C182 pilot at 5;000 ft on an IFR flight plan reports a near midair collision with VFR traffic at 4;5...

Attributes
ACN	1167079
Time
Date	201404
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	MLB.Airport
State Reference	FL
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 11 Flight Crew Total 310 Flight Crew Type 206
Events
Anomaly	Conflict NMAC Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Miss Distance	Horizontal 200 Vertical 300

Narrative:

IFR flight to mlb descended from cruise altitude of 7;000 down to 5;000; but got lower (4;900) and eventually lower still (4;800). ATC called out traffic - 12:00; 3 miles; opposite direction; VFR at 4;500. Looked and saw it almost immediately; saw that it was not a factor; as it was well below and a little off to the side. Also noticed my low altitude and began correcting; about the same time that ATC informed me I was low. Although the traffic was VFR; he actually popped out of a cloud that had a floor of about 4;000 - as soon as he did; we saw him. Just a bit of information - it didn't have anything to do with me being low. There was a good bit of turbulence; since we were right at the middle of the cloud layer - a scattered layer from about 4;000 to about 8;000. When inside a cloud; altitude control wasn't really possible - we were going up and down well over 500 FPM at times. When outside of the clouds; it was still a challenge; but if I had been paying closer attention to the altitude; I could have corrected it. We do not have an autopilot.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot at 5;000 FT on an IFR flight plan reports a NMAC with VFR traffic at 4;500 FT and possibly not clear of clouds. The reporter had descended to 4;800 FT inadvertently due to turbulence in the clouds.

Narrative: IFR flight to MLB descended from cruise altitude of 7;000 down to 5;000; but got lower (4;900) and eventually lower still (4;800). ATC called out traffic - 12:00; 3 miles; opposite direction; VFR at 4;500. Looked and saw it almost immediately; saw that it was not a factor; as it was well below and a little off to the side. Also noticed my low altitude and began correcting; about the same time that ATC informed me I was low. Although the traffic was VFR; he actually popped out of a cloud that had a floor of about 4;000 - as soon as he did; we saw him. Just a bit of information - it didn't have anything to do with me being low. There was a good bit of turbulence; since we were right at the middle of the cloud layer - a scattered layer from about 4;000 to about 8;000. When inside a cloud; altitude control wasn't really possible - we were going up and down well over 500 FPM at times. When outside of the clouds; it was still a challenge; but if I had been paying closer attention to the altitude; I could have corrected it. We do not have an autopilot.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

C182 pilot at 5;000 ft on an IFR flight plan reports a near midair collision with VFR traffic at 4;500 ft and possibly not clear of clouds. The reporter had descended to 4;800 ft inadvertently due to turbulence in the clouds.