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

You continued on once you encountered weather worse than forecast. This
is one of the leading causes of VFR flight fatalities. Keep in mind
that a flight plan is just that, a plan. I rarely execute a flight
exactly as I planned it. Most flights are very dynamic. Weather
changes. The airplane changes. The pilot may change (some days I just
don't feel 100%). You have to constantly evaluate and adjust to these
changes. Simply flying on and saying "bummer the forecast isn't
correct" is bad piloting.

I again still respectfully disagree. I am VMC on top. How would I know
that the weather is worsening BELOW the overcast??? I am plodding along,
dumb and happy, enjoying the view a couple thousand feet above the
overcast. Yes, I could have been checking ATIS enroute, but I was still
very new to the XC process on this particular trip. I now use that tool
even now when I am IFR rated.

It was 50 miles out when I contacted center since overcast did not break
up. It was then I discovered that things went south. And I reacted
accordingly, as stated in my original post, fess up to center and find
another airport reporting VFR conditions. In fact, center suggested an
airport 100 miles away, but due to fuel considerations, I asked for the
closest airport so I didn't go into my self imposed one hour reserve (I was
already 3 1/2 hours in the air). My plane holds 58 gallons and burns 10
GPH.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Allen