IMC/Night trial

[Ian Hoolahan]

It is now a year since the last update that I saw on this, do we have any progress that can be reported?

[Chris Martyr]

Hmm.....What do we take that as then. Very little progress made,,,or none at all !

Does seem a little odd that your post has been here a couple of days now with no response and it is a creditworthy enough question , and if no answer appears , then it'll only end up going viral on "that other forum".
I was extremely cynical about the whole Night/IFR thing from the beginning, as I couldn't for the life of me see how PtF types , all of which are different , could possibly comply with requirements for Night/IFR.
Bearing in mind that every Boeing/Airbus etc is assembled to an approved, certificated standard and every example flying in the world is identical to others of the type, which means that if a chafing problem on a 'P' Clip appears [for example] either the respective manufacturer or airworthiness authority can issue an SB/AD and deal with the defect .
I have however, relented slightly over the years and have been quite impressed at Peter Pengilly's extremely informed and professional articles in LA mag , but the unfortunate upshot of this still is, that each aircraft will be assessed as a single entity and will end up on the receiving end of a massively lengthy process. Many PtF types won't even be eligible for consideration due to stability, wing loadings, generator capacity and quite a few other "issues", and if Night/IFR is something a guy really wants to do, then it's probably [definitely] cheaper to opt for a CofA type .
I personally believe that the original article that appeared in LA mag [Nov08) was a little mis-leading as it gave the impression that night/IFR flying was just around the corner for all who wanted it.
I don't really want to dwell on that and open old wounds, as were all a little older and wiser than we were then and it is at least now a little more clear-cut , but nonetheless , still a real "slashing of the wrists" experience !
Incidentally, do you have any particular type in mind, I know your handle/nickname suggests a de-Havilland type But I'll assume it's something else.

[Ian Melville]

Do you by any chance read 'Light Aviation'?

There were updates in Feb 2015 and May 2015 magazines, which by my calculation is a lot less than a year ago

[Chris Martyr]

Ian. Well done ! I have to say, I'm very impressed with your archiving mate.

Despite having very little interest in the PtF, Night/IFR issue , I do have to acknowledge the professionalism and tenacity shown by Peter Pengilly and his team and they do actually demonstrate that a do-able process is being put in place whereby certain PtF types can gain this approval.
The OP hasn't enlightened us as to whether or not he is actively seeking to pursue this process and I still reckon that even if "your type" does gain approval, it won't preclude a long and expensive series of events taking place.
Sure, if you're building from scratch it will be a bit less painful, but I think this may be the source of some peoples frustration, the "will it , won't it " aspect.
I'm still a little bit gutted that the wing-loading figures of my VP-1 excluded me from a slice of this action . But I'm getting over it slowly....Well,,,VERY slowly actually.

[Ian Melville]

These were not in the PC filing system yet.... They were in that other filing system, a stack beside the loo

[Ian Hoolahan]

Found the May one in the back of the car, does not really tell much apart from things are ongoing. Just got a group going round an RV7 at Barton and we would like to start getting it set up ready.

[ivanmanley]

Methinks someone has got a shiny new RV and wants to get it IMC rated?

[Ian Hoolahan]

It will certainly make it more practical for going N/S!