robert7467

As far as the chute goes, over the layer, no. Under the layer, if I didnt have a way back up, I would either pulled the chute, or landed in a field before I would continue forward into worsening conditions. Even though I was 3 miles to an airport, I knew I shouldnt push it, and I was looking for a place to set her down, but got lucky with a hole going back up. But actually I couldnt make the hole without pulling back into an accelerated stall, so I just looked at my insuruments and maintined proper climb pitch. I didn't know I was into a cloud until my wife told me on the ground, all she could see what white out the windows for 5 minutes. I think parachutes give pilots a false sense of security, and enables them to be more reckless in their decision making. A while back, a couple hangers down a guy in a Cirrus was known for scudd running, and always bragged about how he had a parachute. He is now a stastic from scudd running until the ceilings came so low, he ran into the ground.

Holy S! LMFAO They dont survive. Read this http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-01/five-hundred-more-dead-blackbirds-louisiana-further-puzzle-investigators

And 201er, I heard parrots make great carbon monoxide detectors. They have been using birds for centuries for methane detection and carbon monoxide detection in coal mines.

That video is what could have happened. Now it’s time for me to fess up, the pilot who taught me how to fly through clouds wasn’t even instrument rated, or even a CFI, but is a pilot with over 30 years of experience. When I went up with this pilot, he was more of a safety pilot, and he would assist me in different flight maneuvers and so on. One thing he drilled down on me over and over again was unusual attitude recovery, and we punched through the clouds a few times just to see how it really was. The first time I punched through a cloud, it was swirling, and it felt like I was going to hit a wall. I immediately started to panic, and he calmly told me “don’t look out the window, look at your instruments”. The second time I was more comfortable, then after we punched through it, he told me to close my eyes, and started doing the unusual attitude drill, then had me recover. With both conditions, it was partly cloudy, and we knew there was nothing on the other end of the cloud. My instructor and I did the foggle thing with unusual attitude recovery, but it was NOTHING like actually punching through a cloud. The instructor did the right thing in a legal sense, but he just gave me the minimum to pass the FAA test, and not actually survive the real deal. If it wasn’t for “my friend”, it very well could have ended like this video, because if it was my first time in an actual cloud, panic would have defiantly ensued. He did this because he knew my instructor wouldn’t, even though flying through clouds is something he doesn’t do. He had a sense of responsibility to teach me some of the gotcha’s. I also think with my wife in the plane, I had to talk her through everything I was doing, to keep her calm which helped keep me calm and collected. I think if the FAA wants to change any of the requirements of the PPL, they should take out the obsolete BS, and throw some additional training into the requirements as far as VFR into IMC, and make it a requirement for students to actually fly through a cloud. Thinking back, I can hear the flight examiners crackle in his voice, with a facial expression of sadness when he said “you passed, your license to learn”. Now looking back, it’s like he knew that I met the legal requirements, but I was going to face many more challenges and I was on my own. Other than the basics, the things I learned to save my family’s life, didn’t come from an instructor, but a friend who cares a lot about my well-being. I have also learned a lot on this board, and by reading stories of fatal accidents. It was never the fear of flying that got me, it was and still is the avoidable situation that I put myself in. Now that fear is starting to turn in to caution. Thank you guys for letting me spill my guts without this turning into a bashing post. I am grateful for being here to let others know, so they too can avoid making a stupid decision.

Thanks once again guys.... I am feeling better. This post has recieved over 1100 views, they were able to see my story, as well as your input. I got my message across, and hopefully saved some lives in the process, which was my intention.

Thank you guys for everything. I promise that I am not afraid of planes, I am just really shooken up by flying into IMC. I love airplanes so much, I wouldnt have the slightest issue doing aerobatics in one. The only thing I am worried about is this video with my family in the back: That video is the reality of what could have happened in my situation, or what could happen in the future if I do something stupid again.

I am in the Memphis area.

Just FYI after watching a couple IFR videos, and seeing what I went through is normal for a IFR pilot is helping me a lot. Is what I went through freaking me out? Yes, and it should. If that was not an awakening issue, then I shouldn't be flying.

I will defiantly stay active on this board, I have pretty much chronicled my whole journey towards a PPL on here.

There was a story in the Jeppeson Private Pilot study book that talked about this guy flying with goats in Alaska. He had the goats all tied up so his W&B numbers would be good. As he was flying the goats chewed the rope up, and started running around the plane, which messed up the balance. The goats then started eating his seats. I forgot how he got the plane down. That story reminds me of 201er. 201er is cruising along the Hudson and there is a thunderstorm to the right of him. The parrot gets excited when he sees lightning and starts jumping down on the yoke and disengages the autopilot. The other parrot sitting on 201er’s should decides he wants to join in on the action. So the parrot on his shoulder decides he wants to nibble on 201er’s ear, and 201er is wondering WTH and looks over at the parrot who then starts biting 201er’s nose. While this is all going on, with the weight on the other parrot on the yoke, the plane starts turning into the thunderstorm. The rest of the story, to be continued….

