The more of your posts that I read, the more concerned that I get. At this rate, you are going to end up as that statistic sooner rather than later.
I feel flattered by your concern, but.., I don't know how I should put it, of the two disjunct off-road motorcycle rider types I am the old one, not the fast one.
Personally I've been in real IMC only twice:
- 25 yeras ago a student colleague at the university demostrated IMC, guessing attitude w/ instruments covered and "escape" per radio compass in a 4-seat Robin.
- 20 years ago as a paraglider in a 1500ft/min updraft at cloud base (bright white IMC for ~10 Secs, scared the living s*** out of me)
Rest assured, I do know that I positively don't belong there.
The very reason why I dig into that area so joyfully is, that I'd like to find out the
"why" behind given rules (for instance: E-IR(A) yes, e-IR(H) no) frequently smelling injustice stemming from some bureaucrat's cheap and ignorant "solution" to a diversive problem.
If, for a second, you think that IMC @ 100ft AGL is part of the 'enroute sector' then you are nuts. Totally nuts. YOU CANNOT EVEN DESCEND TO 100ft ON AN ILS WHILST IMC.
This certainly is true from an ATPL's viewpoint, doing a minimum of 140 knots while having a U-turn radius measures in miles.
re ILS: when I picture a helicopter doing an ILS approach, pissing off everyone in the holding by doing measly 50kt, considering its excessive vertical velocity capabilities (read missed approach) and the ages, it would take him to cover the whole length of the runway I don't see real world reasons, why he shouldn't be allowed to hand fly Cat-III. Hell, he could even stop in midair 500ft AGL at the inner marker having tower confrim his trajectory is pointing towards the runway threshold before proceeding.
*bait* A helicopter is infinitely more capable of dealing with IMC (icing aside *cough*) that any plane.
To my layman's ignorance imposing ATPL IMC departure and approach requirements on helicopters is a bit as if one mandated boat fenders for a hover craft "..because ships have to have them".
But, being the nut that I am, I still don't get it how the UK IMCr guys land their C172 OCAS VFR in IMC. Do these UK IMCr airfields have to operate ILS?