This is basically the same as when doing the King Air type rating. And much of it is the same when doing the MEP class rating (or was) A guy I used to own a twin with was both a TRI and TRE for King Airs.
I always struggled with the electrical bits but back then you learnt in the classroom at the ATO (although it wasn’t called that back then) and then the instructor/examiner put a couple of pages of questions in front of you. Once you had answered them he checked them and if you had answered enough correctly;that was it. Theory done.
arj1 wrote:
50hrs PIC XC after the PPL to be able to apply for CBIR
The Aircrew Regulation does not impose the condition that the cross-country hours must be acquired after the grant of a PPL.
Qalupalik wrote:
arj1 wrote: 50hrs PIC XC after the PPL to be able to apply for CBIRThe Aircrew Regulation does not impose the condition that the cross-country hours must be acquired after the grant of a PPL.
@Qalupalik, I’ve quotes it from here:
https://www.caa.co.uk/commercial-industry/pilot-licences/aeroplanes/competency-based-instrument-rating/
“Flying experience
You must also have completed at least 50 hours of cross country flight time as Pilot in Command (PIC) in aeroplanes, TMGs, helicopters or airships of which at least 10 hours shall be in aeroplanes.”
arj1 wrote:
You must also have completed at least 50 hours of cross country flight time as Pilot in Command (PIC) in aeroplanes, TMGs, helicopters or airships of which at least 10 hours shall be in aeroplanes.”
Solo flight during basic training is PIC time as in that case you are the PIC.
Country dependent. In FAA-land it is (PIC on the Student Pilot Certificate). In the UK you are flying on the FI’s papers while he is sitting on the ground.
Airborne_Again wrote:
Solo flight during basic training is PIC time as in that case you are the PIC.
I think the official stance was the this time is P1, but logged as PU/T, so it does not count (as well as successful skills tests that are logged P1/S in the UK for some weird reason).
Peter wrote:
Country dependent. In FAA-land it is (PIC on the Student Pilot Certificate). In the UK you are flying on the FI’s papers while he is sitting on the ground.
arj1 wrote:
I think the official stance was the this time is P1, but logged as PU/T, so it does not count (as well as successful skills tests that are logged P1/S in the UK for some weird reason).
AMC to FCL.050, (b)(1)(ii): the applicant for or the holder of a pilot licence may log as PIC time all solo flight time, flight time as SPIC and flight time under supervision provided that such SPIC time and flight time under supervision are countersigned by the instructor;
So solo flight time during training counts as PIC time in all EASA countries. After Brexit, of course, the UK may do it differently.
(Note: Part-FCL does not have the concepts of “P1” or “PU/T” time.)
Hello @Lee
I have been to a similar process so will try to answer your questions based on my own experience (EASA PPL in 2020, CB-IR rating the year after and HPA TK course)
a) In my opinion, the exams for the IR are much more difficult than the ones for the PPL. Can’t compare with IR(R) as I never did this rating
b) From talks with ATPL students or frozen ATPL pilots, the level of involment to do the whole ATPL theory is huge, much more than the IR part
c) About time, I started to study the theory in December ’20 and and passed the last TK exams in June ’21. A huge part of my spare time was dedicated to IR training and regarding the theory, I was trying to study for an hour per day and five days a week. The 80hours that you can read there and there are ATO minimums, but the estimation of UdoR of between 120 and 150 hours is closer to reality
Now, a few notes / personal advices on CB-IR:
- the CB-IR has been designed as a way for pilots with previous experience / foreign IR rating, to get a EASA IR but also as a way for private pilot to add an IR rating to their PPL with less investment (both in time and money) than the ATPL IR route. At the end privileges are the same!
- I would recommend you to set up what are your goals in aviation. If you intend to become a pro pilot (not necessarily a commercial pilot, but I put FI in this category), then go for the ATPL theory exams as you’ll have to do the CPL sooner or later. If not, stick to the CB-IR exams because there is no needs to spend time learning mostly useless things
- you need a Night Rating on your licence, otherswise your IR is day only
- we are talking about an EASA rating which means that you can legally train for theory in country A, do the flight training in country B, go to the exams in country C. Maybe not easy to set up but doable. In order to save a lot of $$$ I did all my training and exams in France and get the rating on my Swiss licence. (I have to say it has been a bit of hassle with paperwork but was worthwhile).
- the ATO I used for the online theorical training (Institut Mermoz) had a 3 days of mandatory training in a classroom (for ATPL students it is 7 or 8 days). I guess others can have the same requirements, think to check that.
- I recommend you to get the books from Erlend Vaage for the CB-IR training, I found them easy to read and useful (maybe Erlend will read this post;))
- I recommend also to register to Aviation Exams to get the latest question bank in order to train for the exams (heard first time about them here on Euroga)
To finish a note about HPA. Basically you need it only for turbine powered aircraft (see list shared by boscomantico). If you have passed all the ATPL exams you are fine with the theory part, otherswise you have to take an extra course and get certificate of completion after an exam. It is not a CAA exam but an ATO exam. From memory my course was three or four Zoom sessions lasting around three hours each and some review of the powerpoint used during the course before the exam.
Hope this will help
