Do people use the IMCr just as a get out of jail card? Or do you look to exercise the privileges actively?
I used mine actively (have an FAA IR now, for which the IMCR was excellent training/practice).
Equally, when flying into somewhere which has an instrument approach is it common practice to request to use this approach so as to gain more experience even in perfect conditions or do you fly the normal VFR procedure?
Yes.
Can you say just rock up at Biggin on a perfect day and ask to use their ILS just to get more experience with him?
Yes.
Or does that just pi$s off a lot of people in an otherwise busy circuit?
All airfields with a published instrument approach, in the UK, will have full ATC, so if ATC says it's OK then it's OK.
If it is a nice day, I would phone them up first. Cranfield is the one place which dislikes IFR arrivals unless it is a based flying school
My iphone has a lot of applications that tell you the cloud base etc but I still struggle to find where to expect the tops of cloud to be – no doubt this is on one of the met office sites, but if someone can direct me to a good reliable site that gives this information in English that would be greatly appreciated as well
There is no reliable way to forecast cloud tops, with accuracy relevant to typical IMCR flight in the UK i.e. OCAS. Some reading
here and
here but as I say there is no method (accessible to mere mortals) which will tell you if the tops are 4000ft or 6000ft, and if the Class A base is 5500ft then you would need to be sure if you want a flight in sunshine
The bases you get from tafs and metars along the route.
Finally, on the use of GPS for approaches
I realise that this isn’t covered in the course but was curious as to what I can expect to get from gaining experience from such aids after gaining the IMCr. I mean how much can a GPS / auto pilot etc do for you / me / realistically in a general aviation sense?
I guess, how do you use your GPS in the real world to fly a standard approach in IMC?
You fly a published GPS ("RNAV") approach. It is just another instrument approach. To do it legally you need a properly installed IFR GPS and all of them are panel mounted (not handheld).
Any half decent autopilot installation will track a GPS and will also track a GPS approach, in the lateral manner.
Vertical guidance is currently available only on ILS approaches. GPS approaches with vertical guidance are a hot topic at present because the extra satellite (EGNOS) is now apparently operational and these approaches will probably be around in a few years' time. How many of them will be at airports which don't already have an ILS is an interesting question
The most relevant question re GPS approaches is whether they will ever be allowed at airfields which don't have full ATC. That would then be of real benefit to GA.