Originally Posted by
Pace
I wish half the efforts put into the IMCR had been directed at the PPL IR then we may have been in a far stronger position than now.
I don't believe any significant effort (beyond forum contributions and IMCR's petition) have been made until very recently to save the IMCr. Certainly AOPA UK appear to have done nothing effective (Pat doesn't even seem to be able to read the current regulations!), where as there has been a fair amount of work on making the IR more achievable.
Originally Posted by
Pace
How pilots get to that point is pretty irrelevant. It maybe through years of experience it maybe through amazing abilities but the flight test with a designated examiner is the ultimate test for the IR.
It is very relevant - I am not aware of any significant relaxation on the European view that formal training is required (maybe quite a lot less than today, but that which is required is still very likely to be at a limited number of FTOs). Hence, the IMCr type rating will continue to be relevant into the future and deserves a good (and successful) defense.