VFR into IMC accident investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continually cite poor decision making as one of the main reasons pilots find themselves in these situations. Unlike other accident causes (e.g., mechanical failure), VFR into IMC usually does not occur instantly. Pilots either had the tools necessary to know the conditions ahead of time or should have recognized the worsening weather conditions. Failure to act or react to changes in conditions has continued to drive the high fatality rate.
https://www.aopa.org/training-and-sa...-into-imc/ntsb
Gaining a license is merely a license to begin the real learning process, that is gaining experience by doing. Along the way you make mistakes, some you get away with, some you don't, which may result in an accident, or at the very worse, death. No matter the level of experience everyone is capable of screwing the pooch and ending in a casket.
We can have all the training/fancy toys/experience in the world, but in the end, we're all just human, and **** happens,...and will always "just happen"
Don't like the phrase "**** happens"
Robbiee when applied to pilot error, pilot error, as the AOPA article cites, is the result of poor decision making, which may be a reflection of lack of experience or training, a "****** happenning" event to me is when your S-76 throws a rotor blade, as occurred to good friend Jerry Hardy at Aberdeen