OK flyer43,
Before you start telling me about real flying and what its really like to be in the soup as apposed to flying under the hood, I think YOUR missing the point I am trying to make!!
My arguement is, if a pilot is flying a "real helicopter" for a living and has done so for many years, then decided he wanted to take his Instrument rating to further his career and make himself a safer pilot, but....has to pay for the rating himself....does it make him less of a pilot than YOU because he did his check-ride in a piston helicopter to save himself money???? This guy may have done his check-ride years ago and have since flown 1000's of hours in IMC since, but alas he did do his training in a piston with no SAS.
I am not taking about experience of flying IMC, (two newbies holding a fresh IR are as inexperienced as each other regardless of what they fly) I am talking about the JAA rules and regs as apposed to the FAA. All procedures and test requirements are the same with the exception of the type of aircraft you can sit it in.
So before we start getting into a "who's got the biggest dick contest", you obviously think I'm thicker than a canteen mug for not understanding why you are a better pilot for taking your IR check-ride in a twin rather than a piston..Please educate me and tell me (only for the puposes of training) why it is more beneficial to pay four times the amount to do it your way.
As an after thought, would you agree there would be more instrument rated pilots in the UK if it could be done at a price most people could afford, instead of keeping IR safety out of the price range of most helicopter pilots?
LB