Descending through a hole

[Anon]

Gave myself a scare with some unplanned scud running.

I was heading north to Oshkosh and ran into a stationary front in central IL with a band of marginal VFR and tempo IFR about 100 miles wide. I landed and sat in the FBO waiting for the front to pass over.

After a few hours, it was clear overhead, so I decided to try to push north about 50 miles. I took off and saw a layer of low clouds to my north. I climbed over the clouds at about 3500 AGL and saw they were broken, so I decided to try to overfly them.

As I pushed north, the clouds gradually rose and I climbed with them. There were still a few holes visible. When I reached 8K and the clouds in front of me were higher, I decided to get under the deck. There was a hole near me a mile or two in diameter, so I spiraled down thru it.

When I reached the bottom and ducked under, I was at 600 feet. The ceiling was about 800 feet, with 3 or 4 miles visibility. It was definitely IFR.

Climbing back up the hole was not an option. There was an airfield about 10 miles away, so I headed there. I zoomed in my EFB and avoided cell phone towers. I also avoided overflying two small towns. The field I landed at was reporting LIFR.

Lessons learned.
1. Just because you have a hole does not mean the conditions beneath are flyable.
2. Descending through a small hole leaves you no means of retreat.

 

[AV8R_87]

You stayed in control and lived to tell the tale, and most likely you learned a lot from it.
You also learned why they're called sucker holes.

If I may add one extra learning point, if you're going to fly VFR over the top, have ADS-B weather available and monitor METARs at airports on your path. That will tell you how low the bases are.

 

[TCABM]

…If I may add one extra learning point, if you're going to fly VFR over the top, have ADS-B weather available and monitor METARs at airports on your path. That will tell you how low the bases are.

EFBs provide a lot of info in the surface weather conditions and can be great as a strategic tool understanding the limitations with data latency that can occur. That 30min old METAR should be supplemented with monitoring local AWOS/ASOS freq’s to build the picture.

FSS is another great tool though not for much longer.

 

[Zeldman]

You also learned why they're called sucker holes.

 

[Vance Breese]

Gave myself a scare with some unplanned scud running.

I was heading north to Oshkosh and ran into a stationary front in central IL with a band of marginal VFR and tempo IFR about 100 miles wide. I landed and sat in the FBO waiting for the front to pass over.

After a few hours, it was clear overhead, so I decided to try to push north about 50 miles. I took off and saw a layer of low clouds to my north. I climbed over the clouds at about 3500 AGL and saw they were broken, so I decided to try to overfly them.

As I pushed north, the clouds gradually rose and I climbed with them. There were still a few holes visible. When I reached 8K and the clouds in front of me were higher, I decided to get under the deck. There was a hole near me a mile or two in diameter, so I spiraled down thru it.

When I reached the bottom and ducked under, I was at 600 feet. The ceiling was about 800 feet, with 3 or 4 miles visibility. It was definitely IFR.

Climbing back up the hole was not an option. There was an airfield about 10 miles away, so I headed there. I zoomed in my EFB and avoided cell phone towers. I also avoided overflying two small towns. The field I landed at was reporting LIFR.

Lessons learned.
1. Just because you have a hole does not mean the conditions beneath are flyable.
2. Descending through a small hole leaves you no means of retreat.

How does a pilot spiral down through a hole of a mile or two in diameter and maintain 2,000 feet horizontal distance from clouds?

 

[Learnin’ to fly…]

They don’t.

I think that’s part of the point of the lesson learned. Probably wasn’t legal in the descent. Definitely not after leveling off.

Seems to me they are being pretty humble in admitting the error and sharing to help prevent others from the same. Isn’t that the idea?

 

[Vance Breese]

They don’t.

I think that’s part of the point of the lesson learned. Probably wasn’t legal in the descent. Definitely not after leveling off.

Seems to me they are being pretty humble in admitting the error and sharing to help prevent others from the same. Isn’t that the idea?

I missed where Anon mentioned horizontal clearance from clouds.

Much of what I have learned about aviation has been through mistakes.

I have found life is short and I don’t have time to make them all myself so I am grateful when someone shares their mistakes.

 

[EdFred]

How does a pilot spiral down through a hole of a mile or two in diameter and maintain 2,000 feet horizontal distance from clouds?

Tight turns. Mile not so much. 2 miles. That's doable in most ASELs. Turn around a point should only be 1/2 mile diameter. Leaves ya around 4000' cloud clearance.

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

Probably wasn’t legal in the descent. Definitely not after leveling off.

