Why aren't pilots doing the IMC while they can?
I've had a couple of alarming flights with other pilots in recent years:
- one PPL whose IMC had lapsed a year before but was quite happy to climb into solid cloud (rather than negotiate an alternative to the ATC instructions) on the basis that "IMC is like riding a bicycle, you never forget".
- another low hours PPL pilot (without any IMC training) was quite happy to fly in and out of thick clouds without a care about legality or safety and seemed surprised when I sought clarification as to what he was doing.
In both these cases I made my concern clear and this resulted in a satisfactory outcome and resolved of course not to fly with either of these guys again. But if this sort of attitude is increasing then maybe that's why some pilots don't see the value of an IMC or reviewing/revalidating.