Wow! There were some pretty sobering posts regarding flight in IMC, particularly Avbug's. As a fairly new instrument pilot who loves the technical nature of instrument flying and IMC, I'm still very leery about my first true solo foray into the soup. I came out of the IR with about 11 hours of actual and have flown IMC without an instructor since my checkride, but with other pilots. Having another instrument pilot next to me was certainly a big help and I see the benefits of good CRM. In both cases the ceilings were about 2000'. I still fly with my instructor every few months for proficiency and have a standing order in with him to call when it's good IMC and he doesn't have any students. I plan to keep my minimums fairly high and maybe fly with another pilot for a while and slowly ease myself into solo IMC. Although I have access to fairly capable 172s, I understand the risks in both IMC and night flying. This thread really drove it home.
Dave
Dave