I totally agree the system is broken.
Mid-40's chap, PPL(H) gained, bought and owned a helicopter. Never had an accident but also realised within 2 seconds of getting outside of a concrete runway that I had NO CLUE.
Had many near misses and quit quickly before I killed myself and others..
PPL(H) does nothing to prepare a helicopter "pilot". If there was a facility that could offer "real life after PPL(H) training", I think everybody would be surprised at the up take. Maybe long hour FI's should be contacting hell owners that have low hours on the clocks of their machines....
Yes we are mid-40's, yes have deep pockets but that does not mean we don't want to fly safely!!! Darwin will always reward the idiots no matter how many hours they have...