IMC Revalidation

[good finish]

I have a lapsed IMC rating on a uk caa ppl
My current aircraft is not IMC equipped and I have not kept my skills up to date
If I'm honest I have forgot most of the procedures
I can not find a formal answer anywhere so would be most grateful for some advice
A number of pilots I know have been doing IMC ratings ahead of the April cut off.
Will I be able to renew my lapsed IMC after this date or will it be gone for good?
Many thanks

[Whopity]

All indications are that you will have until 2014 to revalidate it.

[Slopey]

As an aside,

A number of pilots I know have been doing IMC ratings ahead of the April cut off.

Apparently, they have until the 1st July to get the rating, according to an FI I was discussing it with yesterday, although I'm going to call the CAA later today to try and get an official answer on it (unless anyone has a reference on the net for that date?).

[Mickey Kaye]

Actually I'm pretty gutted at the lack of people getting an IMC rating present. I would even go as far as saying there is less interest today then say 15 years ago.

[dont overfil]

Mickey, I'm amazed as well. I would probably have packed up flying by now if it was not for my IMC helping me get about.

It may be a reflection on the type of aircraft people are flying now.

D.O.

[I Love Flying]

FWIW, I decided to get my IMC rating before the April 2012 (as I understood it at the time) cut-off as I didn't want to run the risk of not being able to have the rating if I left it any longer. At the time I didn't really feel ready for the course as I was only a quite recently qualified PPL with lowish hours, but I enjoyed it very much and I am glad that I now have the rating under my belt. For anyone reading this wondering whether to take the plunge, I would say go for it while you definitely still can!

[BEagle]

The CAA will be releasing an interim statement 'shortly'.....

[Aware]

I started 3 people off last summer in one group training for IMC, all have fallen by the wayside for various reasons, hopefully not my teaching, but I heard from one of them last week , they all convinced themselves that as their ac had no ADF, they didnt want the expense to use a club aircraft to finish the rating, I organised a cheapish PA 28 140 and they still didnt want to finish. So there we are, they also all convinced themselves that they would never use it !

[piperarcher]

they all convinced themselves that as their ac had no ADF

I have my IMC rating, and have kept it validated, and will do again when it expires near the end of this year. My bug bear is the obsession with the ADF's. In my first revalidation I falied because the ADF in my plane is poor (engineers think it picks up interference from all of the other NAV equiptment). In a practise attempt in another aircraft I was told my NDB approach wasnt good enough, but the instructor struggled to do better and told me in the real world a commercial flight solely relying on an ADF approach would be declared an emergency. I dont know if that was in jest . I accepted my ADF skills could have been better so I bought Rant XL so I could practise on something reliable and less costly than a real plane. For the last 4 years in my real IMC flying I havent used the ADF once .

I quite like the ADF as an instrument, but I wouldnt want to stake my life on it, hence in practise my IMC based nav comprises primarily of VOR's and use of a Garmin and a NATS Aware as a backup. I prefer to also use these if I do a hold (rare) or an approach. The IMC test should (IMHO)focus more on safe flight in clouds and en route navigation using other NAV sources, and not be obsessive with ADF's.

[S-Works]

I am mid way through teaching in an IMC course for a friend. The biggest enemy as been the damn weather coupled with the availability of the 'sharoplane'. Seems every booking he has the weather is minging!!

[Slopey]

Originally Posted by BEagle

The CAA will be releasing an interim statement 'shortly'.....

Would that be "shortly" as in, enough time to frantically scrabble to get the rating if they adhere to the April date, or "shortly" as in there's an expectation that the July date will be the one which will be used?

Based on the chat with my FI, I'm now aiming for the July date (as work commitments will knock April out of the park for me), so if they come out with a statement in a short time frame it'd certainly be appreciated!

Hopefully they won't issue something in the last week of March which says - "you have 5 days to get it!".

[Fuji Abound]

I am mid way through teaching in an IMC course for a friend. The biggest enemy as been the damn weather coupled with the availability of the 'sharoplane'. Seems every booking he has the weather is minging!!

Bizarre.

[Spotthedog]

Why aren't pilots doing the IMC while they can?

I've had a couple of alarming flights with other pilots in recent years:

- one PPL whose IMC had lapsed a year before but was quite happy to climb into solid cloud (rather than negotiate an alternative to the ATC instructions) on the basis that "IMC is like riding a bicycle, you never forget".

- another low hours PPL pilot (without any IMC training) was quite happy to fly in and out of thick clouds without a care about legality or safety and seemed surprised when I sought clarification as to what he was doing.

In both these cases I made my concern clear and this resulted in a satisfactory outcome and resolved of course not to fly with either of these guys again. But if this sort of attitude is increasing then maybe that's why some pilots don't see the value of an IMC or reviewing/revalidating.

[S-Works]

Quote:
I am mid way through teaching in an IMC course for a friend. The biggest enemy as been the damn weather coupled with the availability of the 'sharoplane'. Seems every booking he has the weather is minging!!
Bizarre.

Why do you think that Fuji?

In order to teach an IMCr from a VFR airfield we need to be able to take off and return VFR. We need to meet the viz requirements for the IMCr and we need conditions where we do not encounter airframe icing and if we do we are able to descend below freezing level and remain above MSA. On a number occasions where the aircraft has been available the factors above have been the limit. As an Instructor and Examiner I have a duty of care to the student to ensure a safe training environment. Our SOP's specifically limit our met requirements to both the recommended and legal minima of the IMCr.

[Fuji Abound]

Bose-X - oh no not that, just surprised that you were surprised the weather would be any less than perfect at this time of year or that sharoplanes are not the ideal training vehicle.