Originally Posted by
KRviator
BUT - as above I am not recommending this as a means for VFR pilots to deliberately fly IMC - only as a means to keep you alive with the systems you have on board if you screwup and find yourself in such a situation. Know your systems and their capabilities and get them in play early in the piece and you stand at least a decent chance of being able to tell someone about your mistake after the fact.
Don't neglect the Startle Factor. If you're scud-running (as some have suggested this guy might have been), it really doesn't matter what gadgetry the aircraft is fitted with nor your knowledge of your systems nor how current (or otherwise) your instrument rating may be - SA is king and the key to your survival
will be how fast you admit to yourself that you're now in the soup and mentally get yourself inside the aircraft and keep flying it.
As pointed out upthread, if you're below LSALT in mountains, the odds really aren't on your side - and IMHO, the more electronic data, alarms and flashing lights you're confronted with by your whizz-bang EFIS gadgetry when you finally get around to looking, the longer it's going to take to filter out the important from the less important. In many ways, the simpler the avionics, perhaps the better.. but instinctively pushing the Blue Button isn't going to save you if you're heading, wings level in cloud, for the side of the nearest hill.
We all know how it ends: "TERRAIN! PULL UP!! PULL UP!!!" ...right before the stall.
