Jujupilote wrote:
Why all this work for so little result ?
Given what we wrote above, I guess that the most important thing for French pilots is that no ELP is required.
I thought the BIR would be a natural replacement for the IR(R) with the advantage that the holders would get instrument rpivileges valid all over Europe, but given that the TK seems to be the same as for the EIR and IR, and that the training requirement will most probably be significantly higher that that for the IR(R)…
What is the typical mission profile for light GA Eurocontrol IFR wholly within France, and never venturing outside ?
Jujupilote wrote:
New CB IR students are not really up to making approaches to minimums (from what I heard)
What do you mean by “new CB IR students” and where did you hear this?
This must be true for any IR holder, you first want to gain a bit of real world experience before taking on more challenging conditions. This doesn’t mean the training is sub-standard. And frankly, no matter what label you slash onto an IR course, the outcome will depend a lot on the student and teacher.
I can only judge from my experience doing the CBIR, where I practiced approaches and all other procedures to the required standard in a sim (full motion with an original Cirrus cockpit) for 25 hours, where you will of course do it to minimums. I was certainly capable to fly approaches to minimums (especially at aerodromes when they are 2000’ AAL ;)) at the end of the course. Would I have planned a flight when such conditions were forecast? No.
Peter wrote:
What is the typical mission profile for light GA Eurocontrol IFR wholly within France, and never venturing outside ?
Same as for all the UK private pilots, i.e. burger runs to L2K and a few other beautiful French airfields?
In France it is a know fact that we’re never going anywhere. So probably take off from LFPT to do some IFR approaches and keep up the IR currency. 
Visit relatives in Strasbourg, the Christmas market in Colmar, a winery weekend in the Rhone valley, Perigord or Burgundy, weekend at l’Ile d’Yeu, lunch in Le Touquet or Belle-Ile, romantic weekend in Carcassonne, visit the beautiful city of Troyes…
In France we have many nice places to visit, and loads of good weather down south, unlike Britain. The proof is that even Brits come here for R&R whereas the opposite is rare. 
Most of the Brits do not have too many language issues in France although they may end up with crisps instead of the chips they ordered.
And we have the benefit of knowing the language so doing RT in English is no problem. As we do not have very high expectations, we are always happy about the conditions at the airports.
Rwy20 wrote:
What do you mean by “new CB IR students” and where did you hear this?
I didn’t mean to offense anyone, sorry. The rest of your post got it right. I wasn’t clear.
Rwy20 wrote:
Would I have planned a flight when such conditions were forecast? No.
Which leads me to another question : if the minimums are 200 ft higher for BIR holders, will it be significant for the private IR pilot in terms of dispatch rate ?
Maybe not much.
This must be true for any IR holder, you first want to gain a bit of real world experience before taking on more challenging conditions. This doesn’t mean the training is sub-standard. And frankly, no matter what label you slash onto an IR course, the outcome will depend a lot on the student and teacher.
Actually somebody who just passed their IR checkride is probably a very good instrument pilot. When I got my FAA IR in 2006, after flying 2x a day for 2 weeks in Arizona and being utterly shagged every day, I was very current. The whole 2 weeks was mostly partial panel and the checkride was wholly partial panel, LOC/VOR/ILS approaches one after the other, at KCHD and other places. That currency lasted a few weeks
But the above is just the instrument flying. The operational knowledge required to fly for real is a different thing, and for Europe neither the FAA IR nor the JAA/EASA IR covers it anywhere near usefully. None of those pilots can even develop a valid route for Europe…
if the minimums are 200 ft higher for BIR holders, will it be significant for the private IR pilot in terms of dispatch rate ?
Probably not much difference (OVC002-003 is rare; what is probably much rarer for most pilots is the availability of an IAP with such minima i.e. ILS or – if you are equipped – LPV), but as with the UK IMCR (which via decades of officially sponsored FUD has achieved a widespread belief that its minimums are 500ft, or 500ft above the published) such a restriction is meaningless because these are in-flight conditions which only the pilot sees (unlike RVR which, at an airport which has RVR measurement equipment, is an official figure which you cannot decide yourself). So unless you have a CAA official sitting next to you in the plane, nobody will be able to enforce it. In certain countries you might get a prosecution attempt after some individual on the ground reports you for landing in OVC002 but the case should fail if you get yourself a half reasonable lawyer.
Which leads me to another question : if the minimums are 200 ft higher for BIR holders, will it be significant for the private IR pilot in terms of dispatch rate ?
Frankly? Not much. I have seldom flown an ILS below 700’. The minimum for an ILS will be 500’ (absolute minimum) which will also put an absolute limit on the required RVR.
Many will say that the prudent SE pilot will not venture into such weather anyway.
Many will say that the prudent SE pilot will not venture into such weather anyway.
Why not? You could have a well equipped SEP with classy kit, or a shagged twin with 1980s shagged kit and full of INOP stickers and with a sticky GS needle on the KI525…
The SEP/MEP distinction is meaningless, unless heavily qualified according to pilot ability and equipment.
A C150 with a 2 axis autopilot is probably 10x safer flying an ILS in OVC002 than a manually flown 421C.
I have seldom flown an ILS below 700’.
That’s probably true for most, but sometimes you have to. The difference between a metar and a taf showing OVC007 and actually finding OVC003 on the ATIS is a very thin line.
Fortunately, in these conditions it is unusual to have lots of wind, and often the vis under the cloud is also pretty good. Fog is different – and fog is a big problem!
200’ minima in an SEP means slight problems with survival in case of an engine out. That’s up to everybody’s own judgement. Not much room for errors in general…..
