"Peter" wrote in message
...

Thank you Julian - I am sure you can see what I am getting at. The UK
IMC Rating is an "instrument rating" but it is non-ICAO and it
excludes Class A.

No, I didn't figure out that that was what you were getting at. I though it
was about whether a JAA/IR holder could exercise the IR privileges on an
N-reg.

I have it in writing from the CAA that the validity of the IMC-R is
not limited to G-reg aircraft but they say the FAA might object. The
question is whether an N-reg plane flown in the UK by a UK PPL with an
IMC-R would be OK.

Some people have offered a view that the "instrument rating" mentioned
in the FARs must be an ICAO one, but I am not sure where exactly that
interpretation comes from, especially as the flight in question
*would* be legal in a G-reg aircraft.

I don't think there's much doubt that an IMC rating does not satisfy the
requirements of 61.3(e). However, there's an issue of whether or not
61.3(e) is relevant. It could certainly be argued that 61.3(a) permits you
to use a foreign licence including its full privileges when flying in that
foreign country. And there remains the issue of whether the FARs apply to
non-US nationals in their own territory except as delegated by local law.
(Nigel would argue that they do, I think.)

Julian