I know I kept talking about "if I fly again", but now I am starting to think rationally vs. emotionally. It just takes time.

thinwing. I agree with you 100%. I will probably resume my flying again soon, it’s just after this experience its best for me to take a couple steps back, think about the situation, and defiantly get more training. I have always took flying seriously, but now I have to be humbled by this experience, and I have a duty to tell others so they can avoid it. It’s amazing how when you are in a situation how words of what others echoed to you go through your mind. In my case it was “don’t look out the window, scan your instruments”, and that’s why I am here today to talk about it. I know I sound emotional in my post, which I am, but I really want to drive down my point. I know in my post I am in panic mode, but while all this was going on, I remained calm and worked through the situation. I know I am a good pilot, I love to fly, but at the same time I must always be thinking about the hazards and stay humbled.

I just need a little time to put myself back together, after all, it was a pretty traumatic experience. Thank you guys for all of your support. I just wanted to tell my story, to prevent it from happening to others. I especially want other CFII's to see this, and start implementing acutal weather into their training for PPL.

Speaking of Mechanical issues, and weather early on, my partner exp both. He had an electrical issue, smoke filling cabin, so he switched everything off, then it turned into IMC in the mountains. He managed to survive it.

At what point does the unexpected stop? I have had a lot of things come up on, and luckily I have been able to handle it. At what point should I feel safe enough to know that I have been through all the illusions, and phenomena that is related to flying to take my kids up again? So far I have been through: Door opening twice during takeoff. (I figured out the cause, the intercom button would turn sideways and lift the latch up) The first time happened during my first solo without instructor watching. During final of one of the door opening episodes, my yoke was sticking on the door handle. Wide runway illusion that cause me to flare at 50’ above the runway, which I resolved with practice. After 100hrs I experienced some sort of wind shear during takeoff, and I slammed on my right rudder to correct. I also had it happen a second time recently, but now I expect it to happen, and I am prepared for it. Lost electrical twice (which is now fixed). Landing light going out during takeoff roll. After that, my instructor made me do 3 landings without landing light. Scud Running at 2000’ with ice building up. (I had instrument rated instructor with me, with plenty of airports in route so non-issue) VRF into IMC- The odds were against me, but I survived because of training, and keeping calm. I forgot to add, ATC told me to report right base for 22. I reported right base, and was cleared to land, then a Cirrus reported 2 mile final, and he was cleared to land. I did a 360 and followed him in. It seems for a 100 hr pilot, that I have been through it all, but I know there are other things out there that I need to look out for. Now I know, I need real training. Not the cover your ass just to meet the FAA regs training, but real world training. When obtaining a pilot’s license, the FAA tends to focus more on obsolete navigation, plotting, and all these mathematical equations, when really we are just going to tune into a VOR, or plug it in a GPS, and plan it out on a computer. I worked very hard on my PPL ticket, but I feel like they just handed me my ticket, knowing there is going to be some real dangers that most pilots are not experienced to deal with, and wished me luck on not becoming a statistic. After researching my VFR into IMC issue, I am very fortunate that I didn’t get the leans, or some other illusion that I was NEVER told about. I do know one thing for sure, if I continue on, I will defiantly take a more serious, professional approach to this. As far as flying my family, this has taken a bad toll on me, and I don’t ever want to put my helpless family in that situation again. I don’t know if I will ever recover from this, it is absolutely eating me up inside. I have 2 of the sweetest little boys, who slept in the back seat while they were in a situation with a statistically 10% chance of survival. It’s really hard looking at them in their sweet little eyes, knowing my decisions put them in that kind of danger. I am defiantly not the bubble type. I have been sky diving, I ride dirt bikes, I fly airplanes, and I love adventure.

In this case, even with the haze, I had at least 10 miles. The haze created the illusion that the cloud base below was coming up, and the could base above was coming down, and it looked like I was going to run into a wall of clouds. A matter a fact , this haze made me see traffic better, because it decluttered everything..... Illusions illusions illusions.

For now, I am still shaken up by this. I will not fly XC unless its 100% clear, or if the ceilings are 4000 XC and I can fly below. As long as I am up high enough, and I can see the ground, I can confidently perform a forced landing if the engine quits. As far as getting an instrument rating goes, if I continue to fly, it will still be VFR, because I hate that feeling of flying without being able to see the ground, and be able to plan a forced landing. So even IFR rating won't exactly prevent me from feeling what I did yesterday, which was helpless. I am at a crossroads here. The cloud cover out today didn't help matters much when I was looking up at the sky, I am having flashbacks. I have to tell myself that aviation can be safe, under the right conditions. Maybe I will pull myself together, maybe not. Time will only tell.

