(dull) Licence renewal query

[drauk]

I have a JAR-PPL. My SEP (land) is valid until 15/05/04. My IMC rating is valid until 14/12/04. I understand that an IMC revalidation counts as the required one hour, so that seems like a reasonable way to go. However, I can't find any reference to when the IMC revalidation can take place. Can I do it now, effectively more than 6 months early? I realise that this will waste 6 months because my next revalidation will be due 25 months after this one. But given that I would probably want to do instrument flying for my one hour type rating renewal anyway, I might as well do the IMC revalidation if I can.

[BEagle]

Yes, you can do it now - and it'll then effectively be 'in phase' with your SEP Class Rating re-validation date. So, when you need to re-validate your SEP Class Rating again in 2006, you can use the IMC Rating re-validation in May 2006 for the 'training flight' requirement. But make sure that it lasts at least an hour! Alternatively, if for some reason you don't amass sufficient flight time to re-validate by experience, ask the FE to do a combined IMC Rating re-validation and SEP Class Rating re-validation flight. If he/she's a good egg, he/she might agree to a reduced fee for doing both together - I certainly do!