Reminds me of a flight I once took from Erie, PA back home to White Plains,
NY (HPN)..


I hated being on top VFR as the holes were getting fewer and farther
between...

I ended up turning around and dropping through a hole over Williamsport
after not seeing a hole for about 10 minutes and deciding I might not have
a lot of options once I get to HPN (weather reports were not looking
happy!)

It was also one of the factors that convinced me to go get my IFR... Now,
weather like what you described is not really much of an issue at all,
assuming no TStorms and no Icing... Admittedly, even with the IFR I have
had to cancel several flights over the last 8 months - for TStorms, Ice,
and even weather that was just too low for a newly minted IFR pilot to wade
around in. But I also have had the opportunity to use the rating for
several flights, including one (or two, if you count round trip) from HPN
to Findlay, OH (about 60 nm NNE from OSU)... And let me tell you - if
nothing else, it's peace of mind. Although it also comes with its own set
of new responsibilities and things to watch out for. But on days like last
week when the freezing level is way up at 11,000 and there's no convective
weather to talk about, flying in the soup is actually quite pleasurable...


Definitely worth getting your Instrument Rating if you ask me. And from
what it sounds like, you've got some good XC time VFR so it shouldn't be a
big stretch to get it done quickly. (Got mine with less than 41 hrs logged
Instrument Time.)



"Bob Chilcoat" wrote in
:

OK, inspired by Jay's trip to Reno, here's a report on our trip to KOSU
in Columbus, OH from NJ and back last week. I, too have pondered the
relative merits of getting my instrument rating, and have reached most
of the same conclusions as Jay. The discussion is relevant to this
trip, too.

7:00 AM Monday morning. Call FSS to see if the weather is as good as
it was supposed to be. Some fog at KSMQ (Somerset, NJ) that is
supposed to lift, but the real problem is beyond Harrisburg. Altoona
and Johnstown are in fog, that isn't predicted to burn off for a couple
of hours. Other than that, things are supposed to be VFR all the way,
although there is a lot of haze in Ohio. Ivan is still in the Gulf,
and not expected to affect the weather up here until Friday. So we go
back to bed for an hour, and then head to the airport. Susie's not
real comfortable with weather problems, and needs to get back in NJ
later in the week. It looks like there should be little problem
getting back as long as we beat Ivan.

From the airport, the weather is still IFR at Johnstown, but expected
to lift shortly, so we wait for a bit longer and then depart just
before 11:00. Pick up Flight Following from Allentown. Plan a fuel/pee
stop at Washington County, PA. The GPS is showing 89-95 knot ground
speed, so we have a bigger headwind than I had expected. Nothing else
noteworthy about the leg to Washington at 6,500', except that the Pgh.
Approach controller is obviously bored to death and chats incessantly
to anyone who comes into his airspace. A very friendly guy who even
asks one plane how he could get some stuff from their company for their
controllers' golf outing. Nice to hear someone so friendly over the
radio, but it seems a bit strange. The only traffic call we have the
whole leg is for someone 4,000 feet below us. Hardly a factor.

The cheap gas I was expecting at Washington, where I'd landed once
before, is $3.06. Cheaper than SMQ, but not that much cheaper. Call
my brother to tell him of our delayed departure and arrange a pickup at
OSU. File a new flight plan, and launch again. Try to pick up Flight
Following from Pgh, again, but are immediately handed off to Cleveland
Center. Ground speed picks up. The circulation centered over Western
PA is now pushing us West. The last 45 minutes the visibility gets
progressively worse - heavy haze. I descend to 4,500' to try and get a
better look at the ground. Visibility is less than 5 miles. OSU ATIS
confirms marginal VFR, but still legal. We get handed off to Columbus
Approach and are told to descend at our discretion and contact the
tower with field in sight. I see an airport, which I deduce from the
GPS is OSU and not CMH, and contact tower. They clear us for a
straight in approach to 27 left, but there doesn't appear to be two
runways. Trying to make sure I line up on the correct runway, I confess
that I am "unfamiliar" and ask if 27 left is the long runway I can see.
Tower sarcastically tells me 27 left is the one with "L" painted on
it. OK, I deserve that, since I can now see a second short runway on
the far right, but I still can't read anything. We land smoothly, and
Susie begins to relax. Ever since we had a bad crosswind landing
experience a couple of years ago, she has been less comfortable flying
with me. She still does, though. A wonderful woman. Hobbs time, 4.2
hours. Not too bad given the winds.

After a good visit with my brother, who is struggling with Lou Gehrig's
disease, we begin to think about a Wednesday departure. The plan to
take Dave flying on Tuesday is abandoned due to his being too tired.
He's an instrument rated private pilot with a lot more flight time than
I do, so you know he's hurting. It's really painful to see him going
downhill so fast.

Wednesday morning the weather is not good. Showers and thunderstorms
moving up from the south toward eastern and central PA and fog over
Johnstown and Altoona again. The fog is supposed to lift, however, and
it's clear skies with haze again between Columbus and Washington, PA.
We can't delay too much, because the weather to the east is expected to
worsen the next day, and Ivan is waiting in the wings. So we decide to
launch and make our way at least as far as Washington, and see how
things are. The good weather is moving slowly east, so we may be able
to get a bit farther.

Weather over Washington is fine, although we're above a broken layer
that is not getting any worse, yet, so we press on to Rostraver, and
then Latrobe, listening to AWOS reports up ahead as soon as we can pick
them up. However, when we get to Latrobe, we can hear from Johnstown
that they are still 3 miles and 800 feet. A lunch stop in Latrobe
seems appropriate. We drop through a big hole in the broken layer and
land at Latrobe.

