That is a totally different and much more realistic situation. When the
weather is IMC at Minden, even if the ceiling is 3000AGL, it is unflyable in
a piston single without deice and turbocharging. In the Bay Area, on the
other hand, there is a lot of flyable IMC similiar to SoCal. You get
frequent marine layers only a few hundred feed thick. I didn't say so
earlier but I think that getting the rating is a good idea for most pilots.
It has some utility and it will make you a better pilot in many areas. MEV
is, like you say, almost always VFR. The problem is that to go anywhere you
have to cross mountains or fly very turbulent valleys. You mentioned STS,
before you depart from there in IMC you need to really understand the
departure procedure and what your GPS is going to do at each step. Its
complicated if you don't know when it is going to go stop automatic waypoint
sequencing. Don't ask how I know!

Basically if you can get past Placerville you will be able to fly almost
anywhere in the state with your airplane. The limitations are all over high
terrain because you have to fly high to clear terrain and there is almost
always icing at those altitudes along with lots of turbulence.

BTW you should go to Soar Minden and buy the book "Exploring the Monster".
It is a great book and you will learn a lot about your local weather. It is
my favorite aviation book.

Mike
MU-2





"mindenpilot" wrote in message
...

Read my other post. You might want to spend some time talking to Bill
Hutt or someone else who has flown a lot in the area about the utility of
flying IMC in your current airplane. Basically it isn't enough airplane
for IMC flying in that area. Even a heavy twin like a 421 is marginal.

Mike
MU-2


Bummer.
On the other hand, this weather is really uncharacteristic.
Last winter, I flew all winter long with very few days that weren't VFR.
On the whole, I would say 90% of the days here are VFR.

Sorry to ask IFR-illiterate questions, but here's more.
A more realistic mission would be flying from Minden to the Bay Area.
Like I said, it's usually VFR in Minden, but there is often fog in the Bay
Area (Santa Rosa, STS).
I don't have IFR plates, but I know STS is pretty flat, and is at sea
level (100').
Not sure about icing conditions, but it's definitely warmer in the winter
than here in Minden.
Does this sound like something that I could handle in my Super III, or do
I need the heavy metal?

Thanks

Adam
N7966L
Beech Super III