Plenty of instrument rated pilots crash because they aren’t proficient. They must fly instruments frequently in order to remain proficient.
The pilot was LICENSED to fly by instruments, but he may not have been very PROFICIENT at it because his company has a policy against it. To say he wasn't ALLOWED to is ambiguous at best and implies he wasn't certified to fly by instruments.
But that wasn't the claim made in the headline. They used was is often labeled as journalistic license, but is in reality, lying. 8>)
Back when I used to fly, one needed a minimum number of instrument approaches and a minimum number of hours flying in true instrument conditions every six months or you had to get signed off by a certified instrument instructor which was good for another six months.
Here on the east coast, flying in and out of fog ridden Nantucket, I only made the required number of approaches and hours once. (The hours requirement was the killer because once you're on top of the cloud deck, the time no longer counts so the entire east coast can be under IFR, but usually one will only get to count the time during the take-off and landing parts of a flight.) Out in the LA area my impression is that true instrument conditions are rare.
ML/NJ
According to a couple of helo pilots in the military, every helo pilot craps their pants when they hit a cloud bank or fog. Helo flying is super visual. Its especially dangerous when suddenly flying into non-visibility. The transfer from visual flying to instruments takes a transition to read all the pertinent gauges and react accordingly. Again, I'm no expert, as I'm sure there are Freepers that are, I'm just summarizing what I was told.
“They must fly instruments frequently in order to remain proficient.”
Absolutely right! When was the last time this pilot re-tested?
The article mentions Zobayan was an instrument flight instructor, which requires proficiency to hold that rating.
BINGO!
IIRC, You need to have logged so many hours and approaches in the past 90 days before flying passengers.
(FYI, I have at least 100 hours of ACTUAL Helo IFR time in UH-1 E/L and CH-53D. You have to be current to be safe!)
An IFR helo pilot MUST have the backbone to tell a high-profile client, "No, we cannot make that flight to using Special VFR. It will take longer, but we're filing IFR and doing it right." (presuming the pilot has the Ratings and is current)