Pace
One "problem" in these threads is that actually "we" do things a lot smarter than we spend time writing about. So to a casual reader some little snippet might sound a bit dumb.
Sure one looks at the bigger wx picture. I doubt I would overfly 200nm of solid fog. But such conditions would probably occur in the context of some bigger crap, enroute and/or in the terminal areas. Vast tracks of fog might be flying parallel to a warm front (you can tell I've been swatting the JAA IR Met can't you
- getting 85% now
) but I am not going to be doing that in the first place because most of my long flights are discretionary, not human organ deliveries, and there is no point in flying somewhere if the arrival is OVC003
and it's raining so all you can do there is sit in a cafe
We all play Russian Roulette in terminal areas at many airports. The only debate is what % of your life you spend inside those brief time windows. I've never been concerned overflying the Alps but on a recent flight over the
Pyrenees there really were few if any opportunities for a good half an hour. One crosses one's fingers and takes a lot of photos, but I wouldn't do it daily.
Regarding the issue with examiners' preferences, they fly daily and have to do it in both FTO hardware (some of which will be privately owned and leased to the FTO, and in my experience from various training most of the planes are maintained to a pretty minimal level) and privately owned hardware (which ranges from carefully maintained, to absolute junk). I can understand they don't want to take risks because they do this all the time. On the occassions I have done some mentoring, it was always in my own plane. If I go to Greece to do my IR (my 1st and 2nd choice are both UK, currently) it will be in a DA42 not in a DA40
Big Pistons Forever
Frankly of more concern with single engine IFR is you generally only have one vacuum pump and one alternator and generally no de-icing and weather avoidance tools. Those limitations IMO represent more of problem than the one engine.
I agree but that's a separate argument, because there are singles which are dual redundant e.g. the Cessna 400. 2 alternators, 2 batteries, two main buses with various cross-switches... like a 737 really
Also a lot of things can be backed up. To cover for alternator failure, you have
- a battery of known good condition (not a 5 year old Gill)
- a handheld radio, connectable to a rooftop antenna via a cable
- a handheld GPS (or two)
- a headset adapter for the handheld radio
The above stuff costs peanuts. To cover for a vac pump failure, you have
- an electric horizon
- possibly a backup (electric) vac pump, though those are pretty heavy, and actually the vac horizon is almost as likely to go, IME
- partial panel currency
Avoidance of ice and wx is best done by not flying in thick IMC enroute for hours. This is more complex. On a G-reg, for cert for flight in icing conditions, the UK CAA is happy with one alternator. The FAA requires two. It's debatable, because a lot of people fly non-deiced planes in icing conditions, with a way out (usually a descent into warmer air, sometimes a climb up into sunshine though that usually needs an IR and if you have that then you will have planned to be higher anyway, unless flying "VFR" to avoid the 2000kg+ route charges, or trying to avoid using oxygen and that is a really dumb way to fly because it traps you in IMC on most airways flights). You have to be smart about it no matter what, because having rubber boots is no assurance against ice if you are spending hours in IMC below zero. It merely gives you more options. Ice will still accumulate on unprotected surfaces and there are loads of those. I have a de-iced TKS prop but have only one TKS pump. On a full TKS system you have two pumps but the prop TKS is still a single point of failure and if your prop ices up badly then you are going one way anyway...
Oh I have never flown IFR in a single
That is a common attitude among airline pilots; fair enough. I also know some who think a SE should not venture outside the circuit