Lack of interest in the IMC Rating
In the near future there is a good chance that the IMC rating will be no more. Personally I think its an excellent rating also if the CBIR every comes to fruitition then the hours and experience obtained will be of some use.
However the problem I have is the lack of interest and uptake of the rating and I suspect the number of ratings issued is at an all time low.
So in my opinion the time to get an IMC has never been greater yet the uptak e has never been lower.
Has anyone any ideas how to reverse this trend
Is it a fact that there is a decline in uptake? Notwithstanding seasonally adjusted figures I'd be surprised considering the current thinking that the rating will be grand-fathered but will not be available for initial issue from April 2014....maybe there will be a big panic rush when the weather improves...
The graphs for license issues appear in the back pages of Flight Training News. My last issue is June 2012 (later ones are in the bin, but I used this one for mixing up epoxy so still have it) and the graph in there shows for following for the total (UK+JAA) PPL and the IMCR issues respectively
2003 2900 550
2004 3250 510
2005 2750 410
2006 2710 350
2007 2600 280
2008 2550 320
2009 2460 270
2010 2230 240
So there is a drop in PPL issue but a much steeper drop in IMCR issue.
My take on the IMCR drop is that it is caused by the IMCR being slagged off by the boring old pontificating know-it-all farts who occupy every corner of UK GA and who keep saying it is a "get out of jail card", no good for flying in continuous IMC, and the usual rubbish. A lot of writers who either work for the CAA or deliberately appear to be CAA-sponsored (two free publications come to mind) have been spreading this stuff since before I started flying in 2000/2001 and same on the two prominent UK pilot forums where certain self-proclaimed sky gods have been spouting the same for years. And I suspect that eventually it started to have an effect.
Then, c. 2008 (note that this is after the really big drop in IMCR issues) the stuff hit the fan from EASA which directly said there will be no IMCR unless every EU country adopts it, which was obviously never going to happen. I actually went to that first presentation and took notes. It was stunning in its arrogance.
The EASA position has been diluted, thanks to the substantial disintegration of European political cohesion (hey, would Cyprus issue IMCRs to UK PPL holders, for €100, payable in cash?) but while the French never worried about EASA FCL (Socata are completely unbothered, despite the bulk of their TBM sales going onto N-reg) the UK CAA appeared to cave in totally. I am sure they don't want the IMCR to end (everybody will just carry on in Class G and will be doing "VFR" approaches into airfields with an IAP, which just coincide with the published procedure) but I suspect they are keeping their powder dry. The problem is that a lack of action just keeps decimating the IMCR training scene.
I think the IMCR will be saved, but not before we get to the cliff. Same as the Euro, probably 
The IMCR is a great rating. I was flying on it 2002-2006, it also enabled my original long European VFR trips (which were wholly radio-navigated and flown mostly VMC on top and which I would have never even tried doing traditionally), and when I started working towards the FAA IR in 2005 I didn't have anything new of substance to learn. The 2011 JAA IR involved learning nothing at all - just banging a lot of navaid approaches.
What would be interesting is an additional stat showing how many newly qualified PPL's renewed their SEP 2 years later (i.e. continued to fly). A decline of 1st time round renewals would suggest a reason for the lack of take up in additional ratings and qualifications.
Where I fly, the IMCr seems to be quite popular (especially for the instructors as its no doubt more interesting kind of flying for them). I guess some schools maybe havent encouraged training for it based on their assumption it would be short lived. Even if that was true, it was always good and enjoyable training to have, and many parts can be applied in VFR conditions as well - its not just about flying in cloud.
What would be interesting is an additional stat showing how many newly qualified PPL's renewed their SEP 2 years later (i.e. continued to fly)
I've never seen such stats i.e. stats on the attrition rate of new PPLs.
Various figures have been mentioned. I vaguely recall one CAA man saying something like 90% not renewing at the 2 year point.
My feeling, my guess only, is that the CAA is not keen on publicing that figure, because it would show GA generally, and the PPL training industry specifically, in very poor light. We all know that loads of people do a PPL just to tick a box, and always have done. But if e.g. somebody is campaigning for some GA airfield (against some property shark) they don't really want that sort of thing publicised because it would make even more people think GA is a play activity for the filthy rich.
When I did my PPL (finished 2001) all but 2 of the ~30 people I trained with vanished within weeks. I am sure that is a bad example and better organised places have a better retention, but the general picture is not too good.
