ttb
Do you know what IIMC is?! I'll give you a clue for the first letter: 'Inadvertent'.
It's should stand for 'Inevitable'
because (i agree with you)
Second, helping pilots who already acknowledge they are not qualified to fly in cloud from getting into the above situation inadvertently. That's the bit Epiphany missed.
they do need that help and they don't get it - we must move this conversation on and agree what that help is....
How to stay visual.
Epiphany seems to have little (relative) experience at staying Visual - just goes IMC without penalty, doesn't think much about it - bet he breaks cloud regularly below 1000ft above the highest obje.... whilst not on an appropriate approach etc. NOT appropriate minset for a VMC PPL(H) who MUST stay Visual
TC - I am all ways intrigued by your '17yr old driver' parallel. So you think people will have to have luck and wit to survive the period of acquisition of skills and judgment? That'll allways be true to to some extent, but how do we stop kids driving too fast in Fog (faster that a braking distance), don't we try and teach that you must keep a stopping distance clearly in sight? Or do we let them establish it through commonsense and trial and error ? I think we can teach this and save people.
I do think it has more to do with
inability to judge how to stay visual rather than not having the discipline to call it a day when the weather is hampering progress. And I think it has (almost) nothing to do with pilots not knowing the consequences of IMC flight are often fatal, (nor is it failure to apply a published weather criterion - which is just positively dangerous - just choosing to fly on days with 10k vis forcasts will not keep you away from IIMC)