troopernflight
Well-Known Member
Had my first experience with losing site of the ground yesterday, and it was not a good feeling. It all started when my wife and I decided to take a cross country to visit some friends on the other side of the state. We waited for about 2 hours for the mins to come up at our destination, and finally departed around 11am. Once about 1/2 way there the clouds were becoming more numerous. If they were stratus clouds below me, I might not have been so nervous. But it was a hot and muggy day and we all know what kind of clouds that produces. I was actually enjoying the flight, and climbed to 9,000 to get over a build up, while circumnavigating some huge build ups next to me. My wife snapped a picture and was blissfully ignorant that I was starting to get a little uneasy. I noticed that the bigger build ups were actually growing right before our eyes. By the time we got on the other side I noticed that I could not see the ground and that I was flying into a cavern of build ups. I was pretty close to declaring an emergency because there was no way I was going to out climb these things in a DA-20, when like a gift from heaven I spotted a hole. I did the classic diving turns and descending from 9,000 to 1,500 at about a 4k fpm rate of descent. (I think my wife got nervous at this point). I ended up flying to my destination under the ceiling, which was about 1,500 at that point. It was a good learning experience, and I'm glad we made it out ok. I learned that when you are waiting in the morning for the weather at your destination to improve, don't leave immediately when you get 1,000 scattered and 3 miles. Next time I will wait a little longer!