General aviation pilot anticipates being able to clear clouds at his cruise altitude of 17;500 ft ac...

Attributes
ACN	1082854
Time
Date	201304
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZDV.ARTCC
State Reference	CO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6 Flight Crew Total 2450 Flight Crew Type 120
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

I was enroute from hec VOR to pga VOR. While enroute I was over broken to scattered clouds several thousand feet below me. As I proceeded; the clouds became overcast still below me. My weather program showed a narrow band of clouds in my path about 30 miles west of pga with tops less than 17;500 ft; which I was flying. As I approached the clouds; they were rising and higher than 17;500 ft. I could have reversed course but since they were rising I would still have to climb above 18;000 ft. I climbed to 19;000 ft and within 5 minutes was able to descend clear of clouds. Lesson learned: file IFR if there is weather that could possibly be worse than forecast.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: General aviation pilot anticipates being able to clear clouds at his cruise altitude of 17;500 FT according to his on board weather program; but finds the tops to be higher. Reporter elects to climb to 19;000 FT until clear of clouds and continues to destination.

Narrative: I was enroute from HEC VOR to PGA VOR. While enroute I was over broken to scattered clouds several thousand feet below me. As I proceeded; the clouds became overcast still below me. My weather program showed a narrow band of clouds in my path about 30 miles west of PGA with tops less than 17;500 FT; which I was flying. As I approached the clouds; they were rising and higher than 17;500 FT. I could have reversed course but since they were rising I would still have to climb above 18;000 FT. I climbed to 19;000 FT and within 5 minutes was able to descend clear of clouds. Lesson learned: file IFR if there is weather that could possibly be worse than forecast.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

General aviation pilot anticipates being able to clear clouds at his cruise altitude of 17;500 ft according to his on board weather program; but finds the tops to be higher. Reporter elects to climb to 19;000 ft until clear of clouds and continues to destination.