That's looking a little bit on the pessimistic side isn't it? It isn't cast in stone yet what's actually going to happen with the IMCr come April is it?
Even if the worst case scenario prevails and we all become ATO's, but can't do any more new IMCr's or renew existing ones, I don't think there's anything to stop us teaching the skills to PPL's is there? The PPL syllabus is still going to contain Exercise 19, we've still got appropriate aircraft and we as instructors will still have the ratings and qualifications.
We've currently got quite a few students trying to get their PPL and/or IMCr pushed through before April. I've also got one who's said he'd like to do the training after that, even if he can't get the rating.
But that's only going to mitigate the situation slightly, most people won't want to do it if they cant get the rating/use it. I think you're right, it'll cause a significant drop in revenue and utilisation for clubs and instructors. The IMCr was great for giving you something to keep busy with when the weather wasn't good for VFR PPL training. From an instructor point of view, it was also something different to the PPL course, added some more variety to our flying and helped keep it interesting.
Nobody at EASA (or probably even the CAA) will care at all, about any financial troubles they cause for flying schools. How much concern was there from the regulators with the results of part M? How much did that cost you in increased maintenance spend? Mine went up by over 50%, for what improvement in standards or safety - nothing
Does anyone care, no! and it will be exactly the same with the loss of income if we lose the IMCr.