summary of AOPA article in December magazine:
EASA recently held a working group meeting to determine,
inter alia, the future of the IMC rating. The UK was represented by a Mr Jim Thorpe of Europe Air Sports and Deputy Chairman of PPL/IR Europe
Despite there being 23,000 current holders of the IMCR, Mr Thorpe has managed to convey to his European colleagues that there is no support for the rating in the UK
The Europeans have mistakenly gained the impression that the IMCR is equivalent to an IR with just one fifth of the training . . . . and that we can all trolley around up there in the airways with their commercial traffic. No wonder they are so opposed to it with this blatently misleading briefing that has been coming from certain quarters (possibly attached to the entirely independent PPL/IR org who of course have no agenda of their own to peddle
)
Thorpe has told them that British pilots
"will prefer a proposed En Route Instrument Rating for which a course of theoretical exams must be passed before the holder is allowed to fly in the cruise in IMC, with no approach and landing training or privileges" (no doubt this silly concept was dreamt up by a certain Mr J Thorpe - £25 explanatory manual available from all good bookshops)
At the meeting, the only person who tried to raise the UK GA's overwhelming support for the IMCR was Dr Michael Erb of AOPA Germany but he received no support from the UK delegates and so "it was decided to give the IMC rating no further consideration. Dr Erb felt unable to press the issue of a UK rating further in the face of opposition from UK delegates"
Sadly the meeting had been nobbled so as to exclude AOPA UK - all our seats were filled by Thorpe and his cronies.
Fortunately, the Germans seem to have a full measure of integrity not only demonstrated by Dr Erb, but also the Deputy Head of Rulemaking, Mr Eric Sivel, who was obviously surprised by the cleverly orchestrated hatchet job on the IMCR by the UK delegation . . .. . . . . and has agreed to meet urgently with AOPA UK "to ensure there are no further misconceptions about the UK rating".
Frankly I think current members of PPL/IR Org and Europe Air Sports should urgently change their management and to recruit exclusively Germans who seem to have adopted en masse our British sense of fair play. We, on the other hand, seem to have turned into a bunch of weasels . .. . .. . .. .
However, should you wish to abandon your IMC rating and to head in your Warrior for the Airways with a full-on gold standard IR then please contact Mr Thorpe at
[email protected]
Drambuster