A Lieberman wrote:
On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 00:41:03 GMT, Matt Whiting wrote:

You have alternates in mind that are still VFR and use them if needed.
Flying on top of a solid overcast into weather that is by your own
admission worse than forecast (and you have no way of knowing how much
worse it may get) without an instrument rating, isn't a very wise thing
to do.


Yes, I agree now (where I learned from my own experiences) that VFR over
the top is inheritantly risky without a IFR rating or WITHOUT an alternate.
It was center that got me what I needed for my alternate, so I used every
available tool out there.

That was my point entirely.


I think the key point I am trying to make, is by looking at the surface of
my situation I described, I followed the VFR rules to a tee when the wheels
went up. But somebody not in my situation would say, how in the world can
someone get stuck over the top.

Following the rules to the letter doesn't make one a good pilot. I'd
say it actually is a great indication of a bad pilot. Good piloting
requires constant situation assessment, judgement and decision making.
Blindly following the rules and regulations is a recipe for disaster.
Most rules are written based on the last accident, not the next one. My
goal is to not be the reason that the next regulation is written and
following the current regulations is grossly insufficient to ensure that.


I would not consider the situation I encountered a bad piloting decision
with the information I had in hand from startup to 50 miles out.

I would. Flying over a solid layer such that you can't easily know what
is happening below or even knowing if you can find a hole to descend
through shows bad judgement and is bad piloting in my opinion, unless
there is a really compelling reason to take this significant risk.
There are situations that warrant that, but you didn't give any
information as to any circumstance that would warrant this level of risk
taking by a non-instrument rated pilot.


If I would have pressed on to my destination without regard to the weather,
that would have been a bad piloting decision. I did not do that.

That would have been another bad piloting decision. :-)


Matt