This is the kind of accident that scares me the most. As someone
posted earlier, you'd expect a rookie pilot to get sucked into this
kind of accident, but not someone with the experience this pilot had.
Leaves me wondering if there are weather conditions out there that can
be misleading to experienced pilots

Well said. I've often wondered how pilots get themselves into this sort of
thing.

Is the problem a gradual lowering of the ceiling as they drone along,
oblivious to the growing danger? Is there a weather phenomenon that I've
never experienced that can slam the sunroof shut quickly -- faster than a
pilot can get on the ground? (I've seen fog envelop an airport in minutes,
going from CAVU to 1/10th mile visibility almost instantly -- but that fog
was rolling in off a lake, and could have been easily out-run.)

Is it just old-fashioned "get-there-itis," an internal pressure that they
"must" get there for some reason? Or is it that they've "seen this a
thousand times" and always made it through before, so why should today be
any different?

I know as my flying hours have built, I've grown more comfortable with a
wider range of weather conditions. Is this "experience"? Or
"familiarity"? Or an insidious, gradual and foolish lowering of my
instinctive defenses?

Accidents like hers make you sit up and take notice.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"