Almost a statisic

I thought I would share my most recent IFR flight so that some of you can
learn from my mistakes. This was quite a humbling experience.

I took off in my Cardinal RG with my girlfriend from N14 in NJ for a flight
to Reading (RDG) in PA. The weather was reported as 2600 overcast, 7 miles
vis, wind 040 at 5. I filed IFR and received the simple clearance: RBV,
ARD, PTW, direct, maintain 2000, expect 4000 5 mins after departure.

I took off and climbed to 2000, headed for RBV and contacted departure.
They told me to go up to 4000 and go direct ARD. That would be the end of
what started as a routine flight. At about 3800' I started looking for ice.
By the time I got to 4000 I had about an 1/8 of an inch. I contacted ATC
and explained the problem and they descended me to 3000. By time I got to
3000 I had a 1/4 inch and it appeared that it was no longer accumulating
rapidly. I couldn't determine if it was continuing, but at a much slower
pace. My px was getting nervous. The windscreen was frozen over. That
made me nervous. I put the heat on and put the defroster on and within a
minute I had a baseball-sized hole to look out of.

I set the ap and asked atc if I could go lower. Answer, "no". I requested
to return to N14. They gave me a couple of turns for traffic and told me to
stand by. Then a series of problems started.
1) My mind was focused on the ice.
2) my mind was focused on my nervous px.
3) I'm giving instructions to her to get the approach charts for N14 out of
my flight bag and she's having problems finding it and I'm getting
frustrated
4)atc now changes my clearance to return to N14 and tells me to intercept
the RBV 232 radial and descend to 2000

As I am setting the freq. I notice that the airspeed in 55 mph!! I
instinctively pitch down and this scares my px and she lets out a scream. I
check the other gauges and when I realize I am not in a climb and the power
is set right I suddenly realize the pitot is just frozen. I turn on the
pitot heat. DUH!! I start to ID the nav aid and spin the OBS to 232 when I
hear a loud sound of air rushing!! Getting louder!! I feel some G forces!!
I look at the AI and I am in a descending, right wing low attitude!! I pick
up the wing and notice that the ap cut out! Hmmm or did I forget to turn it
back on?! On my plane there is no audible warning if the ap is turned off
(is that required? If not it should be!)
5) atc comes on and wants to know why I'm not turning to intercept the 232
radial. I re-set the ap and advise that I am turning now. This frustrates
me more and I'm starting to sweat and wonder what I got myself into.
6) I'm now a bit disoriented now and I look down at my GPS and somehow it
got zoomed all the way out to the continental US!! WTF!! I zoom back in
cursing that I don't need this or any more distractions. ATC clears me for
the vor-a approach but had me maintain 2000 until PONDE (the FAF) and gives
me a modified missed for some reason. This adds more work. I set the
approach into the GPS.

The pitot finally cleared and at 2000 I was not picking up any more ice.
AAMOF the ice began melting off the windshield and when I finally got to the
FAF I blew a sigh of relief and descended out of the clouds at 1800'.

When I landed and watched all that ice sliding off my wings, tail, cowling,
windscreen and thought about the unusual attitude I allowed myself to get
in, I vowed that I will learn many lessons from this flight.

Most of all I should have realized that the freezing level was right inside
my assigned altitude and I should have never launched. Second, needed to
add pitot heat to my IFR Before Takeoff checklist section, to have all the
approaches out for the DEPARTURE ap, as well as, the destination in case you
find yourself coming back sooner than planned. And lastly, I called my A&P
and said I had to have an alarm on the ap disconnect.

I really found myself with my shorts around my ankles. I hope you too can
learn something from my mistakes, idoticy and short-sightedness.

Kobra