Me actually thinks amount of total flying hours is totally irrelevant. What counts is total amount of training received within the not so distant past. Skills erode over time, some faster then others. Pilots need to be exposed to situations that sharpen their basic skills on a regular basis and not for 30 minutes every 6 months.
Sim or actual airtime (without pax) is expensive, so the companies do not have any incentive other than to cut it into the absolute minimum required by the regulator. And regulators apparently dont see it as a big issue yet.
oleary,
It does not count in a chopper. If you see more than 3 degrees bank angle or pitch, you immediately know the ADI is broken :-)