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(2) The En-Route Instrument Rating
...has got to be the dumbest thing that a faceless bureaucrat could dream up IMHO. I mean you wouldn't teach someone to fly the cruise and then send them solo without teaching them how to land would you. That would be criminally negligent in my book. I just can't square the concept of cruising 'on-top' in IMC and 'hoping' to find a hole to in VMC as 'good airmanship' either.
Funnily enough, one member state has a solution for this problem which has apparently been working with spectacular success for 40 years . The country authority says that it has saved many lives and backs this up with enviably low accident rates.. All we need is for EASA to say 'hey guys, look at this. Wow! It works. Let's get this implemented across the community asap so we can get everyone up to the high water mark in the UK".