Post by Dave on Sept 28, 2010 14:45:31 GMT -5
A recent experience from a friend of mine. VFR pilot who inadvertantly got into IMC conditions. Worth reading...
I started my flight from 09J and the skies were mostly clear a few scattered clouds here and there. I checked the weather report and saw a front was running from East Texas up through Central Indiana I took off for my destination KJQF very well aware of the weather that could possibly develop.
The ceiling was 11,000 or better with a slight overcast and no precipitation from Georgia to S Carolina. I fired up the WX in my Garmin 696, plugged in my route and made notes of possible diverts, filed my flight plan and left for my destination. I immediately after takeoff contacted Jacksonville Center and requested flight following throughout my route and any weather around my destination, skies were VFR no intermittent WX at this time. I chose to fly 7,500FL and as I got further into my trip I could see that the ceilings were going to drop and requested lower from ATC. “Maintain VFR altitude your decision” As I was passed off all the way through to Columbia Approach, the ceilings were well over 7,000 and I had dropped to 4,500FL. You can see in my flight chart I had a sharp jog to the West on my decent towards Columbia NC. Columbia advised of some precipitation and they took me around it and the visibility was very clear and compromised VFR was not even an issue. As I flew around Columbia and into Charlotte airspace I was at 4500FL. I have traffic displayed on my Garmin 696 through my Zaon Collision Avoidance System, a feature I would highly recommend for any pilot. It is not precision, but will advise you of any “mode C” planes in a 3 mile radius. I had a couple planes 1400 ft below me and several well above me and they were on climb out from Charlotte. Columbia instructed me to remain outside the Bravo until departing traffic was clear and to contact Charlotte. As I steered clear the Bravo I flipped over to Charlotte Approach and I called in for acceptance, no one answered back, I remained clear of the Bravo, flipped back over to Columbia and verified the frequency with Columbia and advised of a no response. Columbia replied “they are trying to hail you now, monitor this frequency and contact Charlotte” I echoed my instructions and flipped back to Charlotte punched COM 2 receive and it was complete chaos on the radio, I got an opening and called my tail number and altitude and Charlotte responded 7GT turn heading 090 and maintain 4,500 do not deviate. I replied and did as instructed. As I turned my heading I have never seen a cloud formation descend from an altitude of 6 to 7 thousand feet down to my FL of 4,500 so fast? I was probably 5 minutes from going into it. Mind you, I could see the runways of Columbia off to my South and Charlotte off to my North! It was totally VFR! I advised Charlotte that my heading was going to be compromised, He replied “Turn due North and maintain 4500.” I replied and did as instructed. As I turned towards my destination I heard a lot of chatter fire up in the headset? “VFR COMPROMISED” was rattled off, A heading was barked out. The controller then advised another plane to possibly cancel the visual prepare for an Instrument. It was then that I realized what was happening, the ceiling was dropping! Just as I started to key up and request a divert to land… ATC was back on line advising me to fly straight and level, but I could hear other controllers in the background giving altitudes and headings to other planes through his mic. Radar alarms were ringing. Others were in trouble were my thoughts and a calm voice popped on and asked me “ seven gulf tango, how ya doing?” “I’m fine,” I replied, “but I am about to lose VFR” He said “seven gulf tango, I am aware and I need you to fly straight and level at 4,500 can you do that?” “Yes, I can, seven gulf tango” The controller came back and said “this is the fastest way to get you down, maintain four thousand five hundred, you will only be in the clouds briefly, do not descend, fly straight and level.” - “copy, seven gulf tango” As I was about to do what we are told not to do, I was thinking about the chaos around me? Did I cause any problems for the controller by endangering other aircraft? Well no, they directed me here. Where is everyone else that was being rerouted ? What if I am in danger? I glanced at my weather and radar and nothing was close. I told myself to relax and let your training kick in! I looked down at the ground and gauged the bottom of the clouds I was about to fly into. Half way down I thought…a couple thousand feet maybe. I glanced over at Charlotte and could see the runways with activity. Not going in their! I need backup… if I got stuck in the clouds where can I go. I pulled the chart for KJQF. I knew they had an ILS approach on runway 20. Even though they were using 2 I could request it, The winds were very calm and no reason not too. I got the frequency from the chart, punched it into the NAV, activated it, set the needle, adjusted my heading indicator to the compass and verified my heading. From the time I replied back to ATC to getting everything set was probably a minute, at the most? I looked at my GPS and noted it was 7 min to arrival at KJQF. ATC popped back on and told me “You are approaching a cloud deck maintain 4500 and present heading advise when clear” “Copy, seven gulf tango” Here we go, I’m in your hands God…THE RAIN WASHED OVER MY WINDSHIELD AND IT INSTANTLY WENT SWIRLING WITH WHITE!
