IR Pilot Programme UK
Although we show the IR as the final step, you may complete an IR at any time after your PPL; indeed you may do a single-engine IR course, although you would have to re-do the course on a multi-engine aircraft before licence issue. The minimum hours requirement for the course are 55 unless you have passed your CPL skills test, in which case they are 50 hours. A minimum of 15 hours must be completed in an aircraft; the remainder may be completed in a suitable simulator called a Flight and Navigation Procedures Trainer II (“FNPT II”). Up to 40 hrs may be completed in a FNPT II, or 25 hrs in the less common FNPT I.
As simulator time is cheaper than aircraft time, doing a course with the minimum aircraft time would seem an attractive option. The only risk in planning this is that many student pilots find only 15 hours flight time barely enough, and of course over-running the minimum hours on the more expensive aircraft, would prove to be costly. Therefore, a common approach is a course that has, or example 25 hours aircraft time in it and consequently fewer simulator hours.
Usually, the simulator is used to teach the applied instrument flying techniques, which are then applied in the aircraft. Therefore, it makes sense not to progress from the simulator onto the aircraft until you are fully on-top of those techniques; better do extra hours in the cheaper simulator than waste more expensive aircraft time, and end up over-running.
When shopping for courses, bear in mind that you will normally have to pay the CAA for the flight test fee as an extra to the course price. This is over £750, plus you have to hire an aircraft for the test (about 2 hrs, at typically £275/hr), plus you will have to pay for approach and landing fees which can easily add another £100. If you are at a school that does not have an on-site CAA examiner, you’ll also have to account for flying to the test centre and back again.
For details of the various IR course options that we offer, click here
