Nigel
I tend to agree with you about getting PPLs to fly in 'actual' conditions and whenever the opportunity presents itself for me to get someone less experienced into the spare seat of an A109, I take it. Turn off the SAS and let the fun begin! However,that is off topic so I'll stop there.
As regards your question "you are not advocating scrapping gps ....so what do YOU think ? . Good point. Not really sure. In order to prevent more burdensome legislation being forced in as a reaction to yet more 'accidents' happening is for the wider helicopter community to educate the less experienced.
Gary's Safety Evenings are a good starting point but on the whole I consider these to be probably 'preaching to the converted'.
Optional Post-PPL(H) training leading to an enhanced qualification that permits flight in lower weather limits might be worth considering. The regulators wouldn't let someone fly at night without proper training, yet they let people fly in crud without necessarily having had any specific training. Many PPLs conduct their training in 8/8 Blue sky without ever seeing cloud or flight without a defined horizon.
As a proposal for discussion - The VFR rules as they stand already have a structure which would be easy to implement. A 'basic' PPL(H) could be allowed to fly in 5km vis. After a 5 hour 'poor weather appreciation course' flown in real poor weather (shouldn't be too difficult to achieve in our wonderful climate) the vis restriction would be lifted to COCWSIS and 1500m.
Finally, the point of this thread wasn't purely aimed at inexperienced PPL(H)s. Witness the accident report of the Liverpool - Thornaugh Twin Squirrel. I cannot believe that had the pilot been shuffling maps and flying stopwatch and compass to try and find his landing site would he ever have found himself in such a risk-ridden flight profile. The cockpit workload would have been so high simply trying to locate the LS that a no-go decision made before the flight profile became critical would probably/possibly have been made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing; I'm not criticising the pilot for his actions by the way, thats for people far more qualified than me - I'm just trying to learn from others' experiences.
JJ