VFR IN IMC.

Narrative

CURRENTLY I AM A VFR SEL RATED PLT WITH ABOUT 500 HRS EXPERIENCE. ON MAY/XX/94 AT APPROX XA00 AM I CALLED THE LCL FSS FOR A WX BRIEFING FOR A TRIP FROM CAMERON PARK CALIFORNIA TO LIVERMORE; CALIFORNIA. THE BRIEFER SAID THAT CONDITIONS WERE VFR; BUT THERE WAS A CLOUD LAYER AT 5500-6500 FT LEVEL. AT ABOUT XC00 AM I DEPARTED CAMERON PARK. UPON CLB OUT THE LCL FBO CALLED AND ASKED IF I COULD DETERMINE THE ALT OF THE CLOUD LAYER. I SAID THAT I WOULD RPT BACK TO THEM. AT ABOUT 2500 FT THE FBO CALLED ME AGAIN; I TOLD HIM THAT THE CLOUD LAYER LOOKED TO BE ABOUT 5000 FT MSL; BUT TO THE S IT SEEMED TO BE A BIT LOWER VISIBILITY. I THEN CONTACTED SACRAMENTO APCH TO ASK FOR FLT FOLLOWING. THE CTLR TOLD ME THAT I HAD TFC (I THINK IT WAS MY 12 O'CLOCK POS) AND WITHIN A MI. THEN HE TOLD ME TO MAKE A L TURN TO A HDG OF 150 DEGS. AT THIS POINT I WAS STILL CLBING AND HOLDING THE NEW COURSE. THE VISIBILITY WAS DIMINISHING; BUT IT WAS STILL IN VFR CONDITIONS. THEN THE CTLR SAID THAT I COULD RESUME MY OWN NAV. SO I SCANNED THE INST PANEL AND THEN WATCHED THE COMPASS TO GET BACK ON THE CORRECT HDG FOR LIVERMORE. WHILE I WAS STILL TRYING TO GET THE PLANE SET UP ON ITS NEW COURSE; THE CTLR REQUESTED THAT I CHANGE TO A NEW FREQ. I TRIED TO ENTER TO THE NEW FREQ; BUT THE RADIO WOULD NOT ACCEPT THE NEW FREQ. AFTER SEVERAL ATTEMPTS TO GET THE RADIO TO WORK; I LOOKED OUTSIDE TO FIND THAT I WAS IN IMC. THE FIRST THING THAT FLASHED THROUGH MY MIND WAS AN ARTICLE THAT I READ SEVERAL MONTHS AGO IN A NEWSLETTER. THE ARTICLE DISCUSSED VFR PLTS INADVERTENTLY GOING INTO IMC. IT SAID THAT THE AVERAGE VFR PLT WOULD BE IN TROUBLE WITHIN SOMETHING LIKE 240 SECONDS. I COULD HEAR THE CLOCK TICKING! I ALSO REMEMBERED MY FLT INSTRUCTOR SAYING; WHEN YOU HAVE A PROB ADMIT AND CONFESS TO IT. SINCE I WAS ALREADY IN CONTACT WITH THE CTLR FOR FLT FOLLOWING; I CALLED AND TOLD HIM THAT I WAS A VFR PLT THAT HAD VENTURED INTO IMC CONDITIONS. HE RESPONDED WITH A HDG AND TOLD ME TO START A DSCNT. I FOLLOWED HIS DIRECTIONS AND RETURNED TO CAMERON PARK.