F
Foggy
Guest
So I took my friend down to WVI near Santa Cruz. We came out at around 11:30am and ate some food and I preflighted the plane. Well, we were totally strapped in, iPad mounted, GPS ready, kneepad open, and I turn the mags on, turn the starter, and nothing. Apparently the started was borked.
So we switched planes and by the time we were taxing onto the runway it was already 1:15pm. It was an hour long flight with a nice 10kt headwind the whole way south. I had planned to get picked up by some friends who were planning on surfing, and then probably getting a cab back between 6-7pm so I could be back before nightfall, although I am night current and wasn't too worried about the possibility of flying at night if we had to. I had been checking the status of the coastal fog, which I knew would overtake the airport at night and would burn off by noon each day. Well it was totally clear since around 11am that morning, and I could see the solid fog bank back off the coast on our approach to Watsonville. I asked in the airport office about what time the fog normally comes back in, and they said probably around 8. I confirmed that with the TAF sites in the area that forecasted clear skies at 8pm, but a 500 overcast by 9pm. We couldn't get picked up by our friends so we took a cab and walked to the destination. We watched some surfers for an hour or so and ate food while we waited for out friends to arrive. By then I realized that we would have to leave right when our friends got here, using their car most likely, as I could see down the coast towards the region where the airport was and I saw the fog start to move in off the shore and push up onto the land.
I periodically called the AWOS at the field, and it was consistently 10sm vis and sky clear. But I did notice that around 6pm the temp started dropping, from the high of around 22C it was down to 18C, dew point 12C. I called the AWOS again a bit later and the only change was the temp to 17C/12C. This made me a bit nervous, as I have read that with a dew point spread of less than 5 degrees you can start having visible moisture. I could tell that the fog was getting much thicker along the shoreline and up into the hills.
Our friends arrived and I basically carjacked them to get to the airport. On the way I called the AWOS again and it was reporting 10 miles vis, but a 15C/12C spread with 700 broken. This was not what I wanted to hear, but I imagined that with two intersecting runways, that I could always take off away from the fog and towards the clear sky inland. I hoped that maybe the fog was just directly over the reporting station and the whole field wasn't covered. We were driving through thick fog on the way, but about 10 minutes out we started to see patchy blue sky. This was promising, but as we got even closer the sky got dark again.
We jumped out and ran to the plane, I could see some sky off the end of runway 02, and if we departed to the north, and I thought that if we moved quickly, we could just stay clear of clouds until we were out from under them, then climb. I did a fast preflight, and had to keep reminding myself that not conducting a good preflight could be worse than taking off into potential IMC, and that we could always just walk down the road and get a hotel for the night. I convinced myself to just "get it up" and onto the runway to see how it looked from there. I also found the landing light to be inoperative during the preflight. I quickly taxied up the runway 2, listening to the AWOS. It was reporting from the south at 7knots and 400 overcast. So I was taking off with a tailwind, but I could see that straight out there was a patch of clear sky, and I knew that the fog was thin, and did not go any farther than that clear spot, as it was pushing inland from only one direction. There were some hills to the north, but I was sure I could stay below the fog, then climb and be well clear of the hills. Even though my brain was telling me the logic of the situation, I couldn't stop imagining NTSB reports with my name on them.
I did a quick runup, not skipping anything, but quick. Then taxied out and pushed full power, I climbed for a few seconds, and then leveled off, I could now see the fog layer very clearly, I stayed at 300 feet, then climbed through what I thought was the clear spot. It was actually just less dense fog, and while I was still climbing through clear air, there was fog on both sides of me. I never lost sight of the horizon or had any trouble seeing the ground, it was just nerve-wracking. I knew that if there was IFR traffic it would probably be landing right at me, but I checked and I don't think there is an instrument approach for that runway, although I am not instrument rated so I can't be sure. Overall it was completely fine, and the flight home was uneventful (besides the large amount of firefighting planes going past me). But I think what I did was probably stupid, I never thought I would find myself taking off with a tailwind with a 400ft overcast and 6 mile vis reported with one end of the runway almost swirling with ground fog.
