dutch_flyer wrote:
You won’t be able to just land at any little grass strip IFR
Are you sure the ‘proprietary instrument approaches’ to Breda, Texel, Teuge…do not count for FAA IR currency? 
In the US, they do count GPS approaches without ATC for IR training (very rare in Europe, even in France, IFR ATO training has to be done with ATC/AFIS in the tower)
All instrument approaches count for the FAA purpose. No requirement for ATC etc.
gallois wrote:
it is not necessary to use an ATC/AFIS for training in France not even for the flight test with examiner.
Sound like some guys are having an easy life during their IR tests 
so, you stop ILS/GPS at 950ft agl (MVL and no local QNH) or join above visual circuit at 1100ft agl that is not a test, it’s called ‘le bonheur’ !
Also, I had the impression FAA IFR currency require one to fly an ILS in clouds or under hood up to FAA minima ? not up to visual circuit height, overhead join or own personal minima (mine is 1500ft agl btw)? although, I think there is an exemption if you fly AirOps minima or State minima?
Why would it be an easy life? You fly according to the conditons of the day.
You fly to the minima. In case of the RNP approach without ATS you get QNH from the controller, descend to the appropriate minima for the approach. The examiner will decide whether you will treat the approach as a circle to land or whether it will be a “missed approach”. If it is a missed approach the examiner will have discussed what he wants to do with the approach controller first. At some point during the approach or the missed it will be necessary to copy your next clearance because you will now be changing to your following flight plan, unless the examiner decides that the missed is to be followed by going.to your alternate.
I don’t understand your points of 1100 ft minima. At LFFK the minima for an MVL is a little higher than many is 670ft.
This thread is about maintaining FAA IR rolling currency, not doing an IR initial or annual test (FAA or Euro). The link I posted above summarises the current FAA position on the required wx conditions.
If one needed wx down to minima, the whole rolling currency scheme would obviously disintegrate because wx is rarely down to minima. Over the years, a lot of people on forums have been hypothesising that wx has to be down to minima, which is self evident nonsense.
We should try to help out the OP asking the questions
In reality, based on many IR pilots I have known over 20+ years, they seem to fall into two groups
If your base has IAPs, then unless your plane is a hangar queen, maintaining the 6/6 FAA IR currency is easily done, and with a huge margin. Otherwise, you need to do the best you can, on trips. Might be easier for Brits because, non-schengen, their first stop on the mainland (immigration, now customs too) invariably has IAPs; also many have the IMCR which supports IAPs which count for FAA 6/6/ currency too. The hardest life is for FAA IR holders who rarely fly / don’t have a plane; these understandably prefer the Euro IR because on that you don’t need to do any flying whatsoever and just go up with an IR examiner once a year. You can guess my opinion on which of the two groups are safer
Peter wrote:
I retain mine only because in addition to the US CPL/IR I also have a UK PPL/IR.
I assume you mean while operating within the UK, as per the first paragraph. Any national CAA can allow operation of an N-reg on the national licence within that country’s airspace. Having a European licence (UK, EASA) doesn’t eliminate the requirement to meet FAA regs when operating an N-reg aircraft outside the European country of issuance.
That’s correct; I wrote Also if you have a European IR then you get automatic night passenger carriage privileges regardless of any actual night flying (!), valid in the airspace of the country which issued the IR. above.
I’ve been caught out by the requirement (int the UK) that all night rating training must complete within 6 months. I started mine on 6 March, so I have until 6 September to complete it the course. I need another 2:15 hours, as well as all 5 solo circuits.
Am looking for an airfield, in the UK, that would be open late enough to allow me to complete the above, ideally in one session. Taking 21 August as a potential date, night starts at 2037 LT. Budgeting for 3 hours, to allow for the full stop landings, means I need an airport open until midnight.
Fairoaks (where I am based) closes at 2200 (hence my desire to get the above done in one night, as will mean staying in a hotel before flying back in the morning), but doesn’t allow night flying out of hours (after 1900L) in any case. Blackbushe closes at 2000, I believe. Southend would work, but has a huge night surcharge per takeoff and landing. Has to be in the UK as neither I nor my instructor has EASA papers (unless someone says this isn’t required, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t).
I have an aircraft, on an ATO, with an instructor who is very flexible. It is probably cheaper to write-off the time done so far and just do the whole course again when the nights are longer, but wondered if anyone has any ideas. Prestwick is apparently an option but the time/cost of getting there/back would exceed the cost of re-doing the course. Lydd has H24 extensions – any idea of the cost? Website says “POA depending on RFF category”. Bournemouth/Southampton are always funny about non-based training, let alone at night, so I’ve not even asked. Oxford mentioned above closes at 2230.
