SR22
Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 202; Flight Crew Total 1368; Flight Crew Type 602
Situational Awareness
Conflict NMAC; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Separated Traffic; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Weather; Procedure; Human Factors
IFR / IMC Hold @ ZZZZZ as published; during the outbound leg; noticed another aircraft bapproaching us from our 9 o'clock; 600 feet below; we quickly passed in front of him; and then got into IMC conditions; broken layer at 3;000 ft. Turned inbound on the hold; then noticed TCAS showing decreasing distance (aircraft now at our 11 o'clock) ATC advises of conflict; we think 'if he's not talking to anyone; he's probably VFR; if he's VFR he should be clear of the clouds and a safe distance from us'. Distance kept closing in. Almost to our 11:30; we slightly break out of clouds and see the plane less than 200 feet away from us almost at our exact same altitude going in and out of the clouds with us. We immediately get back into IMC; I took controls and disconnected Autopilot; banked hard right. By the time I caught a glimpse at the TCAS advisory; traffic showed -01 altitude difference and showing at our 12 o'clock. ATC Advised to climb to 040. At this point we were clear of the conflict. Snapshot of traffic and flight path available. Second aircraft did nothing to avoid us.
Instructor Pilot reported taking evasive action to avoid a mid air collision with an aircraft operating in IFR conditions with a VFR flight plan.