Not just "pressonitis" - it was the bit where he took off into a 200-300ft cloud base without an IMCR/IR that amazed me. Everything that followed just seemed to be compounded stupidity with an inevitable conclusion.
I'm a low hours PPL and I'm pretty sure that at my airfield, they just wouldn't let me do that. Someone would stop me. Earlier this year, the admin (not a pilot as far as I know) wasn't sure it was a good idea for me to go up and sent an instructor out to speak with me whilst I was prepping the aircraft. Following discussion, we agreed it was OK to fly as planned, but the point is, people were watching me, they cared and were paying attention.
In this case, his CFI seemed to arrange and encourage the flight. Not exactly an advert for that FTO.