Given AOPA's latest statement, of 20th March, on the IMC (
Welcome to AOPA UK )
it seems all hopes of saving it for the future is based on amending FCL.600
to allow for National differences to continue.
I understand that "high level" "behind the scenes" discussions have been,
and remain, on-going - but National differences do seem anathema to EASA.
Just to ensure nothing is overlooked, and given that all the important bodies
(CAA, AOPA, etc) follow PPRuNe avidly, perhaps we should all contribute our
ideas of what should have, and more importantly, what could still be done to
help ensure the IMC or IR(R) continues to be available to pilots in the future.
Some to start off:
In all meetings with EASA the CAA could not demonstrate how important
the IMC rating was to the UK as it had no idea how many current IMC holders
there were.
From 2008 onwards the CAA should have required that it was informed
of all IMC renewals (just like other Ratings) and, in my opinion, it should
still instigate this asap.
To "help" our European colleagues, the CAA could have changed the
IMC Rating to a more recognisable format:
ie: Valid for 24 months from date of Test.
Renewal, or Revalidation, by Test.
If Revalidated in the last 3 months of validity then valid for 24 months
from date of expiry of previous Rating.
IMC is not valid for IFR in Class A airspace. Change that to not valid for
IFR in Airways. Even combined with the proposed EIR that should not
(especially with clever wording) give full IR privileges (which is what
EASA don't seem to like).
Change the Restriction from UK Airspace only to Airspace of EASA
members who accept it (not quite getting rid of National differences
but wording can be important)
Maybe nothing should be done until the Single European Sky has been
implemented for a while.
So that what classes of airspace are in use, for what purpose, and hence
what privileges are required, is fully understood.
In this case could a temporary change to FCL.600 be requested?