I just got mine, so I don't speak from a whole lot of experience.

But I would say a few things in response to that...

Most importantly, personal judgement is just that - personal. You need to
have good judgement, and one thing that my CFI hammered into me from very
early on in my IFR training was that just cause it's legal doesn't mean
it's smart or safe.

That said, I do agree that you have to keep flying in order to maintain
proficiency. Even a week-long lapse had a noticeable affect on my
performance at this stage of my IFR flying. But the more I fly IFR (even
in VMC) the less I lose between days. I expect that after I have been
flying IFR for a while, it will be to the point where I can go a week or
two between flights on not be too rusty. But I don't think I would walk
out today and start a flight into minimums - even if I had flown IFR
yesterday.

It's not much different than when I got my private a couple of years ago.
After I got my private, if I took more than a few days off, it showed. It
showed in my navigation, in my control, and in my landings. But after a
year or so, I was able to maintain control pretty intuitively, and land
comfortably without having to try too hard, even after a week or two
break.

The bottom line is that you have to know yourself - your own limitations.
Even if you REALLY WANT to fly somewhere, and it's legal, but beyond your
personal capability at the time, you really need to evaluate your
situation objectively and avoid "get-there-itis". Without a doubt, that
is the killer.

If your personality and ego won't let you do that, your friend may be
right. But if you're reasonable enough to remember to take a step back
and THINK, even in the face of strong desire, I'm guessing you'll be just
fine.

Of course, if you give up before you even try, what's the point!?!?!

Paul Folbrecht wrote in
ink.net:

I had always planned on getting my instrument rating- within the next
year, probably. But last weekend I had a chat with someone who really
got me thinking about it.

This guy is a friend of a friend and is a retired 20,000 hour ATP.
Retired in the 80s flying 707s and I forget what else. Instructed in
Cubs for years. (Guy has nine count 'em nine engine failures in Cubs!
Two inside 20 minutes once!)

So, this is what he told me: unless I'm going to be flying 3 times/week
at least, getting my instrument ticket is a waste and possibly
dangerous
as well. He thinks I'll be more likely to end up dead with it than
without it. (Logic being, obviously, that the ticket will give me such
a sense of security that I won't be afraid of hard IMC even when I'm
not
current enough to handle it.)

Thoughts on this??