Dan: First and foremost I would fess up and declare an emergency. A
declaration of "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" on Guard Frequency coupled with a
7700 Squawk will get EVERYONE'S attention immediately. Stick with this for
a few minutes trying to establish contact. DO NOT change frequencies, make
the world come to you. If the autopilot is functioning continue to let it
do the flying. After establishing contact with ATC let them bring Flight
service into the mix and try to determine bases via PIREPS and forecasts.
Again, don't get into changing frequencies, let everyone else come to you.
Once you look down and start fiddling with stuff you run the risk of vertigo
and that can ruin your day. Assuming there is room under the overcast
(Confirmed via Flight Watch / Center / Etc...,) reduce power and let the
autopilot continue flying in the descent until you break out underneath.
Then just find a smooth spot.
Assuming you are in an area without radar coverage I would still stay
with the above plan. The high altitude traffic will be able to hear you
over a very large footprint and center could triangulate your location
accurately enough for a rough report of bases. The high altitude guys will
also have onboard capabilities relative to base reports / forecasts. If
your autopilot is chugging along you could also relay a position report to
center via a high altitude contact.
Now lets assume that it's truly a low day with 200 OC and you couldn't
contact center. I would do everything the same while enlisting the help
from the high altitude guys to find the smoothest spot for landing and also
make sure that support would be immediately dispatched. Relative to smooth
spots my first thought would be to try for a body of water strait ahead. If
the autopilot could do the turn I would go as far as a standard rate
turning descent until you break out underneath while over water (no fear of
hitting obstructions). If your autopilot is a wing leveler I wouldn't think
the circling descent would be worth the risk. If the whole area is
relatively inhospitable I would try to get as close to civilization as
possible to make the rescue easier.
In summary I think the emergency declaration on Guard is key; it brings
a very large area of aviation to your aid immediately. Even if you couldn't
get Center I would guess a 50 - 100 mile radius for the high altitude
population. Just remember, forget the Ego and fess-up. Brett


"houstondan" wrote in message
oups.com...
rather than hijack a perfectly good arcane science thread; i'll start a
new one 'cause the core question is a darn good one.

hypothetical situation: you're a blue sky vfr flyer and somehow you
wind up in the soup - after having gone 2 hours and 200 miles from your
take-off point , you wake up from a nice little nap and discover you're
inside the milk bottle.

gps(not waas) says nearest airport of any kind is 30 minutes away and
gas-totalizer says the fan stops in 10 minutes.

not mountainous but you ain't in kansas either todo...whatcha gunna
do??

really.

dan