Flight Services assures me that the fog in Johnstown should have lifted
in about two hours, so we enjoy a leisurely lunch. Arnold Palmer
airport is a beautiful place, but deserted. Our waitress in the
excellent restaurant overlooking the ramp area tells us that they
recently lost their one airline, and except for a casino flight to
Atlantic City three times a week, all they get are the odd corporate
jet and a few little planes like ours. Sad. Are the small town
airports going the same way as small town railway stations did 75 years
ago?

After lunch another call to FSS is discouraging. The fog at Johnstown
has not lifted. Johnstown is in a valley, so it's highly likely that
the tops of the ridge on either side are obscured, and I have a great
respect for "cumulo granite" clouds. We have a couple of options. We
can head north to Jamestown, NY and get north of the bad weather. Then
we should have clear sailing via Binghamton, home. Unfortunately, this
will add a huge amount of distance. An alternative is to climb over
the broken layer, head toward Johnstown, and then see if we can get
over the weather there. It's VFR once we get to Harrisburg. No PIREPS
for tops over Johnstown, but some earlier ones had the tops at 9,000
feet. Within reach of the Archer, although I've never had it up that
high before. I figure that with full tanks I should be able to see how
it is heading east, divert north if necessary, and as a last resort
head back west or back to Latrobe and regroup. The fuel at Latrobe is
$3.60. Ouch, but I want to have full tanks.

We launch up through the now scattered layer and set our course for
Johnstown at 7,500'. The scattered layer rapidly becomes broken and
then solid. I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable up here, since I know
that we're going to be in big trouble if the fan stops. OTOH, I would
have the same problem if I were IFR, so I relax a bit and console
myself that the engine has never even coughed before. Over Johnstown,
which is still reporting 3 miles and 800', I can see a very high layer
sitting on top of the cloud deck out in the distance. Altoona is also
reporting IFR conditions, but as I get closer to the high clouds ahead,
I can hear Harrisburg reporting 10 miles and 2,500'. Unfortunately,
the high clouds ahead seem to be sitting right on top of Harrisburg.

I tell Center that I'm going to climb to 9,500' and see if I can get
over the layer ahead. The poor old Archer struggles up there, wheezing
at 300 FPM for the last thousand feet. After releaning, I realize that
never I've seen the mixture lever that close to "idle cutoff" before.
We level off, looking hopefully at the layer ahead. Still looks a lot
higher than us. As we get closer, it becomes obvious that we're not
going over in this plane, and without oxygen, so I begin to consider
the remaining options. The high layer seems to taper off both to the
south and to the north, and Susie suggest that south looks better. I
know that we will get better weather north, however, and I can see some
puffy clouds up that way. Perhaps the solid layer begins to break up
that way. I tell Center that we're diverting to overfly Mifflin County
airport to see if we can get around this cloud layer. As we get near
Mifflin, their AWOS is reporting 10 miles and 2,000'. Great. It sounds
like we can get around the bad stuff with only a 30 mile diversion.
That is, if I can get down below this cloud deck. Sure enough, as I
overfly Mifflin, the cloud deck begins to break up just like it looked
like it might from farther south.

A couple of miles north of Mifflin I overfly two big beautiful holes
and can see sunlit farms in the valley that Mifflin is in. Perfect. I
can drop down below the clouds and still have the option of landing at
Mifflin if the ridge tops are too close to the clouds. I tell Center
what we're going to do, and since I'm pretty sure from past experience
in the area that they won't be able to see me once I get below 3,000',
I cancel Flight Following and squawk 1200. Through the second hole as
we spiral down from way up there, I can see clearly the next valley
east, which also has an airport in it. We level off at 2,000, and find
that we can easily get over the ridge into the second valley. I still
have that second airport as an option, and it looks like we have at
least an 800' gap between the next ridge and the clouds. More
importantly, beyond that next ridge, I can see that the ridges get
progressively lower, and the weather improves. We cross the second
ridge with a few hundred feet to spare, and set a direct course to
Harrisburg. Not great VFR conditions, but we know it gets better the
farther east we go.

We pick up Flight Following again from Harrisburg Approach, and head
for home.

The rest of the trip is pretty unevenful, except for my blundering into
a thin rain cloud hanging below the rest near Allentown. No big deal,
we were out in five seconds and got some of the bugs washed off the
windshield, but I never saw it coming. We set down at Somerset, and
notice the tail of a Cessna 185 amphibian sticking out of the T-hangar
it tried to park in with the doors closed and a Commanche already
inside (see previous post "Stupid Pilot Tricks" for details). 4.3
hours on the Hobbs. A long day, but we're home without too many new
gray hairs. Susie points out that it took 7 hours door to door, and
that we could have driven it in 9 hours for a lot less money. I have
no answer to that.

Thinking back, I believe I made all the right decisions. With Ivan
coming up the coast, we would have been there for four more days had we
not gone when we did. The only thing that made me uncomfortable was
flying a long way on top of a cloud deck that I could not get down
through without my instrument rating. OTOH, I made sure I had plenty
of fuel, and a couple of option cards to play. I knew that good
weather was moving in behind us, so I could always turn around if
absolutely necessary. An instrument rating would have helped, since I
could have stayed on top, gone around or through that high cloud deck,
and then descended beyond Harrisburg. That would have saved some time,
but probably not reduced the risk much. I would have been in just as
much trouble had the engine failed, regardless of which rating I have.

Sorry if this is long, but I thought perhaps a discussion of the
decision process might help other low-time VFR pilots like me. Flame
away.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to
love America