I pulled my eyes off the distraction, and started my scans. ATTITUDE, Altitude, Heading. I glanced at the outside air temp and listened to the engine. Back to the scan, I listened to the chatter of the radio and executed my training for what seemed like forever, in reality took less than a couple minutes. I popped out as fast as I went in and it was solid VFR with a little bit of sunshine here and there. I looked back over my shoulder and saw a long line of clouds held back by an invisible wall. I radioed the fellow on the other end “seven gulf tango is clear the clouds, I have VFR.” “Roger, seven gulf tango” came the reply. He cleared me for decent to get under the Bravo and released me to Concord Regional Tower. I thanked him for his help and dialed in the frequency. Cleared for landing I still monitored Charlotte all the way down to the runway, there were others that got caught too. I prayed for their safety and Thanked God for mine! 20 minutes after I was on the ground the ceilings at KJQF were barely 1500 ft and it was IFR. I checked the weather, the system had stalled and wasn’t going anyplace soon. I had my plane parked on the ramp gathered my gear, rented a car and drove 8 hrs to home. My plane may be 400 miles away but I am safe and I can go get it another day! The smile on my Daughters face when I got home made all the hassles just melt away!
I bought my Commander 114 right after I started to solo as a student. And even though my insurance company only required 12 hrs of flight for sign off on a high performance, complex aircraft. My instructor wouldn’t sign off until I did two 1 hr cross country flights under the hood. (one of them was at night) I also was based at KCAK which has 2 ILS approaches, I had to shoot both runways to within 500 ft. before he felt comfortable. If he was going to be responsible for me, he wanted to know for sure I could handle my aircraft. As it stand I owe my instructor a huge amount of gratitude as well as ATC for having my back.
I started my flight from 09J and the skies were mostly clear a few scattered clouds here and there. I checked the weather report and saw a front was running from East Texas up through Central Indiana I took off for my destination KJQF very well aware of the weather that could possibly develop.
The ceiling was 11,000 or better with a slight overcast and no precipitation from Georgia to S Carolina. I fired up the WX in my Garmin 696, plugged in my route and made notes of possible diverts, filed my flight plan and left for my destination. I immediately after takeoff contacted Jacksonville Center and requested flight following throughout my route and any weather around my destination, skies were VFR no intermittent WX at this time. I chose to fly 7,500FL and as I got further into my trip I could see that the ceilings were going to drop and requested lower from ATC. “Maintain VFR altitude your decision” As I was passed off all the way through to Columbia Approach, the ceilings were well over 7,000 and I had dropped to 4,500FL. You can see in my flight chart I had a sharp jog to the West on my decent towards Columbia NC. Columbia advised of some precipitation and they took me around it and the visibility was very clear and compromised VFR was not even an issue. As I flew around Columbia and into Charlotte airspace I was at 4500FL. I have traffic displayed on my Garmin 696 through my Zaon Collision Avoidance System, a feature I would highly recommend for any pilot. It is not precision, but will advise you of any “mode C” planes in a 3 mile radius. I had a couple planes 1400 ft below me and several well above me and they were on climb out from Charlotte. Columbia instructed me to remain outside the Bravo until departing traffic was clear and to contact Charlotte. As I steered clear the Bravo I flipped over to Charlotte Approach and I called in for acceptance, no one answered back, I remained clear of the Bravo, flipped back over to Columbia and verified the frequency with Columbia and advised of a no response. Columbia replied “they are trying to hail you now, monitor this frequency and contact Charlotte” I echoed my instructions and flipped back to Charlotte punched COM 2 receive and it was complete chaos on the radio, I got an opening and called my tail number and altitude and Charlotte responded 7GT turn heading 090 and maintain 4,500 do not deviate. I replied and did as instructed. As I turned my heading I have never seen a cloud formation descend from an altitude of 6 to 7 thousand feet down to my FL of 4,500 so fast? I was probably 5 minutes from going into it. Mind you, I could see the runways of Columbia off to my South and Charlotte off to my North! It was totally VFR! I advised Charlotte