Yes some do have the kit. There's a nice shiny red R44 with a pretty comprehensive kit in Sheffield, but would I fly it IMC? No way. I don't feel competent to take what is basically a non SAS machine into clouds. Apart from the fact that it'd be illegal, and probably void any insurance if I knowingly took it there and had an incident. The instruments and the helicopter don't know they're in cloud. They couldn't care less, but that isn't the point. I don't profess to have thousands of hours IMC. I have only probably a couple hundred actual IMC. But that is in a medium twin, with two crew, full dual auto pilot and all the bells and whistles. It's just another day at work for us but would I like to do it onshore, SPIFR? Not sure yet. Ask me in a year or two when I have more experience.
You're right that something should be done. the Safety evening themes are running into other things and hopefully VeeAny will be able to give more info soon. He has enough on his plate right now but watch this space. There is possibly to be a study carried out using sim and low experience pilots.
All we want is no accidents due to the same causes.
Not a lot to ask but getting that message across isn't as easy as you think, unfortunately.
