Regarding the IR question, some good comments have been made, especially if you move your license to the CAA and get the IR(R), which, as I understand, is expected to prevail as one of the few merits of Brexit (no, let’s not divert into a political discussion, there are other threads for that).
One aspect that hasn’t been mentioned is the likely existence of a Basic IR (BIR) in the near (?) future that will replace EIR and make it more useful.
Personally, I’ve been struggling with the question of doing CBIR or EIR for a while and my general point of view is to wait for the BIR, as it combines the best of both worlds and, depending on what it is actually going to look like, will offer anything a sensible private pilot would need. I.e. with the BIR you will be able to fly departures and approaches, just to less intimidating minima than the full ICAO-IR offers.
The only uncertainty is if and when it appears – and then if the United Kingdom of that undefined point in the future will honor the BIR (it’s an EASA invention, after all, and not ICAO-compliant).
Forget the BIR etc. If you want the IR capability, go for it now. In this business one always waits for something which never arrives or when it does, the difference is minimal. All these things are constrained by politics and they always play out the same way, with the same people grinding axes under the table, protecting the FTO industry, etc.
Peter wrote:
Forget the BIR etc. If you want the IR capability, go for it now.
I don’t know. The struggle was the same for the EIR – and it came. I’d give EASA some credit for that.
And personally, I’m not in a rush with the IR capability – it’s a nice to have, not a must have (like flying, in general). It seems the OP is in a similar position.
The IMCR would have remained regardless of Brexit, via the “equivalent safety case” route.
The EIR is not useful for using IFR to avoid weather 
It is useful only for using IFR to get access to CAS enroute. I think the EIR got through because it is so crippled. The GA traffic can be (loosely speaking) in “airliner airspace” only enroute and then it will be some 20000ft lower, so not an issue. Then it is forced to depart and arrive VFR which keeps it out of “airliner airspace” and that is how it got through the politics.
The reason I am sceptical about the BIR is that it is affected by the same politics as any “full IR”. The CB IR has more or less the same 7 exams as the original JAA IR (later EASA IR) and the BIR will likely follow the same route. There are no resources within the ATPL training establishment (which is basically where Brussels forces all training above the PPL to go) to produce yet another syllabus, and any “actual need to know” overhaul of the syllabus (the “learning objectives”) would be a really dramatic overhaul. And same for the flight training. To overcome the objections
any “full IR” has to be fundamentally identical, no matter how you wrap it up.
Being sub-ICAO doesn’t really help.
EIR alone is only useful to enjoy VFR scenery in EU class A airspace or UK airways, so will be good to see what BIR brings
The expectations on BIR depends on the roots behind its design:
1) Stepping stone rating to “full IR” + open access to “airliners system”, then fundamentally it will be exactly like EIR or CBIR for the reasons you mentioned
2) Standalone rating + geared toward GA aircraft pilots/owners + less use of “airliners system”, you may get something like IR(R) or IMCr +/- access to CAS in EU
As things stand now, the thinking is rather close to the first: BIR rating will just fit in the ATO modular offering of the “full IR”….
The EIR would enable access to all controlled airspace, whether currently VFR is allowed in it or not (class A, any airspace above FL200 in Europe, much of France above FL120, etc). The problem is that it doesn’t do approaches or sids/stars.
The BIR thread is here. I don’t know how far it has got.
Peter wrote:
The BIR thread is here. I don’t know how far it has got.
Thanks for linking it up. I google it every now and then and can’t make out any published progress, unfortunately!
The comment period for the proposed BIR regulation closed in January last year and there is still no response document published or even in preparation according to the EASA comment response tool website.
