Why Instrument Qualifications?
Many if not most people start their PPL course with the intention of going places in their aircraft. They gradually become aware that in most of Europe the weather imposes quite severe limitations on what is safely possible. They also come to realise that VFR flight planning can be extremely complex in order to safely deal with the requirements of airspace, national differences from SERA, and terrain. Although experienced pilots conduct long trips under VFR, sometimes safety margins are eroded unless pilots are willing to accept delays and diversions. No qualification will enable a pilot to cope with all weather conditions. This applies to commercial pilots in a multi crew aircraft flying highly capable jet transports just as it does to a PPL flying alone in a single engine piston aircraft.
Just what you can and cannot expect to achieve with a CBIR or an IMCR will be considered in depth during flying training. For many the IMCR will suit their personal circumstances and offer a considerable increase in the utility of their aircraft. Others may prefer to go straight for the CBIR.
There is another aspect of the CBIR which is less obvious but very real. It is a skill which can deliver immense personal satisfaction. It is perhaps analogous with many sports where there is a painful process of gaining some initial level of competence and then a series of satisfying personal efforts to improve which for the best pilots is a process that they will carry on throughout their flying lives. Rate One Aviation can help you make the choices appropriate to your own circumstances.
Why Rate One Aviation?
We are highly specialist. We only provide advanced training, mainly instrument training for private pilots. We have no involvement in ab-initio training or in commercial training. Our aim is to increase the proportion of European pilots who gain advanced qualifications. Our aircraft and staff are totally focussed on delivering the highest possible quality product. We don’t have students or cadets, we have customers. Jim Thorpe spent 6 years as a representative of PPL IR Europe and Europe Air Sports working on the CBIR and in fact produced most of the early drafts of the legislation. It is fair to claim that no-one knows more about this very special niche than we do.
Secondly, we only aim to deliver a modest number of ratings each year. These are taught on a mainly part-time, occasionally full-time basis. Either way, instrument training to a high standard is demanding in terms of time, application and concentration. Not everyone want to devote this much concentrated time to flight training.
So it’s really quite simple. If you are a European private pilot who wants to get an IR or an IMCR using the highest quality equipment available with the very latest teaching techniques to give you the best possible chance of a first time pass in the skill test then Rate One Aviation is the place to be.
Which Qualification Is Best?
The CBIR training pathway leads to an ICAO-compliant instrument rating. This offers the most utility, is recognised worldwide and, accompanied by ATPL TK, is a vital building block for anyone who envisages any sort of commercial flying. The USA has qualified more private instrument pilots than the rest of the world combined. They have found no need to have anything other than the full ICAO IR. The reason for this is that in the USA their IR is accessible and not unreasonably expensive.
The two relevant alternatives are not ICAO compliant, and so have reduced utility and limited international recognition.
- The EASA Basic Instrument Rating (BIR) has been available since September 2021 for use by those with EASA licences flying within Europe outside the UK. It will not be valid outside EASA countries and seems unlikely to be offered to UK Licence holders. It only applies to SEP and MEP aircraft, has increased minima, and its future post-Brexit is unclear.
- The second is the UK Instrument Meteorological Rating, IMCR. This is not valid outside the UK, and has similarly increased minima, though these are advisory. The rationale for both of these ratings is that not all pilots need the privileges of an ICAO-compliant IR. Moreover, not everyone can afford the cost and the time involved, though the cost of the BIR is unlikely to be much less than the CBIR.
All of these ratings have a place, and if sensibly used, enable pilots to fly safely in more demanding conditions than would be wise with a basic PPL. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss which may be best for you.
I fly a glass panel aircraft. Is this a help?
Yes and no. You can fly the IR skills test with your aircraft, but in addition you will have to demonstrate limited panel skills using round dial instruments. This can be done in an aircraft or a FNPT2, and is then signed off and recorded by your Rate One instructor. During your IR skills test limited panel unusual attitude recoveries will be assessed using standby instruments. To quote Standards Document 1A Q and A’s: ‘Whatever fall back or secondary presentations fitted to the IFR legal aircraft are acceptable. You must furnish a means to cover or deny use of primary heading and attitude displays’.
There is no doubt that having a decent autopilot and a continuous wind display is an advantage. Historically the pass rate on glass panel aircraft has been slightly higher than on aircraft with the traditional six pack.
Doesn’t the IR involve hours spent ADF tracking?
It is true that single needle tracking remains both a relevant core skill, and a prominent part of the IR skills test. However, these days this is normally carried out by using a GPS bearing pointer and its RMI-type display rather than an ADF. If an ADF is fitted and working the expectation is that it will be used together with the bearing pointer as a secondary reference. It is important to remember that NDB approaches are still very much needed by GA pilots worldwide, and the skills of using an ADF needle may be part of the skill set required for resilience against GPS failure.
