Originally Posted by
NoyGonnaDoIt
Don't take the wrong lesson from this - the changes in conditions you encountered by going further away, and having to deal with them, is, IMO, what the cross country requirements for all certificate, ratings and operating privileges, all the way to ATP and 121 qualification, are about.
Oh, I agree. What I meant was trying to simulate IFR doing VFR in MVFR conditions. If I every find myself in that situation again, I will keep it close to home. I am going up with my 3rd safety pilot this weekend and once again cannot file an IFR flightplan. 1st pilot was PP, 2nd not current, this one cannot be PIC in club airplane. I am going to start putting more time in with my instructor next month.
Great lesson - The the transition from the clouds to visual conditions is an extremely important skill that we don't get enough practice in and, to some, one of the more dificuly things about IFR flight.
On these flights, the more lessons the better
Thanks. Since we were coming in VFR (the ILS was out and I had not prepared for a GPS approach), I should have left a lot more time out of the hood as my safety had not spotted the field and I knew that I had had trouble spotting it at night previously. By the time I spotted it I was too close to descend from 2500 normally and followed tower advice to make spiraling turns and tight ones at that to stay clear of traffic heading for the other active runway. I should have just overflown and entered the pattern in a more leisurely fashion or turned completely around and got set up for the straight in. Obviously, another lesson learned was that I was PIC, not the tower controller.