Well, as a VFR pilot flying into IMC is in my opinion is the worst that can happen, thunderstorms included. Now I am scared shitless of being on top of a layer of clouds, and my personal minimums have now increased drastically to make sure 100% that I will not be in that situation again. I am lucky to be on the ground alive to ponder what I should do next. Now when I look up at the sky, I am having flashbacks of what happened, and it will probably take a while for me to get over this. This has been a very humbling experience to say the least.

Question. I have no autopilots, and 2 VOR's, 1 with a glidescope, no DME. Is that enough equipment for instrument work? I have a Garmin 155 that I was thinking about having installed to replace one of the VOR's. What are your thoughts?

I was looking at the terminal area forcast on foreflight, when weather planning. Like I said, the weather did exactly what I expected it to, it was just the haze creating the illusion that the tops below me were coming up, and the ceilings at 25000 were coming down. It looked like we were heading strait for a wall of clouds, but it was just an illusion.

The funny thing is, when the weather broke, and the clouds were at 25000, we hit a few bumps, and that scared my wife more than the IMC ordeal. Knowing that IMC is the most dangerous thing a VFR pilot can go through, I kind of looked at her, and smiled, thinking if you only knew what we have been through. Then on the ground, I let her know that we were on of the few that have survived VFR into IMC with a VFR rating. It boggles my mind, that the FAA doesnt require punching through real clouds as a requirement for training, because if I never flew through real clouds, we would have ended up becoming a stastic.

Thank you guys for the words of encouragement. On the ground, it's much easier to evaluate this, and make sure it doesn't happen again. There is no worse feeling, than knowing my family was in danger, when its my job to protect them.

As a new pilot, I have failed myself, as well as my family. With my new ticket, we decided to go to St Louis to take our kids to the City Museum. Weather going up was perfect. We decided to leave out Sunday. I checked the weather, and in St Louis and Memphis the weather was showing 10 miles of visibility, and clouds at 25000. In route, it showed the tops at 2500 broken over a small area of my route. When we were flying, visibility was good, but hazy. We ended up over the layer as expected. Then we started getting the illusion that the clouds were rising, and the haze was giving the illusion that the top layer (25000) was connecting with the bottom. With the haze, it gave us the illusion that we were going straight into a wall of clouds. I did not feel comfortable proceeding on course. I saw that we were really close to an airport, and there was a big hole that I could punch through and still stay within VFR minimums, and I started my decent. When we got under that layer, the airport was about 5 miles away, and I proceeded on course. The ceilings were closing in fast, and visibility was rapidly declining. At this point I knew that I could not proceed on course, and I either had find a field to land in, or find a hole back up. Luckily I saw a blue hole going back up, and I figured altitude is my friend at this point. I proceeded to climb, and at that point I decided not to look out the window, and just focus on my instruments, and maintain proper pitch. I just kept telling myself, don’t look out the window, focus on instruments. Finally we were above the layer, and I called flight watch, and he assured me what I already knew, that the clouds were at 25000, and I was almost out of that layer and Memphis was clear. We ended up landing safely to Memphis. My wife is the true hero in this because she stayed clam. She said that she was able to stay calm, because I let her know every move I was making. She knew we were in a bad situation because sweat was running down my face. When we got on the ground, my wife says when we were punching through the hole going back up, all she could see is white for about 5 minutes. At this point, I don’t care if this turns into a bashing session, or if the FAA sees this and yanks my ticket. The reason I am posting this is to save a life. Weather is something I don’t play with, and my minimums are really high. Here is what I would have done differently, now that I have had time to rethink this: Don’t descend into unknown conditions. Don’t fly over a layer of clouds, even though the weather information says its ok and you are still within VFR Minimums. Call flight watch prior to making drastic decisions. If I am ever going to fly again, get an instrument rating ASAP. Also, I think instructors need to take their students actually through the clouds, because foggles don’t let you see the actual illusions of going through a cloud. Luckily, I have had a CFII actually take me through the clouds. The first time I actually panicked, but his words “don’t look out the window, focus on your instruments” is what was going through my mind during this situation, and it saved my life. Instructors, I am begging you. Take your students through actual clouds. If I just had foggle training, my family would be dead. I still believe, under the right conditions, GA is safer than a car, but I am kind of hesitant of whether I am going to fly again. I know I am going to get bashed, it’s much easier to analyze this situation on the ground. Luckily, my training kicked in, and I am still alive as a result. There is no worse feeling, than knowing what I put my helpless family through. Looking up at the clouds this morning made me sick to my stomach. I made a lot of poor decisions that day, but luckily I am alive to think about them. The only reason I am posting this, is to prevent someone from repeating the same mistakes as I made.

I don't know if its family factor. All landings so far with my family, have been greasers. Love it.

Yeah, it was unexpected that he was going to fly with me. The day after my checkride I had my wife take me to the checkride airport to pick my plane. I asked her if they were going to watch me takeoff, and she said just take him with me. Next time he will have a headset, booster seat, and a flight suit. The plane is sound proofed, and the flight was 7 minutes.