40 hour MEIR

[portsharbourflyer]

Single pilot ops requires 40 hours of p1 multi time under IFR, can someone verify that when referring to the IFR is this flying 40 hours flying under instrument flight rules or does it mean 40 hours flight time flown with sole reference to instruments.

As technically 40 hours of flying under IFR could be flown in VMC, therefore you may not necessarily fly under sole reference to instruments.

You could fly according to VF rules, carry a safety pilot and fly under screens / foggles, therefore are flying with sole reference to instruments, therefore by doing this could you then build up the 40 hours?

Could anyone clarify?

[FlyingForFun]

The exact rule you are quoting is JAR-OPS 1.960 (a)(1)(ii), which reads as follows (with emphasis added by me):

(ii) When operating on a multiengine type under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), the pilot has a minimum of 700 hours total flight time on aeroplanes which includes 400 hours as pilot-in-command (in accordance with [the requirements governing Flight Crew Licenses]) of which 100 hours have been under IFR including 40 hours multi-engine operation

I think that's pretty clear - the hours need to be "under IFR", so can be IFR in VMC. By sole referene to instruments but under VMC would not count.

But, since you asked the question, I thought I'd compare it to a similar quote which I know is interpreted this way. I compared it to the requirements for becoming an IRI. JAR-FCL 1.395, when describing the requirement for becoming an IRI, uses the same phrase, "under IFR". In this case, we know that the CAA interpret this to mean literally under IFR, whether IMC or not, because they also give (in LASORS) the alternative of using time by sole reference to instruments, whereby one hour by sole reference to instruments is equivalent to 4 hours IFR. Interestingly, though, as far as I know, there is no similar 4-1 ratio for flight by sole reference to instruments for meeting this JAR-OPS requirement, although I might be wrong on this point.

Hope that answers the question,

FFF
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[portsharbourflyer]

FFF,

Thanks for the reply, intending to try and build up the 40 p1 multi IFR sometime in the next six months so had to make sure that when I do it it is loggable as IFR.

Anyone know of any cheap places in Europe for multi hour building?

I know of all usual US schools (Air Desert, Ari Ben etc) but seeing if I can avoid the paperwork hassle involved with the US.