Luc Lion ... I agree with what you say about flying IFR at a sensible height in this situation and as you say, if the de-icing equipment was u/s or the pilot unfamiliar with its use then then it would have been irresponsible of the pilot to go ahead with that IFR flight. It seems he wanted to fly VFR though and it is this which has me make the point on him staying over land for as long as possible ... see my original post ... but even this is only ok for so long ... the min. 60 mile Channel crossing still has to be made and it seems daft to plan to make that crossing at 2000 feet ... or even 5000 feet, in a single engined aircraft.