I guess it depends on the environment. If you want to fly your own R22 around Indiana from Bloomington to Ft Wayne, that's one thing. However, if you want to fly professionally in a place like Canada with its weather and geographic extremes, then I fully agree it should be taken seriously and you bloody well should know what you're doing.
In the States, things are treated as 'rights', not 'priviledges', and I disagree with this approach when it comes to professional helicopter flying. They're big into single pilot and single engine IFR, and unfortunately the powers that be in Canada appear to be leaning that way as well. <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> Hopefully, the significant lobby against such nonsense will prevail.
[ 06 February 2002: Message edited by: CTD ]</p>