All these weasel words about `Defence Mechanisms` and `Tools`, are nothing but Mumbo Jumbo.
Thats the exact sentiment that
some airline pilots had 20 years ago as they read their newspapers when the concept of CRM was being introduced in mandatory classroom settings.
instrument flying to a competent standard should be as vital to PPL training as are practice forced landings.
What is a competent standard? How long does this standard get maintained? Is it tested on a BFR? PPLs already have a lower standard IFR rating available to them. A pilot would still have to decide what is their cut-off point for how bad the weather is that they are prepared to fly in. Have you ever flown in icing, what if there are embedded CBs, what happens if the destination has weather worse than forecast. Having IFR skills doesn't make things easier it just changes the level of decision making.
So I don't agree that extra training at the PPL level will stop these type of accidents occurring. I do agree that they will continue to occur but the aim should be to reduce them to a level that is as low as reasonably possible. The current method of just highlighting the accidents that have occurred doesn't work on changing the stats. A new approach is needed and I still think that should include training on decision making and other NTS both during the PPL training and afterwards.