Inadvertent flight into IMC

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Last week I was returning home from a 4 hour XC trip. I left late, ran out of daylight, and saw low, dark clouds in front of me when I was about 30 minutes from home. I turned around and landed at a Class D airport about 15 minutes back, slept thru the night on a sofa in the pilot's lounge, then awoke at sunrise to try the last leg home again.

In the morning, the weather looked great outside. Nothing on radar all the way home, with all intermediate airports reporting VFR. The sky looked clear above me, though there was some cloud buildup to the west in the distance, with radar showing light precip about 50 miles in that direction. Here is the METAR when I did my preflight at approx 1100Z:

KXXX 171053Z 18003KT 10SM CLR 22/21 A3001 RMK AO2 SLP158 T02170211
Temperature: 21.7°C ( 71°F)
Dewpoint: 21.1°C ( 70°F) [RH = 96%]
Winds: from the S (180 degrees) at 3 MPH (3 knots; 1.5 m/s)
Visibility: 10 or more sm (16+ km)
Ceiling: at least 12,000 feet AGL
Clouds: sky clear below 12,000 feet AGL

I cranked up, listened to ATIS, and got cleared to runway 25. I taxied, did my runup, radioed tower, and took off. My first FlightAware ping is at 1129Z at an altitude of 595 feet. Based on that, I would guess I received clearance to take off 2 or 3 minutes earlier, so let's say 1126Z.

Here is what the METAR changed to at exactly that moment:

KXXX 171126Z 19005KT 10SM BKN010 22/21 A3002 RMK AO2 T02220211
Temperature: 22.2°C ( 72°F)
Dewpoint: 21.1°C ( 70°F) [RH = 93%]
Winds: from the S (190 degrees) at 6 MPH (5 knots; 2.6 m/s)
Visibility: 10 or more sm (16+ km)
Ceiling: 1000 feet AGL
Clouds: broken clouds at 1000 feet AGL

Now I take exception to that ceiling reading. It was lower. I know this because at approx 600 AGL my windscreen unexpectedly turned solid white.

I always thought I would see clouds easily in daylight. But I saw nothing. I suppose it was a combination of combination of low clouds at an angle, in filtered early morning light, against a cloudy background of the same color. Believe me, I was looking hard. I also did not see the approaching clouds when I preflighted, possibly because of tall trees next to the airport. I looked closely in that direction because of the radar returns further west.

I am not IFR rated. My aircraft is not IFR equipped. I do have a digital AI, which I installed last fall in place of a 40 year old turn coordinator. Pretty happy about that decision!

As soon as I realized I was in IMC, I locked my eyes on that digital AI. I considered descending back under the ceiling, but departure took me over a medium-sized town with numerous towers. I decided to continue climbing to pattern altitude, level off, and call for help. Fortunately, about 30 seconds and 250 feet of altitude later, I broke through the thin layer into clear skies and headed home.

I looked back over my shoulder and there was a solid deck below me extending to the west, with the edge running north/south. The edge of the clouds stopped literally at the airport fence. The area above the runways was clear skies.

I don't want to be overly dramatic. It was not a big deal, and I was not close to becoming a statistic. I have done enough hood flying over the years, with some actual dual, that I am confident of my ability to maneuver by reference to instruments. Even if I had not broken out, I believe I could have easily gotten vectors from the tower to the clear area, which was only a mile or so to the east.

I am only posting it here because of a few lessons learned that I think are worth sharing:

1. It is possible to do proper flight planning, follow sound ADM, not push your limits, and still run into IMC. Neither the METAR nor the TAF available when I took off indicated any possibility of low clouds. Radar was clear in the area, and no other airports in the area reported IMC. Neither I, nor the tower, could see the approaching low clouds.

2. It follows from #1 that you need to be ready at any time, and not count on a warning to allow you to prepare your aircraft. With that in mind, if you do not have gyros or a digital AI, you ought to strongly consider rectifying that. Devices such as the AV-30 are so cheap now that there really isn't a good reason not to have one. IMO portable devices are not an acceptable solution for this, since there is a non-zero chance that you will forget to mount, connect, turn on, or sync the device before entering the clouds.

3. I got plenty of online opinions saying to keep the TC. IMO unless you intend to diligently practice flying by reference to the TC or TI, you should strongly consider the advantages of a digital AI. I think I would have been much more alarmed had I not had it.
 
Congratulations for the proper response to an emergency.....Fly the plane to the best of your ability.

Second, being familiar with the technology installed, so that you can use it.

Half of the warning for the cloud is in the METAR, the 0.6 degree spread between temperature and dew point.

A slight drop in barometric pressure triggers magical appearance of visible moisture with the change. I have watched this occurring as I flew west along the edge of a stationary front, and waves of pressure change moved west to east, producing scallops of cloud extension to the north, and return.

Two pilots in a piper practicing landing in the pattern in an airport I passed called ATC, reported they had done 2 cycles, and on their third, the airport had disappeared due to cloud below them, and asked for vectors to an airport with legal visibility.

Since I was on the frequency, I suggested that they climb some, and wait about 10 minutes, until the low pressure wave passed, and land at home., They agreed to try that, and from higher, watched the wave pass, and landed with no problem, transmitting thanks.

There is no substitute for IFR training in your own plane, so you do have the skill to fly it when things go unexpectedly white, or at night, blacker than before. Since you had faith in both your skills and the instruments IN YOUR PLANE, a good outcome was pretty much assured.
 
3. I got plenty of online opinions saying to keep the TC. IMO unless you intend to diligently practice flying by reference to the TC or TI, you should strongly consider the advantages of a digital AI. I think I would have been much more alarmed had I not had it.
Whatever your backup is, you should be proficient in its use.
 
Great write-up, thanks for sharing!

and good point above from the other poster about looking at the temperature and dew point spread
 
Nicely done. I did something similar to that when I was a student pilot, only it was more due to my fault of not paying attention to the metar and then while in air thinking I could climb through a hole. My solution was essentially the same, keeping flying the plane as you were before entering the clouds. I had no hood time and figured doing any kind of turn, level off or decent would be disastrous. I was above it after about 5 seconds/an eternity.
 
21.7-21.1=.6
.6÷2.5=.24
.24X1000=240'agl base of cloud deck.

Great ADM the night before. And props for flying the plane and doing what needed to be done.
 
Thanks for posting. IMO it is the sign of a good pilot who can share a learning experience, even though some idiots may criticize you.

I recently experienced a lot of bad weather I was not fully prepared for - and the FAA weather briefings were seriously misleading.
 
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