Yep - I'm VFR or I'm IFR, the middle ground is where bad stuff happens.
Note: Just because he was too low for flight following doesn't make it especially dangerous. There are lots of places out there without low coverage.
Yes indeed. "Too low for flight-following" just means you're below the lower limits of the radar tower ATC is using in that area, it doesn't mean you're below the MEA (minumum safe altitude). However: if the pilot was trying to use flight following, that means he was running VFR, and it sounds pretty clearly like the conditions were well below VFR minimums. So it would appear he did not have an IFR clearance and flight plan.
This is how a lot of IMC CFITs happen... the pilot looks at the forecast or the local weather and says to himself, "Yeah, it's pretty bad, but it looks like it'll clear up soon, so I'll just go VFR rather than go through the hassle of filing IFR for this short hop." Everything looks good until you get into the soup.
