All interesting stuff......in between the falling out!
I think we can continue to go over old ground, but it is quite evident that despite what people are taught they will always be those who have a less than acceptable approach to conducting a flight.
In all fairness to most schools/instructors I get the impression that the general feeling is the 5 hrs IF is a waste of time as it stands, however this doesn't mean that you simply have to go off on sunny days with the foggles on to go through the motions. Its suprising how well bloggs does when flying over fields etc with the foggles on, but then if you take them over a reservoir, wide river etc (within Auto distance to land before any comedians jumps in!) this can through them off kilter, a perfect chance to point out this foggles milarky isn't all its cracked up to be. Not to mention the fact they will sh*t themselves/tense up on the controls if they go IIMRC.
In addition time can be used from the syllabus to go off in marginal weather as part of EX 22b, highlighting the associated problems.
However despite all this I think people will continue to go off into weather they are not capable of handling, especially if they have a machine in their back garden and can go unchecked from a school etc.
I would like to see a mandatory refresher session for PPLs (or CPL etc who aren't flying for an AOC) covering topics they might find interesting/useful which should include a review of accidents. It might just drum home the facts. This could be run at selected FTOs around the country and form part of a renewal system.
Also, despite Fred's best efforts to tone down the LPC why not have a mated brief in there, I think it would be suprising how many pilots can't get relevant Met/Notams.
I don't see any significant changes coming from EASA, but this doesn't mean that as professional individuals responsible for training people to safe standard to CAPTAIN a helicopter we should not make a concerted effort to address these issues we all know exist.