Having read the thread from start to finish just now it is interesting to see the 'facts' change. It appears to be fact that
1 - The aircraft was G-Reg
2 - It was a non-turbocharged PA-32R-300 (not deiced either)
3 - The pilot has a 'based on' FAA PPL (no IR) with a no night flight restriction. It is unclear if the pilot had a UK IR or IMCr.
4 - There was no airspace restriction for a climb up to FL195 at his location (have not looked at a real chart this could be wrong)
It seems reasonable to assume
1 - The pilot still did not have an IR/IMC
2 - Given the lack of IR and turbocharging it is unlikely the pilot had O2
3 - Given the above, the pilot would be unlikely to have planned to operate above the clouds at say FL130-150
It seems very odd that
1 - A pilot unlikley to have an IR (removed comment re previous ferry experience) would be planning a transatlantic trip (maybe he was meeting a ferry pilot in Wick)
2 - A pilot would plan a VFR or IFR with no rating flight through the mountains in some very bad surface weather conditions.
Last edited by mm_flynn; 8th Apr 2008 at 13:56.
Reason: Fixed factual error on pilot qualifications