Inadvertant IMC

On Fri, 23 May 2008 14:13:13 -0800, Dale wrote:

In article
,
"Ol Shy & Bashful" wrote:

Somehow getting into IMC unintentionally. This takes off from another
NG re;IMC with helicopters. I've experienced it several times with
both FW/RW and more often than not, without any gyros in the aircraft.
The box is opened .... anyone care to get into this one? Should be fun
Ol S&B

I always wondered how this could happen? How could you inadvertently
fly in IMC conditions? Couldn't you see this coming?


I'm sure that if you fly regularly through the seasons you will
eventually get caught. It has happened to me 3 times now.

I did an early morning flight along the coast that seemed to be ok
except that I eventually couldnt see much. the airport nearby was
reporting cavok with unlimited visibility. I think it was just a huge
area of humid air that condensed into a fog while I was in it. took 5
minutes to fly clear on instruments.

I went out once in huge cotton wool clouds and had a canyon between
the clouds zipper up at over 150knots. it engulfed me in the middle of
a steep turn trying to escape it. about a minute or two to fly out of
that one. happened right beside the home airstrip.

I took off once to return across australia with departure along a
clear corridor between clouds. that was almost a forced landing on a
freeway when the cloud pattern changed and it socked in to the ground.
the local controlled airport had a regional airliner on short finals
and one up his bum. they let me do an expedited circuit to get out of
that one.

the saving grace for me has always been that the 29,000 hour pilot who
put the panel together that I fly put an artificial horizon in an
otherwise day vfr panel. I've come to think that every aircraft should
have an AH in it. It has saved my bacon on 3 occasions now.

I did some research once regarding the difficulty flying into cloud
could present. stratus cloud is almost a non event apart from the
icing considerations. what I discovered in australia is that cloud is
very commonly about 300 miles wide and can be as much as 3,000 miles
long as it travels across the country. if you got casual about it and
just poked into cloud because it was in front of you you could end up
totally stuffed in a hurry.

Getting caught in cloud isnt incompetence or stupidity it just happens
because of the rapidity with which metrological conditions can change.
it probably takes a tenth of a degree change in temperature to change
cold saturated clear air to opaque cloud. Ive seen a cloud face streak
through saturated air at over 200knots without any perceptible
turbulence or wind.

....good fun though when you live to tell about it.
Stealth Pilot