C182-RG DEPARTED ON VFR TRAINING FLT FOR TFC PATTERN WORK. WX RPT HAD INDICATED CEILING AT 1500 FT. ON DEP NOTED HVY CLOUD LAYER TO THE E OF THE FIELD AND ADVISED TWR THEY WERE RETURNING FOR A FULL STOP LNDG. ON LNDG ADVISED TWR WX WAS 700 FT SCATTERED TO BROKEN ON THE E SIDE OF THE FIELD.

Date: 1996-11 · Aircraft: Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-vfr-in-imc|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

C182-RG DEPARTED ON VFR TRAINING FLT FOR TFC PATTERN WORK. WX RPT HAD INDICATED CEILING AT 1500 FT. ON DEP NOTED HVY CLOUD LAYER TO THE E OF THE FIELD AND ADVISED TWR THEY WERE RETURNING FOR A FULL STOP LNDG. ON LNDG ADVISED TWR WX WAS 700 FT SCATTERED TO BROKEN ON THE E SIDE OF THE FIELD.

Narrative

ON A MARGINAL DAY I WAS SCHEDULED FOR SOME DUAL TFC PATTERN TIME WITH A FLT INSTRUCTOR. THE CONDITIONS WERE PRE-COLD FRONT PASSAGE AND WERE RPTED TO BE 500 FT SCATTERED AND 1500 FT OVCST WITH NUMEROUS LAYERS ABOVE. THE WIND WAS CALM. AFTER CALLING THE TWR TO CONFIRM THE RPT AND WAITING FOR SOME OF THE SCUD TO BLOW OVER; WE DEPARTED. IMMEDIATELY UPON DEPARTING AND TURNING XWIND; BOTH THE INSTRUCTOR AND MYSELF NOTICED THAT THE LOWER LAYER TO THE E OF THE FIELD WAS MUCH THICKER THAN 'SCATTERED.' I IMMEDIATELY CUT THE PWR BACK ON THE CLB OUT WHEN WE INADVERTENTLY ENTERED IMC. WE CALLED THE TWR AND NOTIFIED THAT THIS WOULD BE A FULL-STOP LNDG. WE WERE QUICKLY ABLE TO GET OURSELVES BACK INTO VMC CONDITIONS. THE TWR CALLED AND ASKED IF WE WERE VMC BECAUSE HE DID NOT HAVE US IN SIGHT. AT THAT TIME; HOWEVER WE WERE DOWNWIND AND HAD BOTH THE TWR AND FIELD IN SIGHT. WE SOON LANDED WITHOUT EVENT. AFTER LNDG WE MADE A RPT TO THE TWR ABOUT THE CONDITIONS BEING 700 FT SCATTERED TO BROKEN ON THE E SIDE OF THE FIELD. I FEEL THAT BOTH THE INSTRUCTOR AND MYSELF SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE OBSERVED WX CONDITIONS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT. WX CONDITIONS CAN BE EXTREMELY LOCALIZED AS WAS THE CASE ON THE E SIDE OF THE RWY. THANKFULLY; BOTH THE INSTRUCTOR AND MYSELF WERE INST CURRENT AT THE TIME AND WERE ABLE TO QUICKLY REMOVE OURSELVES FROM THE IMC CONDITIONS. MY DESIRE TO GET THE FLYING TIME IN; AS WELL AS THE INSTRUCTOR'S RELATIVE INEXPERIENCE WERE CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. IN A SENSE; I FELT THAT HE WAS RELYING ON MY JUDGEMENT AS PIC AND MY RELIANCE ON HIM AS PROFESSIONAL WERE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS COMBINATIONS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.