The many posts on here (from your own countrymen as you put it) are correct, and over here in JAR land IFR is time spent on an IFR flight planned route, and IMC is IF and should be recorded in the remarks (or spare column) of your logbook. This is worth doing as it is stated quite clearly in LASORS (which is of no relevance to the FAA amongst us, but is rather important for anyone wanting to upgrade a JAA licence) that "1 hour sole reference to instruments may be counted as 4 hours flight by IFR." thus also reinforcing the difference. (Lasors H2.1 if you want to look it up). If as Guppy maintains IF and IFR are the same, this variance would truly make no sense.
Thanks again for the regulatory reference. This is precisely what I was after.
The UK licensing requirements do ask, in several places (as cited above) for a record of experience operating under instrument flight rules (IFR), per LASORS, as one way of showing compliance. The same regulation, of course, recognizes actual instrument time as being worth four times what time spent under IFR is valued.
At no point did I ever insinuate, or suggest that Instrument Flight, and IFR are the same; in fact, my point has been exactly the opposite.
What the regulation in the UK does not prescribe is a requirement to log time spent under IFR. Many posters have suggested that the regulation states the pilot shall log flight under IFR, and as we have seen, this is false.
The regulations specific to the maintenance of a logbook clearly prescribe a requirement to show conditions of flight, which are IFR conditions (not flight under IFR).
What one records in excess of this, to show compliance with the LASORS experience requirements, for example), is separate and apart from the logging requirements of the JAR-FCL 1.080.
The regulation does not use the phrase IMC, but rather refers to "IFR conditions"...which as we've seen (and contrary to what many posters have stated), is clearly defined as flight in conditions less than VFR.
For those who have clung doggedly to their logbooks as evidence of the regulation, we've fairly thorougly dismissed this as any establishment of regulation, as it is not. What the log book makers have done is kindly provided a column for which applicants may record their IFR time for meeting certain licensing requirements...but there's no requirement to log such for the purposes of the JAR-FCL 1.080. It's simply not there, and as such, is not a regulatory requirement of keeping a logbook. Whereas many posters have repeatedly stated that one SHALL and MUST record time spent under IFR, this is patently false.
There has never been a disagreement over the difference between flight in instrument conditions, and flight under instrument flight rules...of course they are different. The regulation, however, recognizes only flight in instrument conditions when sole reference to instruments is required, for the logging of instrument time...and this is the clearly the meaning (as defined by previously cited documents) in JAR-FCL 1.080.
Per Chinchilla.612, the LASORS section H2.1 as previous specified is as follows:
b. Have completed at least 800 hours of flight time under IFR of which at least 400 shall be in aeroplanes. Where pilots have recorded flight by sole reference to instruments and not under IFR, then 1 hour sole reference to instruments may be counted as 4 hours flight by IFR.
This particular requirement is for the privilege of Instrument Instructor in Aeroplanes, and is specific to that rating...not to the general logging of flight time. Where regulations specific to the general logging of flight time are concerned, one is not required to log time spent under IFR...but one is required to log flight in IFR conditions. Flight in IFR conditions, as previously shown, is flight in conditions less than VFR.
Out of interest, for the FAA requirements do you record your approach types and holds in the remarks section, or do you have dedicated columns?
The FAA doesn't prescribe a logbook format or make an effort to detail columns in the book; this is a function of each individual logbook maker, and they vary somewhat. So long as the logbook is able to break down time adequately to show compliance with the regulation, the FAA isn't concerned with the format.
The FAA does not require the logging of flight time except to show compliance with recency of experience or certification requirements, and to show a record of privileges extended in certain cases (eg, student pilots solo privileges, etc). One can fly a thousand trouble free hours and log none of it, if one wants. One may also add to the logbook, such as recording hours spent under IFR, if one wants...but there is no regulatory requirement for, or against this action.
The specific regulatory requirement to log time is found in Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61.51(a), which states:
(a) Training time and aeronautical experience. Each person must document and record the following time in a manner acceptable to the Administrator:
(1) Training and aeronautical experience used to meet the requirements for a certificate, rating, or flight review of this part.
(2) The aeronautical experience required for meeting the recent flight experience requirements of this part.
By and large the recording of flight time beyond the regulation (eg, logging IFR) in the US is considered padding one's log and looked upon with some distain and discouragement. I know an individual who is flying as a civilian in a combat zone, and is presently logging "combat time." While he's certainly entitled to put whatever he wants in that log, it's caused no shortage of ridicule, and of course, impresses no one.
What's in the US regulations so far as logging of flight time is of course, irrelevant to the thread, but as the question was asked, one must record the type of approach, and location. There is no specific requirement as to how or where this information must be recorded in the logbook. However, most logbooks include a place to put this information, and it's a good practice to record it for the sake of details, whether it be in the remarks section, one's own personal section, or a dedicated, preprinted column which specifies the type of approach and location. As far as the FAA is concerned, the individual needs to either show an instrument proficiency check in the past six months, or log six approaches, holding, and tracking of a course. (What's required to actually be proficient, of course, is another matter, largely specific to the individual).