Jim,
Unfortunately, there is all too much confusion. Many pilots flying helicopters outside Europe, are flying in machines which were certified many years before FAR/JARs were even being thought about. It is entirely possible where I work, to pick up a DGAC flight manual published in the 1980s and yet the UK CAA manual for the same aircraft, published at the same time, uses different terms and conditions for its performance pages.
The regualtions may now being harmonised, but there's no chance that old Flight Manuals will ever be updated and they will still be full of terms and conditions that do not apply in the 21st century.
You may have many pretty, new helicopteres in Europe, but out in the third world most of us fly helicopteres which, like their pilotews, are old, tired and no longer performing quite as they were when new (though, hopefully, all the problemes one has with new machinery have been recognised and sorted out)
