Robert M. Gary wrote:
A couple of years ago, a CFI and Commercial student hit the hills in
similar
conditions although it was day time. Scud ran all the way from RHV along
? Hwy 101 below 500' in a Commander and then ran into the hills when
they
tried to get through next to the reservoir near Hollister (heading into
the
valley).

Were they on an IFR clearance?

No, but were instrument rated and it was a Commander. It may have been a
legality issue (currency etc) that cause them to go VFR, I don't know.

Was this recent accident on an IFR clearance?

FAA records show that the pilot did not have an instrument rating - now
those records are a little old, so he may have. Prelim FAA data show that
the pilot did get a weather briefing, but it does not show him on an IFR
flight plan. (Again, this data is often wrong).


Sounds like you have more information about this situation
than the rest of us.

I followed the accident pretty closely. I was watching the weather
conditions the whole week. San Jose was completely 'socked in' for days -
Sacramento/Modesto etc area was clear though so I'm sure that was tempting.
I watched the radar plot immediately afterwards and they stayed really low,
followed Hwy 101 and then took a left at the reservoir. It was a typical
scud run for about 20 minutes or so. I saw the accident area several times,
it is right on the RHV to Harris Ranch run. The CFI made numerous claims
including that he wasn't monitoring the altitude, that the plane was on fire
prior to the accident, and that he was just a passenger and not the CFI at
the time. The NTSB (correctly IMHO) rejected those claims.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?...03FA187&rpt=fi

Hilton