until I recently met the first students finishing EIR on the CBIR route. I have to admit, EASA did a pretty good job on it and the UK-IMC may be obsolete now.
Although I do agree that the CBIR is a fantastic course, I don't believe that it will make the old IMC obsolete. In order to get a CBIR you need
- 7 Ground Exams
- Class 1 medical
- Validate it every year
That's 6 more ground exams (may I also say that they are very involved in my mind as compared to the IMC MCQ. It requires a certain number of hours of ground school done in an approved training centre which is both time consuming and expensive.
That's a medical that (at least for me, being under 40) I would need to do 5 times more often, and would cost more per examination than my class 2.
The retest is every single year, as opposed to every 2 years (which is probably a good thing), but the renewal fees are excruciatingly expensive.
I have been quoted £800 for renewal on a SEP! To be fair it did include approach fees, landings, fuel surcharges, rental of a complex SEP and CAA fees, but it does mean that you would need to spend a minimum of £1000 per year just to sit the test, and redo your medical. (in addition to actually doing some training to be up to test standards).
So yes, hassle, time and costs would be a barrier to most people I think! Yet - it DOES allow you to fly IFR all over the world which would be nice as opposed to be restricted to UK airspace.