Most of us VFR only pilots know fully well that flying into IMC without IFR training and currency carries a very real risk of becoming a dead pilot.
Me, I'd be doing a 180, descending or doing whatever it took to remain VMC - but history shows that not all VFR pilots do this - clearly sometimes a a key survival strategy that is surely taught at every flight school is ignored.
Do you think the fact that he had started IFR training affected his decision making or was it a misjudgment of risk that had him feeling that the bigger risk was descending below cloud base when he felt so close to the ground?
CC