that my heading was going to be compromised, He replied “Turn due North and maintain 4500.” I replied and did as instructed. As I turned towards my destination I heard a lot of chatter fire up in the headset? “VFR COMPROMISED” was rattled off, A heading was barked out. The controller then advised another plane to possibly cancel the visual prepare for an Instrument. It was then that I realized what was happening, the ceiling was dropping! Just as I started to key up and request a divert to land… ATC was back on line advising me to fly straight and level, but I could hear other controllers in the background giving altitudes and headings to other planes through his mic. Radar alarms were ringing. Others were in trouble were my thoughts and a calm voice popped on and asked me “ seven gulf tango, how ya doing?” “I’m fine,” I replied, “but I am about to lose VFR” He said “seven gulf tango, I am aware and I need you to fly straight and level at 4,500 can you do that?” “Yes, I can, seven gulf tango” The controller came back and said “this is the fastest way to get you down, maintain four thousand five hundred, you will only be in the clouds briefly, do not descend, fly straight and level.” - “copy, seven gulf tango” As I was about to do what we are told not to do, I was thinking about the chaos around me? Did I cause any problems for the controller by endangering other aircraft? Well no, they directed me here. Where is everyone else that was being rerouted ? What if I am in danger? I glanced at my weather and radar and nothing was close. I told myself to relax and let your training kick in! I looked down at the ground and gauged the bottom of the clouds I was about to fly into. Half way down I thought…a couple thousand feet maybe. I glanced over at Charlotte and could see the runways with activity. Not going in their! I need backup… if I got stuck in the clouds where can I go. I pulled the chart for KJQF. I knew they had an ILS approach on runway 20. Even though they were using 2 I could request it, The winds were very calm and no reason not too. I got the frequency from the chart, punched it into the NAV, activated it, set the needle, adjusted my heading indicator to the compass and verified my heading. From the time I replied back to ATC to getting everything set was probably a minute, at the most? I looked at my GPS and noted it was 7 min to arrival at KJQF. ATC popped back on and told me “You are approaching a cloud deck maintain 4500 and present heading advise when clear” “Copy, seven gulf tango” Here we go, I’m in your hands God…THE RAIN WASHED OVER MY WINDSHIELD AND IT INSTANTLY WENT SWIRLING WITH WHITE!
I pulled my eyes off the distraction, and started my scans. ATTITUDE, Altitude, Heading. I glanced at the outside air temp and listened to the engine. Back to the scan, I listened to the chatter of the radio and executed my training for what seemed like forever, in reality took less than a couple minutes. I popped out as fast as I went in and it was solid VFR with a little bit of sunshine here and there. I looked back over my shoulder and saw a long line of clouds held back by an invisible wall. I radioed the fellow on the other end “seven gulf tango is clear the clouds, I have VFR.” “Roger, seven gulf tango” came the reply. He cleared me for decent to get under the Bravo and released me to Concord Regional Tower. I thanked him for his help and dialed in the frequency. Cleared for landing I still monitored Charlotte all the way down to the runway, there were others that got caught too. I prayed for their safety and Thanked God for mine! 20 minutes after I was on the ground the ceilings at KJQF were barely 1500 ft and it was IFR. I checked the weather, the system had stalled and wasn’t going anyplace soon. I had my plane parked on the ramp gathered my gear, rented a car and drove 8 hrs to home. My plane may be 400 miles away but I am safe and I can go get it another day! The smile on my Daughters face when I got home made all the hassles just melt away!
I bought my Commander 114 right after I started to solo as a student. And even though my insurance company only required 12 hrs of flight for sign off on a high performance, complex aircraft. My instructor wouldn’t sign off until I did two 1 hr cross country flights under the hood. (one of them was at night) I also was based at KCAK which has 2 ILS approaches, I had to shoot both runways to within 500 ft. before he felt comfortable. If he was going to be responsible for me, he wanted to know for sure I could handle my aircraft. As it stand I owe my instructor a huge amount of gratitude as well as ATC for having my back.
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? Your violating the FARS