I can not help but think that maybe this 178 seconds is a bit of a misnomer.
If I asked here how many people have had VFR into IMC experiences when they weren't qualified for IMC conditions and walked away to tell the tale, you might find that the number is very high.
This includes flying through a hole and accidentally hitting cloud before breaking through the top.... seeing blue sky above the cloud and thinking it might be easy just to punch up there because it's not that thick... flying too close to the cloud up from under it and ending up in it... not finding a hole and descending through the cloud.
I would make an educated guess based on my knowledge and having spoken to many pilots over the years that the instances of survival far outweigh the opposite.
This is where 178 Seconds to Live is wrong. I have always timed "Handing over" to loss of control, the best was around one minute, usually less.
So you are effectively dead when you lose control, the balance of 178 seconds is only the time it takes to hit the ground.
Are you saying Leadie that you HAVEN'T trained your student well and they can't perform a turn-back successfully? Surely they didn't all "crash" out of your hand-over in IMC straight away and in less than a minute??? Are we talking Raa, GFPT or PPL?
Having had the opportunity, during training, to spin/spiral out of control in IMC, none of my many students has ever had a VMC into IMC accident.
Accident or occurrence?
Nothing personal, I'm just reluctant to believe that 178 seconds in inevitable despite what we are regularly told.