Originally Posted by
SASless
Lots of "what if'ing" there Mozella!
Do your remember your FAR's re Pilot Actions during an Emergency?
You do raise some good questions but some of your statements get ahead of the facts known at this time I suggest.
Yes, of course I know all about declaring emergencies. When I was flying in the Navy I was taught to declare an emergency when necessary and I did so a number of times with great success. Suddenly you stop asking and start telling. However, I personally know a number of civilian trained pilots who think that the last thing in the world they might do is declare an emergency and one or two of them are no longer with us because of it. In at least one instance, I lost a good friend for the very reason that he failed to use his instrument rating and the IFR instruments in his aircraft when push came to shove when he ran out of airspace suitable for his VFR flight plan. The accident being discussed in this thread has a lot of similarities; i.e. deteriorating weather conditions with a sad ending.
You can read about the downside of not declaring an emergency on this very forum in many other threads when things went from bad to worse because the pilot didn't want to be too much of a bother or perhaps because he/she didn't want to cope with all the paper work, rug dances, and so on. It happens and unfortunately it sometimes ends in tears.
There has been plenty of discussion in this thread about being overly focused on completing the mission with an "I can do it" attitude which was just a little too strong for the circumstances. "Get-home-ites is a variation on that theme. It's real and sometimes it's fatal. In hindsight we always say things like "a basketball game isn't all that important" and while that is certainly true, that thought is not always applied ahead of time when it might do the most good.
In my flying career, I flew almost exclusively in aircraft legal for IFR and I maintained my Instrument currency; therefore, I never felt that there was any pressure on me to avoid asking for an IFR clearance. That's why I was asking about those who may have actually been employed by an outfit which was NOT allowed to fly IFR and who operated aircraft which were NOT maintained to comply with FARs regarding IMC flying. Given those circumstances, I wonder if there is strong company pressure to NEVER get caught in a situation requiring IFR operations. Perhaps it's no big deal, but perhaps it is.