"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com wrote in
:

Now, if you'd managed to run into me, I'd wonder why you were flying
at a VFR altitude instead of your own IFR altitude?

Could be possible that I'd be descending or climbing through a VFR
altitude.

I was at an
appropriate VFR altitude for my direction of flight squawking 1200
with an altitude encoder. I just mention that in passing. Having
flown the same route IFR many times since, I know I was in radar range
the whole way, so if you were on an IFR flight plan, you should have
gotten a traffic warning about me: "Traffic 12 o'clock, southwest
bound, squawking VFR at 4,500, unverified" or words to that effect.

You would hope so, but I had a near miss with another plane and we were
both IFR and I was descending and the other airplane was climbing, so
things happen probably just as risky between VFR and IFR cruising
altitudes. Neither of us got advisories. The other plane just happened
to be my IFR instructor climbing out and he said he was close enough to
read the word Beechcraft on my empennage. The only thing I saw was a
high wing plane go right on by me as I descended out of the cloud.

I have said this befo God grants a special dispensation to the
young and stupid. Sometimes he rescinds it. In my case, I got away
with it. Wouldn't do it now.

and this is the bottom line, you learned from it, so we move on.

After all, we do learn from mistakes, and lord, I have made a many
myself.

Thanks for sharing!

Allen