Thank you all for the comments so far - as hoped, it has brought out similar views but subtly differing emphasis, and prompted discussion.
For the purposes of the discussion, lets assume:
- the owner was holding a job over the "newbie"
- the flight was NOT twin crew, merely coincidence that both pax were licence holders
- the aircraft was not specifically equipped for IFR but had an HSI, AH etc. suitable for "inadvertant IMC".
- the wx forecast was appropriate (i.e. above minima) for the entire flight
- poor conditions in the final phases of flight were localised and not forecast
That way we keep the discussion focused on the cockpit environment as things were deteriorating (not simplifythe argument by stating they should've checked the wx before leaving).
Please also do mention what your perspective is as I'm interested to see whether there is any bias towards pilots experienced in flying in a multi-crew environment.
There have been a lot of valuable lessons / tips from the clearly more experienced members, which may prove useful to the less experienced pilots and I thank you for sharing them.
Is it not arguable that this sort of discussion also contributes to CRM training ?
FO