Late to the party, and the great thread, but have to share.
I flew on the 17th - Home (near KRDU) to KIPT for Lycoming engine school.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N215TG/history/20130317/1500Z/8NC8/KIPT
Back story is that I need to be there for an 8am class on the 19th. Plan was to arrive on the 18th. The weather was clearly going to be no-go on the 18th but the 17th looked possible. I really didn't want to drive my 1985 mini-van up there and screw up several side trips so I was motivated.
Even though I used to look at skew-Ts back in my glider days I can't decipher them now. But the icing airmet was for for 8,000 and above even though freezing temps reached lower. It also mentioned ice associated with any convective areas. Ceilings along the route were in the 800' and up range. My plan was to try it around midday but when I looked carefully at all the weather resources, an early start looked like it would match up with a weak spot in the stationary front. I was prepared to turn around and go home knowing I could time to drive up on the 18th. It was worth a go and a look.
I filed for 5,000 and got in the soup at 2,000. It was 34F and all was good until reaching the front. I was nicely lined up with what looked like it's thinnest part per Nexrad but there looked like there was a weak but discernible convective area embedded in it more or less on my course. I also noticed that outside the Nexrad green/yellow areas, the moisture was sparse enough to occasionally see around. There even seemed to be a clearer layer just above my altitude. I talked to FSS, made a Pirep but didn't get any help.
On one hand, I could plunge ahead at 5,000 and 34F counting on the temp to stay above freezing. But glimpses of a clear layer above along with the "ice in convective areas" forecast gave me a plan. I requested a climb to 7,000 and a 20 degree deviation to the west for weather. The controller seemed puzzled because he probably wasn't seeing anything meaningful and he was aware that there was ice above. Maybe he was just wondering why an experimental RV was droning around in a stationary front in the first place.
As I climbed, the temperature dropped to below freezing as expected and I started picking up some very light rime. But as I approached 7,000, there was a 'clear' layer, or at least a dry layer with a solid overcast and a lumpy undercast. Even though it was below freezing, I could see that I didn't want to be lower (no visibility at all) and I certainly didn't want to be higher - solid icing there for sure.
I could now see out the window and on Nexrad where the small but distinct convective lump was and I requested deviations to skirt it. When I got close, I started picking up rime again but I could already 'see' that in 10 minutes or so I would be past it. In 15 minutes I broke out into clear with a scattered layer below.
Was making the flight a good decision? Well, it was fun as hell. While I fly with my wife 95% of the time, she didn't fly this particular leg and that was a good thing. She's a great passenger (soloed in gliders) in all conditions but I enjoyed playing the lone strategizer on this one. The best part was making the turn and climb decision based on conditions in the air, and having them work out so well.
I had to hang around Williamsport PA for an extra day but this was a place my Dad used to take us camping and fishing as a kid, so that was nostalgically enjoyable.
To my perverse pleasure, a fellow student in the class arrived late on the 19th. He had traveled from Paris to Williamsport via Phillie. On the 18th, he boarded a plane for the last 20 minute leg from Phillie to Williamsport. They apparently flew a miss at Williamsport and had to return to Phillie to await a flight on the 19th. I think it took him 4 days to make the whole trip!
So, the 18th would not have been possible and the 17th worked like a charm. As a result, I was able to leave the first week of class on Friday and fly down to Pittsburgh to visit my Mom. I flew back on Sunday in time to not see Tiger win the Bayhill because of a rain delay.
After 3 more days of a great class, I flew down to Phillie's KPNE to meet my wife who took the train from NYC. There we hooked up with an elderly but spry cousin and my wife's soon to graduate nephew for lunch. After congratulations and a graduation gift, we had cookies and coffee in Atlantic's FBO before some screwed up clearances and rapid fire vectors over Phillie on the way home to a night grass landing in Durham. (take a close look at the Phillie portion of this plot)
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N215TG/history/20130327/2300Z/KPNE/8NC8
It could not have been more fun or as productive a couple of weeks done any other way than in our RV10.