U
Unregistered
Guest
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:
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:
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.
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.