To be realistic the I.R. test should normally be conducted over a short route of a minimum one hour's duration (who says? - I says). The common practice of launching to the nearest VOR or NDB, flying a quick and dirty hold and returning to airport of origin and getting it all done in 45 minutes to save money is bullsh!t. If the route chosen includes a SID or STAR or both, that only adds to realism and is a Good Thing. If it does not include radar vectors to the ILS, that is a Better Thing, because one day the candidate may have to self-position somewhere where there is no radar service.
But we do have a problem in Oz with some independent ATOs who appear to have gone their own way for too many years and developed pet hobby horses which they delight to climb on at every opportunity. In a way this is not surprising, because CASA offers little in the way of standardisation across its various field offices, or across the FOIs who issue and renew ATO privileges.
The way it was in the UK (maybe no more, I dunno) was that to become a IRE, one had to attend a course run by the CAA. This resulted in a high level of testing standardisation. Candidates had no excuse for not knowing what was required of them and in fact part of the pre-test briefing was agreement between the examiner and the candidate on such things as assumed icing conditions (every test!), required flight tolerances, use of auto-pilot etc.
Unlike a company-administered proficiency check (which is part of that company's particular 'train set') the I.R. is a portable qualification attached to your licence rather like your medical. It qualifies you to fly IFR in any aircraft type that you are entitled to fly. Therefore - within the constraints of variable routes - test parameters should be a constant. And questions should be limited to the practical. Stuff which can be looked up at leisure (such as the whole list of minimum instrumentation) is a bit OTT on a practical test. On another thread here I see that several devious I.R. questions have been posed. Some answers to which I have no idea, which would appear to pre-empt my failure should I come across an ATO with that particular repertoire.
Last edited by Mach E Avelli; 19th May 2013 at 23:41.