Question about the Kobe Bryant Crash
Ok, I know the basic facts - the pilot inadvertently flew into IMC conditions, experienced spatial disorientation, and flew into the ground.
Here's what I don't get:
The pilot was a highly experienced professional helicopter pilot with over 8,000 hours, but he wasn't instrument rated. Now, in the fixed wing world it would be very unusual a relatively high time professional pilot to lack an instrument rating.
Is this fundamentally different in the rotorcraft world? Why wouldn't the pilot be instrument rated? Are instrument rated helicopter pilots relatively rare?
TIA