Peter_G wrote:
Of the many forum pages and organisations out there, I find PPL/IR very beneficial and effective.
I agree with everything that Peter_G says, GA needs somebody like PPL/IR to represent IFR pilots in Europe and to remind legislators and others that the airlines dont own all of the airspace above 5500 ft MSL
Unfortunately there appears to be an ongoing problem with membership renewal which I am sure they are working on.
It is a pity that AOPA Europe in its various national guises did not grow into an equivalent of AOPA USA, and similarly the excellent EAA.
It wasn’t clear what PPL IR lobby agenda was, and the governance of the lobby effort, and what achievements it might point to on the lobby front. Perhaps this has improved, but the historic IMC R debacle, I felt AOPA UK achieved the protection of this rating, with PPL IR’s role, charitably, being unclear.
I must admit I wondered about trying to support PPL IR even though I do very little ifr. However, It didn’t seem to me as if they achieved much and to me spent a lot of time trying to justify unhelpful EASA positions.
Perhaps it’s not possible for GA to get enough people together to be listened to.
Well… I somehow miss to see any achievement of theirs but who cares. Anything behind the paywall is just the stuff of the people who pay the subscription and shouldn’t be concern of the rest.
I am not an apologist for PPL/IR and have had my disagreements with them but as just one example the PBN manual which is used as the basis for a lot of PBN training is surely a good achievement isn’t it?
is used as the basis for a lot of PBN training
@JohnR it is a worthy, if somewhat indigestible tome, but am not aware any ATOs use it as part of PBN/RNP training. Again not sure it has been updated, but it seemed somewhat removed from the practicalities and SOPs of PBN/RNP training.
I used it and still do and I recommend it to all who fly IFR as an excellent reference document. Yes it is rather dense but then so is PBN 
. I am still flying the Aztec by the way and remember the day you kindly showed me your Aztec.
@JohnR that Aztec is living in Eastern Europe (Kiev and Estonia!), a great aircraft when AvGas was 80 cents a litre !!
I’m not sure writing a manual is a good example of fighting for case of the IR at EASA level.
I get the feeling that (much the way I feel about AOPA) it’s managed decline from people who don’t really want to rock the boat or speak out and up.
I disagree, it is part of creating the credibility to have influence at that level. There has been a huge amount of work put into producing that document. There are a small number of people who do a lot of work behind the scenes to try and improve GA IFR. It is easy to criticise but far more difficult to get out and do something about it.
