Hello!
What exactly were the circumstances? Except in obvious cases, like departing VFR into an ATC-assessed OVC002 (and bear in mind and doing so into OVC006 would be prob99 legal in UK Class G because you can fly at 500ft AGL), only the pilot can know his actual flight conditions.
Of several cases I know of, here are two very different ones as examples:
a) One is an instructor colleague who at that time had no IFR rating but was quite proficient at instrument flying. He was on a VFR flight with a passenger and pressed on through clouds, knowing (or hoping?) that his destination was VMC. In the cloud they experienced severe icing, had to declare an emergency and were vectored onto the ILS of an international airport nearby.
b) The other one is a training captain at a large airline who was flying privately with a helicopter. He had promised the flight to some relatives who were on a tight schedule and took off despite a thin layer of low stratus that had already started to dissolve. The tower controller who knew that the type of helicopter was not cleared for instrument flying immediately reported the incident and again the pilot was met by some officials right after touchdown.
Maybe the German accused just pleaded guilty, like a good citizen should
In both these cases they did. Because you are usually given two options:
1. Go to court. In case you lose you have a criminal record, "endangering the safety of an aeroplane" being a criminal offense. Not a good thing for any pilot and most certainly the end of the career of an airline pilot.
2. Plead guilty, accept a fine at the discretion of the aviation authority and have the criminal charges dropped.
Which option would you chose - good citizen or not? (BTW: I once infringed a miltary zone during aerial work (an offense even worse than flying IFR without a rating) and very gladly accepted option 2 without even asking what the fine would be or what my chances would have been to win the court case...)
Regards, max
NB: Anonther instructor colleague of mine did the same thing as our colleague in example a) above. The exact cause of the accident could never be determined (there were no survivors) but airframe/pitot icing with subsequent loss of control by a pilot not trained for instrument flying seems to be the most probable. Since this accident I really understand the reason behind prosecuting this kind of activity. The pilot can decide for himself, but his unsuspecting passenger(s) deserve to be protected.