Think of this as being a way of putting you under pressure to show that you can deliver safe basic instrument flying and competent decision making whilst being distracted. It could be worse – you could be expected to fly whilst knitting a tea cosy or being hit about the head with a wet fish!
How hard is it to get an IR?
Jim Thorpe has written a short piece with his personal views about getting a CBIR.
Surprisingly for an activity that one might assume was rational and fact-based, pilots tend to believe all manner of half-truths, outdated ideas and some things that are plain wrong. I think that is partly because, like your first love, first instructors make a big and long-lasting impression. Their ideas tend to stick for good or ill. Secondly there is huge difference between the skills required for single pilot IFR flight in a general aviation aircraft and the experience and relevance of a background in an airliner flight deck or a fast jet. The days in which most pilots came through general aviation to the airlines or the air force are behind us. In the distant past most flying schools would have had one advanced SEP and probably a light twin for further training and then hire. That’s not so true today. Most flying schools know a lot about basic PPL training but not necessarily much about instrument flying in the real world. Now, given the many blogs and forums it can be hard to distinguish the gems from the dross.
Then in the UK the IMCR is at best a mixed blessing as a basis for an IR. The standard of instruction for the IMCR is variable and rating holders may or may not have a good foundation for their IR.
All of this may be seem negative or even derogatory to other types of flying but this is not the case. I would have little idea how to fly an Airbus or a fast jet. Any arrogance is in assuming that experience in one specialisation implies any real understanding of the skills required for another.
The IR is generally accepted to be a demanding qualification. Assessing how demanding and how long a given individual will take is very difficult. It really only becomes clear part way into the training. Another variable is that progress is rarely linear. I have no idea why but almost all pilots have setbacks for no apparent reason. Training takes both money and time. These are commodities that tend to be in short supply in younger people establishing a career or raising a family. Hence most candidates are older. Nothing much gets easier as you get older. If someone is successful in life, it tends to be many years since they last tried anything new and difficult. In their VFR flying they may have established ingrained habits some of which they may simply have to change.
The CBIR is fantastically flexible and demands only 10 hours training in an ATO. Unfortunately, this low number raises false expectations. I have never seen any candidate reach test standard in 10 hours. The IMCR reinforces these false expectations, as many rating holders simply don’t understand the huge step in standards and attitudes involved in moving from an IMCR to an IR.
You might be a keen rambler keeping to marked footpaths in lowland areas. Another person might consider themselves a fell walker, tackling the hills of the UK but not expecting to be donning crampons and roping up while a third person might have climbed several of the world’s most demanding peaks. If these three people met, I don’t think the mountain climber would disparage the rambler or the rambler would assume he or she could easily aspire to climb mountains. Nor do I believe that the rambler would consider that the mountain climbers’ achievement somehow diminished their own achievements and knowledge.
An IR is the peak of many pilots flying careers; it is an Olympic medal. I won’t stretch the rambler – climber – mountaineer analogy too far, but let me just say that it is 30 years since I flew home from a successful IR skill test and it remains one of the best and most memorable days of my whole life.
Almost anyone willing to put in the effort can get an IR but that effort is substantial. It should be. You are being given the entrance pass to an environment shared with the airlines and their fare paying public. Your responsibility is not just to keep yourself and your passengers safe, but to have sufficient spare mental capacity and skill not to imperil public safety or even cause them expense and delay.
Theoretical knowledge for the IR is demanding. Most of the course is useful, some is necessary but some is tedious and of little relevance. As the Americans say, suck it up and get it done.
The flying on the other hand is entirely focused, relevant and you will not fly an hour more than the minimum you need. Everyone asks how many hours. It’s a hard question to answer since as noted above progress is not linear and almost everyone has setbacks. Whilst an assessment flight helps it’s just an indication. The true picture only emerges well into the course. Historically few candidates take less than 30 hours in an ATO, most take 40 or 50. Some much older people will take 80 even very occasionally 100 hours but keep in mind many candidates are over 60 and in one or two cases over 70 years of age.
Only an individual can judge if the reward balances the effort for them but I cannot recall any successful candidate who later regretted their decision to gain the rating.
Jim Thorpe
Isn’t the IMCR an IR less the bullshit?
Like most interesting questions the answer is complicated. There is an element of assimilating some not very useful knowledge involved in the IR. The worst of this has been eliminated with the CBIR but some remains. On the other hand the basic syllabus covers largely essential skills and few, if any, pilots claim to have been up to standard with less than 40 hours training. Since the IMCR only involves 15 hours (in fact it might be less than that since it’s only 10 hours by sole reference to instruments), it is surely self-evident that pilots on an IMCR course cannot have been taught either the whole range of skills or have reached the same standards as they would during an IR. So the question becomes – is the range of skills required and the level of competence demanded appropriate for the uses pilots will put them to? Many if not most UK pilots come to the IR via an IMCR. Why not ask them their view? We think you will find that they will tell you their IMCR was a valuable introduction, but before doing the IR they had not realised the standards they were capable of achieving.