Continuation - to 12 hours or not to 12 hours?

[mr_rodge]

Morning all,

Originally the plan was to go for the airlines, then I realised time away from the other half and home along with a hell of a lot of debt, not to mention giving up a fairly solid career to work in an environment where your treatment is lousy and perks are almost nil, isn’t for me. Personal opinion.

GA, on the other hand, is for me. I love it and find that it’ll make a better hobby for me than a career. I love flying by hand, seeing the sights and using GA as a (somewhat time and money consuming) mode of transport. I think it’s a great way to get around. I got the PPL in 2010, and rent club aircraft.

Catch is, we just moved house and money’s been incredibly tight, as expected. I last flew in September of last year (Full Sutton - Caernarfon on what must have been the most beautiful flying day I’ve ever had with unlimited visibility), and by my reckoning I need to do 12 hours by April, plus a flight with an instructor and use an approach procedure followed by a check ride, not to mention the 3 take-offs and landings (I have an SEP & IMC rating). I’ll be looking at probably 3-4 hours with an instructor for confidence, split in to two lessons, one for PFLs, circuits, VFR and the other for IFR, partial panel, holds etc. I've made a list of what I'd like to cover.

As I’ve had the slight break from flying I’m a little behind on EASA. Obviously I haven’t sent my licence off yet as £80 to change my address is ridiculous, so my licence is still registered to my parents’ address. Should I have sent it off by now and gotten the EASA licence with IR(r)?

Obviously I’m looking at spending roughly £2k on flying before April to keep the SEP & IMC. I have the money but to be honest, when common sense prevails, I have better things to spend £2k on such as windows without holes in and secure doors! I’ve kept buying up to date charts and have renewed my GPS subscription.

So, what would you do? After a nice weekend like the one just gone I regularly give myself a kicking for not taking to the air, so am itching to go but wondering whether it’s the best thing to do at the moment. If I were to let my ratings lapse, what’re the implications for the IMC?

Thanks!

[mad_jock]

I would just do training as required and then test it will be cheaper and more productive than building hours.

Then once you have things current again send it off but there is nothing wrong with waiting for a bit.

[mr_rodge]

mad_jock,

Thanks for that. From what I just read on the CAA's website, I can't lose the IMC if I let it lapse, so I'm now not too worried.