Introduction of UK IMC rating

[bookworm]

When was the UK IMC rating introduced? What were the privileges of a UK PPL before it was introduced?

(My flying goes back only to 1987 when the IMC rating was well established.)

[P.Pilcher]

The IMC rating was introduced a few years before I learned to fly in 1970. Before that time, a PPL was entitled to fly IMC outside controlled airspace, despite there being no provision for any sort of instrument flight training in the PPL syllabus at all. Concientious PPL's who wanted to improve their I.F. skills would do some dual with an instructor in simulated IMC (under the hood) and even practice instrument approaches which were VDF letdowns (if anybody remembers them!).
The powers that be decided, shortly before I learned to fly that this was not a good idea! There had probably been some accident statistics where pilots had gone IMC without any form of instrument training and suffered for it, so, at a stroke the IMC priveleges of all PPL's were removed. To get them back, an IMC rating had to be obtained and the training to do this was based on the fact that, apart from a set of "blind flying instruments" the aircraft concerned was equipped with only a VHF radio transceiver.
10 hours flying by sole reference to instruments was required including full and limited panel manoeuvres. A candidate also had to have carried out an appropriate pilot interpreted let down. (usually a VDF one) to the satisfaction of a QFI and I think experience in carring out a surveillance radar approach was required as well. As loads of pilots were expected to acquire an IMC rating to regain their lost IFR priveleges, all QFIs were empowered to carry out the test which included a written part. Here there was no formal exam paper, the candidate had to prove to his instructor that he could prepare an IFR flight outside controlled airspace.
As few aircraft in those days were equipped with anything other than a VHF radio (and maybe one VOR receiver), the training requirements were designed with this in mind. This means that over the years, us pilots who obtained our IMC ratings in those days have subsequently had to learn how to carry out ILS and ADF approaches, holds and all the other contents of the I.R. syllabus!
Oh - one other thing: you couldn't qualify for an IMC rating unless you had a total flying experience in excess of 100 hours.

P.P.

[bookworm]

Thanks PP, that's exactly what I was looking for.

[S-Works]

Was it not Pat Cambell that started it off? I seem to recall reading about it recently for my IR (I) course. I will try and dig it out.

[P.Pilcher]

Do you mean Pat or Ron Campbell? Ron (R.I.P.) was the "big cheese" who I remember from my instructing days. He sat on all the committees, chairing several and seemed to breathe a touch of common sense into the various other bodies involved with the PPL and it's associated training. He may well have been in a similar capacity when the IMC rating was introduced as he was certainly BLAC chairman when I obtained my instructor's rating in 1974. Eventually I got to meet him and enjoyed the privelege of a couple of his instructor renewal flights.
If only he was still with us today we would have had none of this 2 day seminar as part of the instructor renewal nonsense.

P.P.