IO540 - if you're at a towered airport in CAVOK conditions, can't you
simply ask for clearance on the approach of your choice, and fly it once cleared?
Yes, within reason (e.g. a busy airport will be operating a specific runway and that narrows the choice of approaches). Also, while most airports publish a number of instrument approaches, most bigger places use radar vectoring onto the ILS and ATC there will not be terribly interested in somebody wanting to fly the procedural NDB/DME approach when they have half a dozen ILS inbounds
So at a busy place the choice would tend to be either the primary instrument approach (usually vectored) or a visual approach to the same runway.
However, the EIR will not allow instrument approaches of any kind - other than in an emergency.
Excuse me if this is incorrect as I live outside the UK, but my impression is that
many pilots use their IMC rating as an everyday tool for navigating through
IMC, and not as the "lifesaver" it is advertised to be.
Yes. If you look at the IMCR privileges, they are identical to a full IR except
- no Class A airspace
- min vis 1800m for arrivals and departures
- IFR allowed in
UK airspace only
If that's true it seems to be just as much of a loophole as the good old FAA IR, except it's sub ICAO.
It's not a "loophole" and neither is the FAA IR !! Both are 100% legal privileges. If you have a legal privilege to fly with your trousers down, then you are 100% legal to fly with your trousers down
Whereas for example flying in IMC on a VFR flight is illegal (although practically everybody has done it at some stage).