune crashed for a bit....
Why an earth do you have to jump through all the other hoops.
To protect the jobs in professional flying schools, and to protect the jobs in the CAA which gets fat fees from licensing these schools.
As regards costs in the USA; last time I trained there (2006) one could rent a PA28-161 for about $80/hr (plus instructor) and while that has gone up, it is still way below the UK rate.
I think I spent about $4k on the IR, and that figure includes 25hrs flying (all dual), accomodation in a cheap motel, food, airline tickets to/from Phoenix, Arizona.
This does not even begin to compare with a UK JAA IR package, where the minimum dual time is 50hrs (SE) which at the most charitable rate of an owner aircraft charged at the marginal hourly cost of say £80/hr, plus an instructor (through the IR FTO) at say £60/hr, will come to £6500 i.e. $10000, and on top of that you have
- exams
- travel to the school
- hotel residence if FTO not at local airfield
- checkride fee
I cannot see how one could possibly do a 50hr JAA IR under £10k and it will probably be nearer to £15k. If somebody has done it under £10k I'd like to see the accounting.
To be fair, one can never compare the UK with the USA on costs but the requirement to train via a professional pilot FTO results in a huge cost inflation, both direct and (for many pilots) through hotel residence for the flight training.
Also, to be fair, the 25hr FAA IR figure I give is based on my previous IFR experience which by then was substantial. My estimate for a truly ab initio FAA IR would be c. 40hrs TT. Still way cheaper than the JAA IR route.
I did not use any of my IMCR training time towards the FAA IR (did not need to).