A BELL 206 INADVERTENTLY ENTERED IMC WHILE VFR. FLT WAS ABORTED TO A VFR LNDG.

Date: 2004-10 · Aircraft: Kiowa/Kiowa Warrior/Combat Scout · Phase: cruise

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

Synopsis

A BELL 206 INADVERTENTLY ENTERED IMC WHILE VFR. FLT WAS ABORTED TO A VFR LNDG.

Narrative

FLT REQUEST CAME INTO OUR ZZZ BASE FOR A PICK-UP GOING TO ZZZ1. I CALLED FSS; CALL SIGN AMBULANCE XXX. THE BRIEFER SAW NO CEILINGS FOR THE FLT. AS WE WERE XING THE SECOND RIDGE LINE APPROX 2000 FT MSL; AT 1000 FT AGL THE LIGHTS AHEAD BEGAN DISAPPEARING. I BEGAN A L TURN AND CONDITIONS DID NOT IMPROVE. SO MUCH THAT IN THE 180 DEG TURN I LOST GND CONTACT. I RECALL ANNOUNCING TO THE CREW WE WERE GOING TO CLB. QUICKLY WE WERE VFR ON TOP 2500 FT MSL. I CONTINUED TO CLB TO ABOUT 3000 FT MSL TO MAINTAIN VFR. AT THIS POINT; I BEGAN LOOKING FOR A CTR FREQ AND I SQUAWKED 7700 BEING THAT I WAS ON TOP OF A SOLID LAYER OF CLOUDS. I ALSO TRIED 121.5 AND APCH AND BACK TO 121.5. RECEIVING NO REPLY; I TUNED IN ZZZ TO OUR GPS. BY THIS TIME THERE WERE NO CLOUDS UNDER US AND WE COULD SEE ZZZ. I CALLED THE COMPANY DATA LINK TO SEE WHAT HE THOUGHT I SHOULD DO SINCE I WAS NO LONGER VFR ON TOP -- JUST VFR MAKING A NORMAL VFR APCH TO THE ARPT. HE ADVISED TO SQUAWK 1200 AND WRITE A LETTER TO THE CHIEF PLT; WHICH I DID. I THOUGHT I HAD MADE AN ABORT DECISION SOON ENOUGH; THE NURSE COMMENTED ABOUT MAKING A GOOD DECISION. IN THE TURN BACK; WE ENCOUNTERED LOWER CLOUDS AND BECAUSE IT HAPPENED SO QUICKLY; MY REACTION WAS CLB. AS FOR ACTIONS -- HAD I SLOWED THE HELI ONCE THE DECISION WAS MADE TO ABORT THE FLT; I MIGHT HAVE HAD MORE TIME FOR A DIFFERENT DECISION. WE HAD JUST COME OVER THE VALLEY WITH +1500 FT AGL CEILING; SO THE THOUGHT OF GOING INTO A CLOUD WASN'T PART OF THE THINKING. I HAVE RUN INTO WX BEFORE AND TURNED AROUND; ABOUT THE SAME LOCATION. AT NIGHT; IF CONDITIONS ARE LESS THAN CLR; I WOULD TAKE THE LONG RTE AROUND THE RIDGE LINES. WITH NO WX RPTING STATIONS IN THAT AREA AT NIGHT; I FEEL IT WOULD BE BETTER TO GO AROUND.

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