I have some photos that better show the situation:
http://imgur.com/a/epvV4
So we switched planes and by the time we were taxing onto the runway it was already 1:15pm. It was an hour long flight with a nice 10kt headwind the whole way south. I had planned to get picked up by some friends who were planning on surfing, and then probably getting a cab back between 6-7pm so I could be back before nightfall, although I am night current and wasn't too worried about the possibility of flying at night if we had to. I had been checking the status of the coastal fog, which I knew would overtake the airport at night and would burn off by noon each day. Well it was totally clear since around 11am that morning, and I could see the solid fog bank back off the coast on our approach to Watsonville. I asked in the airport office about what time the fog normally comes back in, and they said probably around 8. I confirmed that with the TAF sites in the area that forecasted clear skies at 8pm, but a 500 overcast by 9pm. We couldn't get picked up by our friends so we took a cab and walked to the destination. We watched some surfers for an hour or so and ate food while we waited for out friends to arrive. By then I realized that we would have to leave right when our friends got here, using their car most likely, as I could see down the coast towards the region where the airport was and I saw the fog start to move in off the shore and push up onto the land.
I periodically called the AWOS at the field, and it was consistently 10sm vis and sky clear. But I did notice that around 6pm the temp started dropping, from the high of around 22C it was down to 18C, dew point 12C. I called the AWOS again a bit later and the only change was the temp to 17C/12C. This made me a bit nervous, as I have read that with a dew point spread of less than 5 degrees you can start having visible moisture. I could tell that the fog was getting much thicker along the shoreline and up into the hills.
Our friends arrived and I basically carjacked them to get to the airport. On the way I called the AWOS again and it was reporting 10 miles vis, but a 15C/12C spread with 700 broken. This was not what I wanted to hear, but I imagined that with two intersecting runways, that I could always take off away from the fog and towards the clear sky inland. I hoped that maybe the fog was just directly over the reporting station and the whole field wasn't covered. We were driving through thick fog on the way, but about 10 minutes out we started to see patchy blue sky. This was promising, but as we got even closer the sky got dark again.
We jumped out and ran to the plane, I could see some sky off the end of runway 02, and if we departed to the north, and I thought that if we moved quickly, we could just stay clear of clouds until we were out from under them, then climb. I did a fast preflight, and had to keep reminding myself that not conducting a good preflight could be worse than taking off into potential IMC, and that we could always just walk down the road and get a hotel for the night. I convinced myself to just "get it up" and onto the runway to see how it looked from there. I also found the landing light to be inoperative during the preflight. I quickly taxied up the runway 2, listening to the AWOS. It was reporting from the south at 7knots and 400 overcast. So I was taking off with a tailwind, but I could see that straight out there was a patch of clear sky, and I knew that the fog was thin, and did not go any farther than that clear spot, as it was pushing inland from only one direction. There were some hills to the north, but I was sure I could stay below the fog, then climb and be well clear of the hills. Even though my brain was telling me the logic of the situation, I couldn't stop imagining NTSB reports with my name on them.
I did a quick runup, not skipping anything, but quick. Then taxied out and pushed full power, I climbed for a few seconds, and then leveled off, I could now see the fog layer very clearly, I stayed at 300 feet, then climbed through what I thought was the clear spot. It was actually just less dense fog, and while I was still climbing through clear air, there was fog on both sides of me. I never lost sight of the horizon or had any trouble seeing the ground, it was just nerve-wracking. I knew that if there was IFR traffic it would probably be landing right at me, but I checked and I don't think there is an instrument approach for that runway, although I am not instrument rated so I can't be sure. Overall it was completely fine, and the flight home was uneventful (besides the large amount of firefighting planes going past me). But I think what I did was probably stupid, I never thought I would find myself taking off with a tailwind with a 400ft overcast and 6 mile vis reported with one end of the runway almost swirling with ground fog.
I have some photos that better show the situation:
http://imgur.com/a/epvV4