I disagree. It appears that the pilot leveled off in Class G airspace and only needed one mile vis and clear of clouds.

 

[Anon]

How does a pilot spiral down through a hole of a mile or two in diameter and maintain 2,000 feet horizontal distance from clouds?

One mile diameter turn in a 2 mile diameter hole. It's not like I had a way to measure the hole.

AsThat 30min old METAR should be supplemented with monitoring local AWOS/ASOS freq’s to build the picture.

Agreed. The challenge was the picture. A wide area of marginal VFR, with localized blobs of IFR moving through it. It looked better on the EFB than it was.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Thanks for sharing.
You might feel fortunate that you didn't get hurt etc, and that is good - but I'm hoping others who fly in imc or near-imc try to remember the other aircraft that might be sharing the clouds.
Good luck on your instrument rating. That's next, right?

 

[geneseib]

I was heading north to Oshkosh and ran into a stationary front in central IL with a band of marginal VFR and tempo IFR about 100 miles wide. I landed and sat in the FBO waiting for the front to pass over.

After a few hours, it was clear overhead, so I decided to try to push north about 50 miles. I took off and saw a layer of low clouds to my north. I climbed over the clouds at about 3500 AGL and saw they were broken, so I decided to try to overfly them.

As I pushed north, the clouds gradually rose and I climbed with them. There were still a few holes visible. When I reached 8K and the clouds in front of me were higher, I decided to get under the deck. There was a hole near me a mile or two in diameter, so I spiraled down thru it.

Flying is making memories. Treasure these things.

 

[TCABM]

…
Agreed. The challenge was the picture. A wide area of marginal VFR, with localized blobs of IFR moving through it. It looked better on the EFB than it was.

The key is remembering the RADAR/NexRAD stuff is at least 15 minutes old by the time you see it and the METARs could be an hour or more latency.

The result is really interpreting trends against what was in the briefing; is it trending better, worse, or not correlating at all? That should influence your confidence in what’s happening with the weather, then determining if you can risk accept continuing or should put it down and wait it out.

 

[Learnin’ to fly…]

I disagree. It appears that the pilot leveled off in Class G airspace and only needed one mile vis and clear of clouds.

I was imprecise in my language. I’ll amend to say that at some points in the descent or 10 mile flight at 600 feet to the airport, they were likely not legal for one of several reasons under 91.119 and/or 91.155.

Once at or in the vicinity of the airport, which OP stated was reporting LIFR, they were not legal. LIFR is <500, and/or <1 mi which does not meet class G visibility minimums.

My point was not really about legality; it was about the humility to recognize/confess, and to share with others. A lesser person would have not admitted the mistake to themselves, much less to others.

 

[StraightnLevel]

Gave myself a scare with some unplanned scud running.

I was heading north to Oshkosh and ran into a stationary front in central IL with a band of marginal VFR and tempo IFR about 100 miles wide. I landed and sat in the FBO waiting for the front to pass over.

After a few hours, it was clear overhead, so I decided to try to push north about 50 miles. I took off and saw a layer of low clouds to my north. I climbed over the clouds at about 3500 AGL and saw they were broken, so I decided to try to overfly them.

As I pushed north, the clouds gradually rose and I climbed with them. There were still a few holes visible. When I reached 8K and the clouds in front of me were higher, I decided to get under the deck. There was a hole near me a mile or two in diameter, so I spiraled down thru it.

When I reached the bottom and ducked under, I was at 600 feet. The ceiling was about 800 feet, with 3 or 4 miles visibility. It was definitely IFR.

Climbing back up the hole was not an option. There was an airfield about 10 miles away, so I headed there. I zoomed in my EFB and avoided cell phone towers. I also avoided overflying two small towns. The field I landed at was reporting LIFR.

Lessons learned.
1. Just because you have a hole does not mean the conditions beneath are flyable.
2. Descending through a small hole leaves you no means of retreat.

Thank you for validating my decision to fly commercial to MKE rather than taking the Bonanza.

 

[francisco collazos]

How does a pilot spiral down through a hole of a mile or two in diameter and maintain 2,000 feet horizontal distance from clouds?

Welcome to summer flying in Florida

 

[sourdough44]

One way to assist is to scrutinize the weather on your flight app, GP or FF. While safely(and legally) VFR on top, look for weather that’s agreeable before taking that hole lower. Of course, planning starts with preflight, you need the fuel & range, then better conditions ahead. I have flown VFR over crummy weather below, knowing there’s better weather ahead. Works better with low weather, not higher cloud levels.

That better weather may not be on the direct line to your destination, may need to do the circuitous route.