Is it possible to switch from VFR to IFR and back?

Mxsmanic wrote:
If I am instrument rated and my aircraft is fully equipped for
instrument flight, and I start out a flight with a VFR flight plan,
and it gets foggy enough that I'm below minimums, is there a way to
switch to IFR in flight,

*** I do it all the time. Coming home to the Bay Area from Fresno,
it's common
that the Valley will be severe clear, but the Bay Area will have some
clouds. It's
a pain in the butt to file IFR from the uncontrolled field in Fresno,
so I do it like this:

Immediately on takeoff from Fresno, I get flight following. Coming
up the Valley,
I ask to leave the frequency and talk to Flight Service on 122.2MHz. I
get a weather
update from them, and if there is so much as a hint of clouds in the
Bay Area, I file
and IFR flight plan with them, beginning at the next waypoint on my GPS
flight plan.
The GPS tells me when I'll be there ( ETE ), and I just make my best
guess as to
how long it'll take. Then I return to ATC.

About 10 miles from my waypoint, I mention to ATC that I would like
to activate
my IFR flight plan starting at ***. They give me the new clearance, I
write it down and
immediately turn to the new heading and altitude. Poof, I'm IFR.

If ATC isn't busy it's sometimes possible to file the IFR flight
plan in the air directly
with them. One common example is - you're flying along over a cloud
layer and
you'd like to land the airplane. So you ask ATC for an approach. I
get the feeling that
it's easier to get a single approach out of ATC directly than a whole
flight plan.

- Jerry Kaidor