French National IR

Yes it is up and running. Several pilots fly IFR in France thanks to this rating. I don’t know what will be required to transition towards the european IR. The French IR syllabus was created in order to make it easy to get a private JAR IR when available.
The main problem was and still is to find IRI to do the training. The number of pilots training towards a French IR has also decreased in the last few monthes. Is it because all the pilots who were interested already have it, or is it because they prefer to wait and get the european one directly? difficult to say.

When France announced this “French IR”, and when they said it would be “ICAO compliant but limited to French airspace” it was widely believed that if/when EASA get its act together and comes up with an accessible private IR, France will simply give the EASA IR to everybody who has the French one

France has interesting ways of dealing with these things. When I had a meeting with a bunch of Socata executives a few years ago, and explained to them that EASA FCL is going to wipe out a lot of their N-reg TBM sales to European customers, they were completely unconcerned. Some of them had heard of it… It was as if they knew that the French government would always look after them.

I always thought the UK CAA would also eventually find a way to save the IMC Rating, but they took the GA community to the edge of the cliff first, having gold plated their implementation of EASA FCL…

When France announced this “French IR”, and when they said it would be “ICAO compliant but limited to French airspace” it was widely believed that if/when EASA get its act together and comes up with an accessible private IR, France will simply give the EASA IR to everybody who has the French one

That’s probably what will happen if the DGAC may do so. But if EASA finds something in the French syllabus which does not respect the EASA one (especially on the theory side), the French IR holder may have to undergo an other test, or follow a few more hours of training. Probably something easy, just to be able to say it was done.

It will always be translatable to the CBM IR.

It will not be long before there is system to convert FAA certificates with little more than a flight test and an aural exam. Then the whole EASA process will be bypassed by foreign licence conversions! EASA has stuffed a plug up its own rectum and the backdoor approach is the only way around it.

DGAC made it easier to get an IR (French IR). Did they experience a run to get the rating? Are there any numbers how many trained and got the rating?
How many will renew it?

It will not be long before there is system to convert FAA certificates with little more than a flight test and an aural exam. Then the whole EASA process will be bypassed by foreign licence conversions! EASA has stuffed a plug up its own rectum and the backdoor approach is the only way around it.

Very true

However the requirement for 50 hrs IFR time (as PIC) before you can turn up for the ICAO IR to CB IR conversion will make US training (which presumably is what you refer to) unattractive for the bulk of the ATPL cadet crowd, who enter the system knowing almost nothing, and having read a load of drivel in the Professional Pilot Training section of some pilot forum telling them that unless they do their training at a reputable FTO over here, they will never get an airline job…. The 50hr requirement was clearly set up to keep the European FTOs in business, and it would be quite a hassle to go to say Arizona, do the PPL, do the CPL, do the IR, and then fly around for 50hrs out there. Actually I wonder if there even is a useful FAA CPL to EASA CPL conversion route…

Re the French IR numbers, my feeling would be that the stats are likely to be slanted by France not having a huge touring scene. In the UK, Germany and some other places, an accessible IR would get a sizeable takeup.

> In the UK, Germany and some other places, an accessible IR would get a sizeable takeup.

Not sure about Germany. I know there are many people waiting for the CBM IR or the EIR but there is a lack of IFR capable planes.
In the UK, thanks to the IMCR you can find planes to rent.

I’m not sure how big the touring scene in UK really is. I don’t know many flying further than L2K.

In the UK, thanks to the IMCR you can find planes to rent.

However I don’t think many of those are legit for Eurocontrol IFR i.e. IFR in enroute CAS. For hacking “VFR=IFR” in UK Class G, I don’t think there is much required equipment. Maybe an altimeter, and the front window needs to be in place

So I don’t think the rental issue is really any better in the UK than anywhere else.

’m not sure how big the touring scene in UK really is. I don’t know many flying further than L2K.

Well that’s true for the 99%

The IR holder community in Europe has always been only the last 1% – or maybe a few % in say Germany where the takeup of the IR has been bigger. It is only in America where it is very different, due to many factors making the private IR much more accessible.

Here, you walk into any meeting of IR holders and it is mostly the same people who were there 10 years previously.

But the good thing is that if 20 more do the IR one year, you can claim a 100% improvement in private IR takeup

BTW the > is no longer used for quotes. Use the Quote button on swiped text and there are other options in Posting Tips.

Not sure about Germany. I know there are many people waiting for the CBM IR or the EIR but there is a lack of IFR capable planes.

Chicken and Egg problem? Why should any club equip their planes for IFR if there are no pilots qualified to fly them IFR?

For my own club (and not in germany), the upcoming CBM IR and EIR was enough to convince the board to order the new planes with the DME option. So we now have 3 IFR approved planes, where we had none before for a long time.

In the UK, thanks to the IMCR you can find planes to rent.

Which seems to point in this direction too. People will equip planes for IFR, if the rating is achievable by mere mortals.