Thanks RTN11, that final note of yours sums it up "If you are more confident that you will not need the IR at all, let the ground school go and be prepared to take the hit in the future. Perhaps better to take the risk of having to spend an extra £1000 or so in the future, rather than spend £15,000+ now and then realise it was a waste."
That as well as being more current if recruiting eventually changed. Feels to me like the economy isn't going to do much for the next 3-5 yrs so I have to accept it's probably not going to happen for me (I'd given as much chance as possible by holding back the VFR/IR ATPL exams to the max 18 months as well prior to the subsequent 3yr window for flight training elements). Unfortunately the bankers did a proper job on the economy!!
Like I say, I fly for free now and it's good flying so maybe I'm where I ultimately want to be.
You know - all this post creep discussing the fATPL has actually made me realise what it now actually is and it's possibly a valid term!! If I lapse then decide to get an IR like a PPL might, presumeably I'd still be able to use it for say parachute dropping work which tends to require it. However, without repeating all the non IR exams as well I'd have all the ratings but would be unable to subsequently get an ATPL (or airline employment in the first place!), hence I wouldn't have a frozen ATPL?
Last edited by Okavango; 8th Feb 2013 at 16:05.