Originally Posted by
Jonty
Having done a PPL with IMC rating many years ago, I personally feel that the IMC rating should be replaced with a full instrument rating.
However, I also feel that the PPL should contain more instrument flying in the syllabus.
I'd agree that PPL's would likely be safer if they had better instrument flying skills, but without the opportunity to practice, it's not so easy to keep those skills current. The IMCr gives you enough training to be able to safely practice solo instrument flying and to build confidence in your own time. Without the ability to (legally) fly in real IMC, any skills learnt during ab-initio training will fade with time & that all-important confidence needed to maintain control after losing visual reference will be lost.
There are still too many accidents resulting from loss of control after inadvertent entry into cloud - most could have been prevented if the pilots concerned had just kept flying the aeroplane, but when the crunch came, they lacked either the skill or the confidence to do so.
The step from PPL to full IR is just too big for the majority of recreational pilots.