Lawsuit in HPN accident

"Neil Gould" wrote in news:AlPme.1172$4u.380
@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com:

snip
Just to be clear, I was "Disregarding whether or not the instructor...",
IOW, I was asking about the lawyers' statement, not the instructor's
actions.

Hi Neil,

The lawyer's statements, as quoted by your own post, are
"There is
no defensible or logical reason for a primary flight student who was
still learning how to fly in visual conditions to be receiving
training in weather conditions that were at or below those minimally
required for instrument flying. Doing so is simply reckless and
irresponsible."

Just to be clear, I believe that getting some actual IMC during primary VFR
flight training is a wonderful idea. But I don't believe it is appropriate
for said IMC exposure to be during "weather conditions that were at or
below those minimally required for instrument flying."

IMC exposure for a VFR pilot at altitude offers a great learning experience
for a scenario that the VFR pilot might one day get himself into, even if
he is a mostly responsible pilot. IMC exposure at 200' AGL is not a
situation I would expect any responsible VFR pilot to get himself into, and
offers no benefit toward VFR training.

As to whether it is reckless and irresponsible, I can't say for sure. I'm
not a CFII, and I don't know how much experience this particular instructor
has flying approaches into LIFR from the right seat. Nor do I know how
proficient of a pilot the student was, or if he had any training on
scanning technique. Was this his first flight "under the hood" or did he
have an hour already?

If it's any indication of where I stand on this issue, I had an
opportunity a couple of years ago to get some LIFR exposure before I got my
Instrument Rating. (I had my VFR, though, and about 150 hours IIRC.) I was
flying home from Maine and got stuck in Bridgeport because the ceilings
were dropping. After waiting a couple of hours and realizing it was getting
worse, I called the flight school that I was renting from, and they sent an
instructor (the Chief Instructor, actually) out to get me. By the time he
got there, it was LIFR at HPN. By mutual decision, I sat right seat, and
let the instructor fly the plane. The instructor told me later that I
probably was proficient enough to be able to hold altitude and headings to
handle it. But my flight was not about getting hours, it was about getting
home safely.