Peter,
sure you did the right thing. But please consider that there is no such thing as a 15-hour conversion route for example in Germany. In Germany, basically you have to do it all from scatch. The CFI of the FTO you use can apply for a reduction in training hours with the LBA (in case of a pilot with an ICAO IR and sufficient proficiency), but does he have any real interest?...;-(
Sure, if you have a UK adress even a German could possibly go the UK route, but I understand it is not 100% straightforward.
I strongly believe you will get your conversion in time. The political fall out is just to big and the new EASA boss is a GA pilot himself.
There is also allways the French IR. They actually believe that they can can find a way to get their IR accepted as well!
Interesting... in that case a German would just do it in the UK.
There is no classroom requirement, so no extended hotel stays for that.
Lots of other places seem to operate the 15hr conversion. Greece and Spain, etc.
Another drawback of doing it in Germany is that, AFAIK, the "PPL"/IR exams are a direct subset of the 14 ATPL exams so e.g. when you are doing aircraft performance you have to do the jet stuff as well. In the 7 UK exams this has been stripped out - even if some of the online QBs have not quite done that right.
If you can speak a bit of English the choice would seem obvious, and there are some German (Austrian?) operated outfits in Spain.
The French IR is reportedly (see post elsewhere here by Thierry) limited to French airspace.
The choice simply depends on how much you value your IFR privileges, and if so how bothered you are about being legal...
Another drawback of doing it in Germany is that, AFAIK, the "PPL"/IR exams are a direct subset of the 14 ATPL exams so e.g. when you are doing aircraft performance you have to do the jet stuff as well. In the 7 UK exams this has been stripped out - even if some of the online QBs have not quite done that right.
No, it's the same in Germany.
So Germany has just 7 exams for the IR?
I've updated my JAA IR writeup with that. That makes UK and Germany the only known cases.
I wonder if the online QBs match the syllabus. I was unsuccessful in trying to extract a reply from Peters Software as to why their IR ground school was ~10 exams (2011). Their clowns at Friedrichshafen didn't have a clue and neither did anybody I emailed with.
I wonder if the UK would accept German exam passes?
They ought to be sufficiently gold plated 
The UK certainly accepts Belgian theory credits - we are about to start conversion training for a pilot who has an FAA IR, has done his JAR exams in Belgium and is going to do the flying element in the UK. I can't see any difference with German theory credits.
A couple of other observations:
I think an increasing number of ATOs would entertain training on privately owned aircraft - we certainly do. Margins on operating aircraft are so tight that the only real profit comes with simulator and instructor time.
Course approvals - I share Peter's sentiments. The backlog on various other course approvals etc (LAPL springs to mind) is so great that, even if CBM IR syllabus was agreed tomorrow I wouldn't expect anyone in the UK to get an approval for the best part of a year. Sad, but the reality is that the CAA cannot keep up with the demands of industry.
Doesn not every easa country have 7 theory exams for the ir?
Holland definitely is also 7
With the cbm based ir the theory contents will also be reviewed to be more to the point and less airliner.
Many schools now let you fly your own aircraft. However, it does mean you have to register it on the fto.
Doesn not every easa country have 7 theory exams for the ir?
Maybe they do but the question is whether they are taken direct from the 14-exam ATP syllabus or whether they are reduced to the IR-only level i.e. no jet performance etc stuff.
Sad, but the reality is that the CAA cannot keep up with the demands of industry.
However, one could argue that they artifically inflated the approval requirements to create this very situation.
Yes, I think you are right - there is some serious gold plating going on.
Registering on an ATO (FTO) is a five minute job. There is no longer a requirement to seek approval from the CAA. The ATO is responsible for ensuring the aircraft used is fit for purpose (OR.ATO.135 refers). Aircraft used for tests must meet the criteria defined in Standards Doc 7A/H.
So Germany has just 7 exams for the IR?
Indeed and they are hand selected from the QB. Of course I only took it once so I haven't seen every question but none of the complete BS questions were there. All questions where somehow relevant. Some of the questions/answers were worded differently to be less ambiguous. The photocopies of the maps/diagrams etc. were of excellent quality (color) unlike in most prep tools.
I wonder if the online QBs match the syllabus. I was unsuccessful in trying to extract a reply from Peters Software as to why their IR ground school was ~10 exams (2011). Their clowns at Friedrichshafen didn't have a clue and neither did anybody I emailed with.
When I did it (2011), Peters was an almost 100% match. They only have a small subset of the QB questions and those seem to coincide with the German exams. Apparently they interview students to gather the questions. This means you better not take the exam shortly after the CAA updates its questions
Given how little knowledge about the actual exams was out there and how little my FTO (large ATPL school) knew about the IR only portion, I studied way too much. I started with Peters Exam but then discovered that it had only about 30% of the questions of other tools so I switched to the more comprehensive ones. Stupid move
