On 5-Oct-2006, Mike Spera wrote:

By the way, I am Instrument rated. But there was no way I was going to
attempt flying in the clouds that day. The cold/damp conditions almost
assured getting a load of ice in the clouds.



Not sure I understand this. If I read your trip report correctly, you had
about 45F at 1500 ft. I don't know what the MEAs are in that neck of the
woods, but I doubt they are over 5000 ft. At typical temperature "lapse
rate" of 3 degrees F/1000 ft, it should have been above freezing at 5000 ft.

My experience is that it's almost always safer to fly IFR than do scud
running. The weather info provided by XM WX makes the difference larger
because it allows you to avoid embedded storms.

-Elliott Drucker