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Looking for someone (instructor/pilot) who can help me prep for the EASA IR skill test

Peter_G wrote:

But after having held a FAA IR for 18 years and being told every year this would happen

Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration? I think they started telling us it would definitely be next year in 2012.

@wbardorf, I don’t know if you tried contacting me, but nothing received. I am an IRI living close to Fairoaks and easily in driving range of Blackbushe. I put people through the EASA IR on a regular basis. MEP or SEP.

EGKB Biggin Hill

The EASA FCL attack on N-regs started around 2008. I started the IR conversion process in 2009 and finished in 2011, with the IR test in Feb 2012. EASA was initially due to “kill” the N-reg scene in April 2012…

Brexit is going to prove very interesting because, as much discussed here already, the EASA wording (at the start of here) will immediately become inapplicable, post-brexit. The derogations will become irrelevant because there will be nothing to derogate from. We may get a de facto “limbo state” (i.e. a UK resident will rank the same as a Jersey/Guernsey/Alderney/IOM resident i.e. these can fly N-regs 100% legally on purely FAA papers, worldwide, including EASA-land). That would be the ideal situation. Or the CAA might do something… However the underlying situation is that the derogations are being done because the EASA-FAA FCL treaty is not yet in place, and that is not changing. Post-brexit, the UK will have to do their own treaty with the FAA which will likely prove much easier to negotiate; whether they will go for full equivalence is however very doubtful because they never did that previously, and neither side wants it.

I could not suggest to anyone what they should do. If you value your ability to fly IFR around Europe then you will probably want to cover your 6 o’clock…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

the EASA wording (at the start of here) will immediately become inapplicable, post-brexit. The derogations will become irrelevant because there will be nothing to derogate from

The Basic and Aircrew Regulations, and the rest, will be incorporated into UK law as “retained EU law” on exit day. See the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

London, United Kingdom

That’s an interesting POV. I don’t know enough about legal stuff to have a view on it, but normally laws which seek to restrict something have to be read exactly as written, with any ambiguity being construed in favour of the defendant. And this reg is geographically totally specific – if you are based in the EU then… This is not the same as the UK adopting e.g. an EU regulation prohibiting the use of some chemical in soap, which is trivial to transpose into UK law, and is still meaningful when this is done verbatim. The phrase mutatis mutandis comes to mind.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter_G wrote:

But after having held a FAA IR for 18 years and being told every year this would happen, I wouldn’t bet on it.

Agree there is no reason to assume that the derogation will no longer be renewed, however the countries applying the derogation in their own airspace has dwindled over time, see https://www.easa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/dfu/Version%2033_Derogation%20TABLE_01.08.17.xlsx [ local copy ]

Notably Eastern European countries and Spain have decided not to apply the derogation anymore, and it seems that for many other countries EASA does not officially been notified, which is why the fields are blank altogether. Also, the UK technically no longer applies the derogation and applied it with its own regime, which caused a lot of confusion and headache, as discussed in other threads.

In other words, I am getting to the point where I feel that not having an EASA IR would start to limit the ability to fly around freely in EASA-land.

Peter_G wrote:

With the uncertainty of Brexit etc., I am keeping my options open and will cross that bridge if/when we finally get to it.
Meanwhile, I am spending my money on enjoying touring by air!

How are you keeping your options open by not considering the EASA IR?

Don’t get me wrong, one rating less to maintain (especially as this one requires annual revalidation) means less admin headache, so I would rather just fly on the FAA IR.

EGTF, EGLK, United Kingdom

Indeed, plus there is the CAA medical to keep doing too.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

wbardorf wrote:

I am getting to the point where I feel that not having an EASA IR would start to limit the ability to fly around freely in EASA-land.

wbardorf wrote:

How are you keeping your options open by not considering the EASA IR?

I can assure you that I am constantly “considering it” – indeed forum discussions like this one are part of that regular reminder!
When it is necessary, I will make the move based on (what maybe by then?) will be more available options e.g. that elusive BASA which we have been told for years is “just a few month’s away”; and more schools offering transition training at a competitive rate.
When that time does actually come for me, I don’t believe that my “ability to fly freely in EASA-land” will be too drastically curtailed for too long: Because even during that ‘transition period’ I will still have my IR(R) (old IMC rating) which, under current rules, allows me to descend to the exactly the same minima (of my, then, lapsed IR) at my arrival/departure airfield in the UK i.e. Lydd; whilst allowing me to continue to fly French airways at VFR levels i.e. +500 feet.
Because I fly/go touring for enjoyment I always try to ensure that “it is blue further south”. It is usually only on return to murky UK IMC weather that I find I really need to exercise my IR qualification.
To be forced to be curtailed in this way for a short period of time is, in my opinion, not too much of a hardship if it results in more options being then made available.

Rochester, UK, United Kingdom

whilst allowing me to continue to fly French airways at VFR levels i.e. +500 feet.

You can certainly fly VFR in Class E airspace (what UK PPLs often call “French airways”) but that is not related to the IMCR

The IMCR is still valid for an N-reg AFAIK, if you have a UK or EASA PPL and medical. The NPPL (with the medical self declaration, or with a Class 2 medical) no longer is; as of April 2018 it is G-reg only – here.

It is still not clear whether the derogation applies to the country of base or the country through whose airspace you are flying…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter_G wrote:

When it is necessary, I will make the move based on (what maybe by then?) will be more available options e.g. that elusive BASA which we have been told for years is “just a few month’s away”; and more schools offering transition training at a competitive rate.

I am not sure the elusive BASA would simplify the conversion process for the IR though. Based on the drafts that used to be circulated a few years ago, the conversion process was exactly the same process for the current simplified ICAO-to-EASA IR conversion process, i.e. no ATO requirement, minimum theory hours requirement or written test requirement.

Peter_G wrote:

Because I fly/go touring for enjoyment I always try to ensure that “it is blue further south”. It is usually only on return to murky UK IMC weather that I find I really need to exercise my IR qualification.

OK, that wouldn’t work for me as I do make use of the “full IR privileges” in the rest of EASA-land. Your approach works if you are happy to maintain VFR privileges in countries that do not apply the derogation, assuming you already have an EASA FCL licence.

EGTF, EGLK, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

It is still not clear whether the derogation applies to the country of base or the country through whose airspace you are flying…

This is a good question although I would have thought it would be an airspace/country territory requirement as otherwise a national decision based on the country of base would have extraterritorial reach, i.e. a UK national resident in Spain would not be allowed to fly an N-reg aircraft in Germany because Spain decided not to apply the derogation. A legal expert with EU/international law experience should comment…

EGTF, EGLK, United Kingdom
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