Getting ready for EASA ME/IR
 

Hello everyone.
I will soon be starting CPL studies, and then a multi engine rating and an IR.
To my understanding, the CPL is not unlike the PPL, only much more accurate and precise.
But I heard that alot of people find the IR training quite hard.
I was thinking- is there anything I can do to start preparing myself? I have been looking over some youtube videos but couldn't find anything very useful.
I would love to hear some of your ideas!
Thanks

Have a go on RANT if you want to get your head round NDB holds, but don't worry about it - they'll teach you everything you need to know on the course.

As for CPL studies - don't bother. You're much better doing the ATPLS as there is much more question bank support for the exams.

:rolleyes:
Sorry, I hadn't been clear... I am talking about the practical studies, not the theory.
Thanks

Ah ok. How many hours do you have? It's much cheaper to get the IR first, but it sounds like it might be too late for you.

The CBIR is the way to go (£4,000 Vs £14,000) but I guess some people still do it the old way. In answer to your original question, don't worry, most of what you have heard about the IR is smoke and mirrors. I actually found it much easier than the CPL because you don't have to look out of the window, just fly and follow the needles. 50% of it is getting your drills right, which can all be done at on the edge of your need for free. The most challenging part of the IR is the NDB hold and approach - as long as you remember to push the head and pull the tail you should be fine.

Rudestuff
 

Sorry to butt in on the thread but was just wondering how you’d go about doing the CBIR as part of the fATPL? Surely you’d still need an ME-IR?

I’m guessing you could get credit towards the ME-IR but interested in how you’d do it all for £4000.

Cheers

The end result of the CBIR is a full IR, just a less formal way of getting it. The only other difference is having to take a complex aircraft course if you want to move up to the big stuff.

What? There is a cheaper way to get the IR?

As you say the CPL is just PPL to a higher standard and more professional.

IR is a bit more intense but the training you’ll receive will stand you in good stead. Like someone else mentioned RANT was a great tool for me because initially I struggled to get my head around hold entries.

The rest of the IR I actually really enjoyed. Nothing more satisfying at this stage of training than departing and going straight to instruments and some time later finding yourself at minimums on an ILS at an airfield an hour or so away.

It’s intense and sometimes tough but the hardest part is parting with the money to pay for it all...

Sure. To be fair I picked those numbers out of the air so it's probably a bit more than that, but the principle is sound:

1: A CPL requires 200 hours TT. If you're daft enough to do the CPL first, you'll then have to do at least 15 hours for the IR, meaning you finish with 215 hours. If you do the IR first, you finish with 200 hours.

2: If you do a full IR course, expect to do 40 hours on the SIM and 15 multi. Typical cost is £14000.
If you do an IR(R)/IMC followed by 20 or so hours IFR hour building, it'll cost you maybe £600 in instructors fees (because you need the hours anyway) in either case, you'll need to do the MEP course content, so that cancels out. A CBIR can be done in 10 hours multi - around £4000. Call it £5000 total.

Basically because you are doing the whole IR in the air, you save on hour building. You also save on multi engine time.
A lot of people don't understand that a CBIR done in a multi is still an MEIR - it's exactly the same flight test. It's just a different route. (Modular-modular of you like). If you have ATPL passes, there are no restrictions.

Not quite - FCL specifies a minimum of 25 hours dual instrument instruction, of which 15 hours shall be completed in a multi-engine aeroplane. Of that 15 at least 10 must be at an ATO.

Indeed. I haven't taught a single "traditional" IR course since the CB-IR was introduced, it's proved a useful tool to allow us to tailor a course to the individual. The only exception to this is individuals with a current IR(H), where the ATO requires a normal IR(A) approval for the 10 hour abridged conversion. Strangely the 10 hour core module of a CB-IR does not satisfy this requirement :ouch:

Damn, you're right. I stopped reading after '10 hours training at an ATO'...
I guess technically you could do an SEIR first, then do the MEIR add-on in as little as 2 hours plus 5 SIM. And an epic amount of luck and talent!

It has been done that way by one or 2 particularly lucky and current individuals in the past (5 hours total for the addon, up to 3 FNPT2) and indeed some EASA MS still do it that way as a matter of course. The real downside is the need to do (and pay for!) 2 full initial IRTs. In the past it was more pragmatic in that the core components, ie the symmetric ones, could be flown in the format of a LPC (ie more use of autopilot, GPS addition, etc) while the focus was placed on the EFATO, SE approach, and SE instrument go-around. Now the whole thing is as an initial IRT again...

Another option for those hour building in the states is an FAA IR. Add 50 hours IFR PIC to that and the CBIR route becomes 'training as required'