Geoffers
We've got to stop meeting like this!
One of the little known shortcomings of civil certification is that there is no requirement in Part 27 or 29 for an attitude indicator as part of the basic certification of a VFR helicopter. I had a hard time believing this at first, but it is there (or not there, as the case may be).
I'm not sure how we permit night flying without an attitude indicator, but there you go. The problem is a lot more fundamental than we think.
Related to this - why don't we teach decision making for bad weather flying using a simulator???? Lots of low cost ones around that would teach the problem quite convincingly....