My long solo XC turned into my first and hopefully last foray into scud running. It was supposed to be a simple Montgomery - Imperial - Thermal - Montgomery trip, but coming back over the mountains into San Diego, I was greeted with the coastal stratus layer covering where I needed to go. SoCal was pressuring me to start my descent, so I spiralled down through the first hole on my flight path. As soon as I was beneath the layer, I looked to the west toward the direction I needed to go and to my horror saw nothing but mountain with tops obscured. I then glanced at my airspeed indicator, which was hovering just above 50 kts! In my mild panic of having my desired route blocked off by cumulogranite, I had neglected to clean up the flaps and add power back in. I immediately began circling to determine my options. To make matters worse, the mountains blocked radio communications with the approach controller so I couldn't talk to them. (I can only imagine what they were thinking, a student pilot in a 1500 fpm descent, then losing both radar and radio contact.....)
I looked to the south and at the far end of a valley I could see sunlight shining from the west. Realizing that was my ticket to better conditions, I headed south down the valley at about 600' AGL, only a few hundred feet below the ceiling. As I came to the end of the valley where the sunlight shone through, I hit what I recognized as the I-8 interstate and followed it into San Diego.
After I landed and got my taxi clearance, ground advised that Flight Service was looking for me as I had botched my flight planning and was over an hour late (I had made a measurement error on the sectional on two legs which neither my instructor nor I caught). My instructor was not amused by my logbook entry, which said, in part " 'I.F.R.' " He said "what's this?!", in his "wtf?" tone, to which I answered "I follow roads".
Yes, XCs do get better, especially with aids like DUATS and GPS.
(Not that I use these as a crutch, mind you; I planned my most recent XC to Las Vegas as if it were an IFR flight, selecting route and altitudes from a low-altitude enroute IFR chart, and flew the needles along the airways like a good instrument student.
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