The economic situation won't help (IFR capability needs a better equipped plane) but the IMCR decline predates the current troubles substantially.
and many parts can be applied in VFR conditions as well - its not just about flying in cloud.
Very much so...
I think it is very sad.
About 2007 several pilots got together and ran a campaign called "Save the IMCR". We did a lot of letter writing and general awareness raising. Eventually that fizzled out but it did draw attention to EASA's attempts to kill it off.
My take on the IMCR drop is that it is caused by the IMCR being slagged off by the boring old pontificating know-it-all farts who occupy every corner of UK GA and who keep saying it is a "get out of jail card", no good for flying in continuous IMC, and the usual rubbish. A lot of writers who either work for the CAA or deliberately appear to be CAA-sponsored (two free publications come to mind) have been spreading this stuff since before I started flying in 2000/2001 and same on the two prominent UK pilot forums where certain self-proclaimed sky gods have been spouting the same for years. And I suspect that eventually it started to have an effect.
I think you're probably right, although I think don't think it's actually the CAA - the CAA certainly used to require an IMC for any of their PPL holding staff who wanted fly on business.
It is a proportion of as you quite rightly put it "know-it-all-farts" who just can't accept that large portion of the enormous cost and agro they went through to get their IRs wasn't really necessary.
The "get out of gaol" argument has always been daft, if for no other reason than everybody knows and accepts that the single most important thing in instrument flying is practice. So if people don't practice flight in IMC, operation under IFR, and most important of all, flying IAPs, then the odds of their being able to safely and competently fly IMC when they need to to save their necks, are low and reducing the longer they don't use it.
I have a CPL and an IMC - to date I've perhaps once been in a situation where IMC privileges weren't technically enough for what I wanted and needed (but the skills were). As you say, even for European touring, it is a fantastic "mini-IR", and any IMCR holder can, and should, use the privileges it gives them - not save it for an emergency.
Like you, I'm sure that I will do the IR sooner or later, but the IMCR is useful enough that it's really not a priority.
G
I've never seen such stats i.e. stats on the attrition rate of new PPLs.
When the CAA priced the JAA 5 year PPL in 1999 it was calculated on the basis that most PPLs had ceased flying at the 10 year point, thus the initial issue and one licence reissue would cost no more than the old lifetime licence.
Despite the requirement to retain re-validation records since 2000, the CAA has not generated any statistics from the data.
Just seen the last issue of FTN.
There has been a huge jump in the IMCR issues, from ~ 240 in 2010 to ~440 in 2011.
Presumably a lot of people are either renewing, or doing a new one, or FAA IR holders are applying for theirs as a backup.
The JAA PPL/IR issues are rising slowly
2009 30
2010 33
2011 38
Staggeringly small numbers. In 2011 in particular, I was in the middle of doing my FAA IR to JAA IR conversion, and while I did my IRT in Jan 2012 I was almost in those 38.
So I was right to be surprised (in #2)....there is a recent increase in IMCR uptake as logic would expect....
I'm probably going to embarrass myself here in public, but I just don't understand what I can do with my IMC Rating! Don't get me wrong - I think the IMCR is a great qualification, for a number of reasons. It's just that I find the wording of the rules quite confusing. I'm not a complete tyro - I taught (and examined) instrument flying in the RAF. But things were simpler there; you stayed out of controlled airspace, and tried to get a (military) radar service if you couldn't stay VMC. Not that this was essential - we would routinely carry out homings and let-downs in cloud using, for example, VDF or TACAN.
My problem with the IMC Rating is that I can't work out what I am and am not allowed to to do in UK airspace (Yes, I know the furriners don't recognise it). I passed the written test OK, but parroting back the forms of words I'd read didn't mean I had any real insight into how I can actually use the rating in anger; as I understand it, I can't fly in or anywhere near cloud, under any circumstances. This seems to be a very severe restriction, and I hope I've got it wrong. I fly a well equipped aircraft with ILS and twin VOR, and would be quite prepared to fly a whole navex in cloud if I had to, including an airfield or runway approach down to minimums (and a safe Missed Approach, which is at least as important!); but I don't see how I can legally get into the position where I need to do this.
I'm hoping that the problem is quite simply my own failure to understand the rules as they are laid out, and that somebody can take pity on my ignorance and explain in 'Janet & John' terms the kind of scenario where I can actually use my IMCR for real. If I can't use it to help me recover in poor weather, what's the point of it?
In the meantime, I'll keep practising and renewing my IMCR; if I do get caught out by deteriorating weather one day, then I'll just recover on instruments and argue the legality later!
