CBM IR

Yesterday afternoon I passed the skill test for the CBM IR. With the new regulations I was able to take the test with only 13.9 hours of ATO training!

There seem to be quite a few myths around the IR training and test regime – Jim Thorpe who taught me suggested I post to debunk some of them…

• There are schools which are prepared to be flexible, fitting training into short high-intensity periods, giving you time to check your work emails between sorties and going out of their way to fit around your needs. In the UK, Booker and Rate One are already approved for CBM IR training. PAT in Bournemouth are expecting approval soon, and I am sure there are others as well.

• The examiners are not looking for slavish parroting of airline style checks – they want to see ‘evidence of system’ (in the words of another examiner).

• While NDB tracking is required if the equipment is fitted and working, there are some routes that can be flown without it, so you can still take a test if you don’t have one. Even at Gloucester, I was given the option of an RNAV or NDB approach.

• Perfect NDB holds with gates are not a requirement (in particular, you don’t need to be established inbound for some arbitrary n seconds). I did a single hold, of reasonable quality, in a 20kt+ wind.

• Partial panel no longer requires a turn/slip indicator. You can use whatever backup instruments are installed in your aircraft.

• The whole UK issue with screens vs hoods/foggles has gone away. There was no discussion – I used a hood.

• The standard of flying required is of course pretty high: I doubt I will ever be as good as the two days before my test. Your radio also needs to be excellent (I think mine was good by the standard of private pilots, but it still needed a lot of brushing up).

• The UK CAA skill test and rating application forms are not yet perfect. There are some obvious typos and couple of real mistakes.

• Some care is needed in calculating the hours credited from previous instruction and experience – the rules are not obvious.

• As an IMCr holder, even with enough logbook hours, I would not assume you can complete in the minimum 10 hours at an ATO. Quite a lot of time was needed to unlearn bad habits and relearn a good system of checks and threat/error management. Taking the training and test in one’s own aircraft could work both ways – there were a few things I had to change in my flying.

To summarise: training is available to fit around your work commitments, provided you are current in instrument flying the ATO training is doable in two or three long weekends, the test is for the most part reasonable, and you can use your own aeroplane without too much hassle.