Yes Noe, but a CPL doesn’t have to be maintained like an IR. To me it looks like a one shot expense.
If I get an IR, I feel like I have to do some regularly, so a minimum annual cost is implied.
In a similar situation, if I have access to a suitable SEP aircraft I will go for an IR as it has more utility than what CPL(SE) can give you (you can most of CPL stuff without a CPL in some sort)
Regarding the CPL flying elements and skills:
- High precision VFR DR navs: I will go in a vintage aircraft (but, personally I will keep GPS/SD airspace warnings on)
- Flying maneuvers/emergencies: I will fly high powered tail-wheel aeros aircraft or something completely different…
For IR, the difficult bit seems to get one in the first place, especially blocking spare time for TK and money for an expensive ATO training…
I don’t hold a full IR, but under EASA, an IR is cheap to maintain (own practice and how comfortable you are) but there is the annual test
Let’s hope something will come up from the basic IR discussions, CBIR/EIR are already something to think of
For myself, I am thinking of having an EASA EIR on top of a UK IMC rating (= EASA IR(R)) as this will fit exactly my mission profile and personal tolerances
Jujupilote wrote:
Yes, I meant practically doing the CPL flight training with no intent to pass the medical, the TK and the skill test.
Is the CPL practical syllabus relevant to the private pilot ?
This is total waste of time and money. If you don’t want to exercise any actual CPL privilege, there’s no reason to take CPL course. If you want to improve your skills just fly more and take IR. If you feel you lack the competence for some flights find an instructor who’ll help you in getting it. Taking CPL course itself won’t bring you anything.
The idea is to replicate a simplified CPL syllabus just to get more precise and rigorous in my flying, with an instructor in one of my club 152s, for a tiny fraction a the cost of a CPL done in an ATO.
Call it advanced handling and navigation course.
Then it makes sense to some extent. However, you’ll get more of IR.
If I had the funds I would already have it ! (almost)
Do people in France, go to EIR first and build on top of with P1 IF time on own aircraft and then go for a CBIR in ATO?
I know in the UK, EIR has zero success compared to IR(R) in terms of utility/privileges and TK requirements (holds until Apr 2019)
I know there are EIR issued but as a whole it is what was predicted from the beginning : a fail.
Doing the EIR first makes you save 5 hours that the ATO will probably make you do anyway. Needless to say, it is a little gain.
Those who do the EIR do it because they consider the navigation and RT part much easier than the precise flying of IAPs, and they see it as an easier way to travel. I don’t know what they think once they get it. I know some EIR students switch to full CB IR during their training, once they started studying, which says a lot about the EIR.
Most of the IR pilots/owners around Paris I see are in the FAA world :)
I´ve received my EIR recently and have already done some flying that otherwise would have been more uncomfortable. Doable under VFR, yes, but it was just nicer at FL60 in the sun than midway enroute down at 1000AGL in 3 miles visibility. My goal has alway been the IR, but I will do my 15hrs PIC or so on fun weekend trips before switching to ATO flying again and do the rest of the syllabus. This way the whole training can be nicely stretched. Going to uncontrolled airfields most of the time and given the German regulations the EIR is quite useful, and once you cross borders it makes flight planning much easier.
In France, going back as far as I can remember, there has been a tradition of vfr on top and part of the PPL (called the TT back then) syllabus was navigation by VOR and NDB. I think many French pilots don’t think the EIR adds much to this. For the CBIR many clubs can do most of the training, at club rates (I think one would be the aero club of Limousin) . This only leaves a minimum amount of hours that have to be done within an ATO. Usually the club has an agreement with a particular ATO. Many of the clubs and some ATO’s have no problem with you using your own aircraft, provided it is suitably equipped.
When I first started my IR training, long before the CBIR, I used my own aircraft. After a lay off and selling my aircraft and finding I still wanted to fly IR, I went to an ATO with g1000 equipped aircraft (da40’s and da42 with matching simulators). They assessed the training I would need and gave me a price which they stuck to, to the cent. They taught me to set up the simulators so that if I felt I was getting behind I could spend time, out of hours, on my own, just going over what I had learnt, at no extra cost. I still pay a small annual fee, less than an hour flying in a da42, so that I can go and use the simulator to refresh my memory on procedures I have not done for a while.
