Rumour has it that the screens are no longer required.
Traditionally, the UK IR test aircraft requirements are in Standards Doc 7A which also covers the required equipment.
I made up my own screens, as described here.
The screens actually work well for their purpose - much better than foggles/hood - but the ones used by the FTOs seem to pointlessly go all the way up to the ceiling, darken the cockpit tremendously and create a claustrophobic feeling.
For aircraft owners wishing to do their IR test in their own plane, the screens can be a huge hassle. I spent a whole day making mine and I have a nice workshop and am competent in "making stuff".
This is also of interest
UK implementation of European regulations
As far as licensing policy is concerned, the CAA has also clarified how it will interpret existing national standards under EU regulations. The existing national standards documents provide guidance only and the CAA will not be imposing upon stakeholders any requirement to comply with material in these. We have committed to eliminate any ‘gold-plating’ of EU regulations, and will not impose any higher standards, or extra requirements than those required by the EU.
The obligation is to meet the requirements in Part FCL and Part ORA. This can be achieved by following EASA’s Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC). Where these don’t exist, guidance material from our existing standards documents can be used, supported by an equivalent safety case. In this case we will make a decision whether this should be proposed as alternative means of compliance and submitted to EASA.
In the future we will re-publish the content of the standards documents as AMC and guidance material.
As well as the improvements to our licensing role the CAA has committed to responding positively to the recent Government Red Tape challenge on General Aviation. We will publish our full responses and proposed actions to the challenge in the coming months.
Great stuff!
I can vouch for Peter's screens, as a satisfied user of them during my recent IR training! I did spend quite a few hours repairing them though, over the duration of the training...
I actually prefer screens to head-attached devices as, with the latter, you end up having to crane your neck to see anything outside the core scan area (e.g. GPS, JPI etc) whereas with screens, a quick flick of the eyes is often enough.
