SMA MISTAKES DEST ARPT WHICH BECOMES IFR AFTER CONTACT. REQUESTS SVFR; LANDS.
Synopsis
SMA MISTAKES DEST ARPT WHICH BECOMES IFR AFTER CONTACT. REQUESTS SVFR; LANDS.
Narrative
I HAD PLANNED TO TRAVEL FROM W PALM BEACH LANTANA ARPT (LCN) TO KISSIMMEE ARPT (ISM); NEAR ORLANDO; FL. I CALLED WX BRIEFING AT AM; AND AT EACH HR THEREAFTER. THERE WAS A LOW PRESSURE SYS ACROSS MID FLORIDA IN THE FORM OF A STATIONARY TROUGH; HOWEVER; BY AM IT WAS RPTED THAT ENRTE THERE WAS A 2500 FT CEILING WITH BETTER THAN 10 MI OF VISIBILITY AND THE SAME CONDITIONS EXISTED AT ORLANDO. I LISTENED TO THE ATIS AT WEST PALM INTL; PLOTTED AN RNAV COURSE ALONG VICTOR 531; AND DEPARTED APPROX AM. I WAS PREDOMINANTLY USING THE NOS LOW ALT ENRTE CHART L-20; EXPIRATION DATE NOV/XX/91. SHORTLY AFTER DEP THE CEILING APPEARED TO BE LOWER THAN HAD BEEN PREDICTED; AND IT WAS NECESSARY TO FLY AT APPROX 1500 FT. HOWEVER; THE VISIBILITY WAS EXCELLENT AS HAD BEEN RPTED. AFTER TRAVELING APPROX 50 MI THE CEILING APPEARED TO BE DSNDING EVEN FURTHER; AND I CALLED ST PETERSBURG WX AND WAS INFORMED THAT ORLANDO NOW HAD 600 SCATTERED; 1200 BROKEN; ALTHOUGH THE VISIBILITY WAS STILL GOOD. I FELT IT UNWISE TO CONTINUE AND IMMEDIATELY HEADED E WHERE THERE APPEARED TO BE A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS OVER THE COASTLINE. I DECIDED TO LAND AT VERO BEACH; LISTENED TO THEIR ATIS; AND CONTACTED VERO BEACH TWR IDENTING MYSELF AS SMA X. I WAS TOLD TO PROCEED UP THE RIVER; NOTIFY THE TWR WHEN I WAS 2 MI OUT; THUS; I WAS CLRED INTO THEIR ATA. I HAD SHUT OFF MY RNAV AND WAS NOW NAVING BY THE VERO BEACH VORTAC; USING MY DME AS WELL. AS I DISCOVERED ONLY LATER; THE VORTAC WAS NOT LOCATED ON THE VERO BEACH ARPT BUT RATHER APPROX 7 MI FURTHER N. THUS; MY ESTIMATED POS WAS AT LEAST 7 MI S OF VERO BEACH ARPT. I LOOKED TO MY L OUT THE WINDOW AND COULD CLRLY SEE AN ARPT VERY CLOSE TO THE RIVER; QUICKLY LOOKED AT THE MAP REALIZING THAT ST LUCY COUNTY ARPT; OR FT PIERCE; WAS IN APPROX THIS POS; AND NOTIFIED THE VERO BEACH TWR THAT I WAS GOING TO DIVERT TO THIS CLOSER ARPT; AND CONTACTED 128.2; THE CTL TWR FREQ FOR ST LUCY. I IDENTED MYSELF AND WAS CLRED TO LAND ON RWY 14. THIS DECISION TO DIVERT WAS MADE BECAUSE THE WX WAS CLRLY GETTING THICKER HDG N; AND I COULD CLRLY SEE THE ARPT WITH NO DIFFICULTY AT THIS POINT AT 1000 FT. I REMAINED IN CONTACT WITH THE TWR; TURNED DOWNWIND; AND AS I TURNED BASE I COULD CLRLY SEE THE NUMBERS ON THE ARPT RWY WERE NOT 14 BUT 11; AND I IMMEDIATELY CONTACTED THE TWR. I WAS TOLD THAT 11 WAS INDEED A RWY AT VERO BEACH AND THAT I MUST BE OVER VERO BEACH; NOT FT PIERCE. I SWITCHED FREQS; CONTACTED THE VERO BEACH TWR WHO HAD ME IN SIGHT AT THAT TIME; AND WHO TOLD ME THAT DURING THE INTERIM THEY HAD SHIFTED TO IFR CONDITIONS AND THUS; AS A VFR ACFT; I WAS IN VIOLATION OF THEIR IFR CTL ZONE. SINCE THE WX WAS DETERIORATING I REQUESTED SVFR; WHICH WAS GRANTED; FOLLOWED THEIR INSTRUCTIONS; AND LANDED SAFELY ON THEIR RWY. I WAS TURNED OVER TO GND CTL AND ULTIMATELY ASKED TO CALL THE TWR WHICH INFORMED ME THAT I WAS IN VIOLATION OF THEIR CTL ZONE. AS I AM SURE IS THE CASE IN MANY OF THESE CIRCUMSTANCES; FIRST OF ALL I READILY ADMIT I MADE A MISTAKE IN NAV AND THOUGHT THE DME VORTAC WAS ON THE VERO BEACH AIRFIELD; WHICH IT WAS NOT. SECONDLY; FROM A VISUAL POS; BOTH OF THESE ARPTS HAVE CTL TWRS; AND BOTH ARE ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME DISTANCE FROM THE INLAND WATERWAY. THEY ARE ALSO ALMOST THE SAME DISTANCE APART AS THE VORTAC WAS N OF THE VERO BEACH ARPT. I DID OBTAIN THE VERO BEACH ATIS; I DID CONTACT THE VERO BEACH TWR; I WAS GIVEN PERMISSION TO GO TO WITH 2 MI AND THUS WAS CLRED INTO THEIR ATA; AND IN ACTUALITY I WAS ALREADY WITHIN THE CTL ZONE AREA WHEN IT BECAME A CTL ZONE. THUS; I WAS A VFR ACFT OPERATING IN AN IFR SITUATION; BUT I WAS ALREADY IN THE ATA WHEN IT WENT IFR; AND AS SUCH I DON'T BELIEVE THIS IS A VIOLATION IF I WAS CLRED INTO AN ATA; ENTER IT; AND IT BECOMES A CTL ZONE WHILE I AM ON VFR. IN SUMMARY; THIS HAS BEEN AN EXTREMELY GOOD LESSON TO ME. I WILL USE MY NDB'S IN THE FUTURE AS A XCHK FOR MY VOR NAV; AND MAKE CERTAIN OF THE LOCATION OF THE ARPT.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.