> First of all, most helicopters are not flown IFR. I hadn't realized you can be a commercial helicopter pilot without an instrument rating. It's very differen

> First of all, most helicopters are not flown IFR. I hadn't realized you can be a commercial helicopter pilot without an instrument rating. It's very different to fixed-wing. And most helicopters aren't even capable of IFR, as I understand it. LAPD's choppers were grounded, not because the pilots aren't IFR certified, but because the helicopters aren't. This helicopter was capable of IFR, but usually with two pilots, not one. The US is an outlier in allowing single-pilot IFR on these if they've had an avionics upgrade -- Canada wouldn't allow it. Along with the delays due to clearance and rerouting if they'd filed IFR, they would also have been frustrated by not being able to go where they wanted to go: there's no instrument approach to Kobe's Mamba Sports Academy, they'd have to divert to find an airport to land at.