Narrative:

Planned VFR flight from ocean city; ny in afternoon. Some fog in atlantic city area in morning; waited until it burned off visually; and checked weather at airports between ocean city and destaination perhaps five or six times in course of day. Atlantic city international; philadelphia; newark and my destination were all marginal VFR to VFR; back and forth. None were IFR at any time. Kennedy showed mvr to IFR; but I fly regularly in the nj-long island-nyc area and it's not uncommon for jfk and the south shore of long island to be IFR while other airports to the west and north are marginal to VFR. The only airport showing IFR at all was blm; slightly inland from the new jersey coastline. Unfortunately; there are very few stations that report along the jersey coastline between acy and ewr. Although I checked a variety of websites to confirm weather; perhaps for this reason; I should have called flight service for a briefing on any frontal lines; rather than relying on metars. Since the flight was to be VFR; and required flying up the hudson river corridor below 1100 feet to remain clear of the ny class B; a marginal ceiling of 1000 to 1200 at my destination was no factor -- I fly the corridor regularly; and it requires a VFR pilot to be sufficiently low that the reported ceiling was higher than the allowable altitude in the corridor. Newark was also showing ceilings at about 1000 to 1100 feet. What I missed was that while the direct route was; in fact; VFR to MVFR along the entire route of flight; the line of fog and low ceilings was literally along the coastline. It was entirely VFR with some MVFR to the west; over acy; philadelphia; west of newark and right into my destination. Unfortunately; the lack of reporting stations along the shoreline and the fact I did not call the briefers for pireps led me to takeoff from ocean city; looking at ceilings that were good VFR to the north and west; but when I flew out to the coastline; I was almost immediately in fog and IMC. Returning to ocean city was not advisable; as there is no precision approach there; and there are some obstructions in the vicinity. To avoid the high-rise hotels on the atlantic city coast; I turned north but slightly east to stay over the water; and with ceilings at perhaps 450 feet; I called atlantic city approach for a follow. I informed them that I am instrument qualified and equipped; but not current; and did not have approach plates onboard. Told them I expected VFR to the north along the route of flight; and requested a climb to safe altitude of 2000; where there was a good horizon but extremely limited ground contact. As I flew north; they handed me off to approach. As I approached the northern edge of approach's airspace; the controller stated that radar service was being terminated. I asked to remain with them on the frequency and with my discrete transponder code because although I was in clear sky conditions above a cloud layer at 2000; I still had little or no ground contact; and needed to descend through the clouds to a lower altitude for VFR; which my onboard satellite weather indicated was directly ahead to the north. Approach agreed to remain with me on the frequency and instructed me to descend through the clouds and notify them when I was in VFR conditions. I began my descent slowly via use of instruments; but did not find VFR conditions until I was below 1000 ft; at about 700 ft AGL over the water along the new jersey shoreline. When I tried to reach approach; there was no joy -- I was too far and too low for line-of-site VHF. I proceeded northbound at 700 ft; checking onboard metars; all of which showed ewr and teb still MVFR with ceilings hovering around 1100 ft -- plenty high enough for a flight up the hudson river corridor and into ZZZ. Unfortunately; as I approached sandy hook at the north tip of the new jersey shore; the fog left me in IMC again; and I was forced down around 300 ft; unable to see the verazzano bridge to the north; at themouth of the harbor. I circled at sandy hook; and called new york approach. The controller said he could not see me on his radar as I was too low and too far south; I informed him I was instrument qualified and certified but not current when he asked if I wanted to go IFR. He said my destination was still showing MVFR with 1000 ft; but said he'd give me a short IFR to get me home. I accepted while reminding him I did not have approach plates; and he said he understood but that this was the best way to get me to a VFR or MVFR airport from my location; as I was just south of ewr's class B. He instructed me to climb to 3000 ft and provided vectors north; remaining east of the new jersey side of the river and west of manhattan; and told me when he handed me off to the next controller he would make them aware of my situation; i.e. Not current and no plates. The next controller provided additional vectors; then handed me off to another who gave me vectors for the ILS. Upon being given final intersection distance and cleared for the ILS; I asked the controller if he would call the ILS step-downs for me; as I had no plates onboard. At that moment; a supervisor came on and said; 'if you're not comfortable doing this; we'll find you another airport -- this isn't an ASR; it's an ILS.' I told him I just needed the step-downs called by ATC because I had no plates. I flew the localizer inbound and before I needed the vertical guidance; I was in VFR conditions and landed without incident.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A single engine pilot attempting to fly home in marginal VMC conditions became IMC at about 300FT and obtained ATC assistance for an IFR ILS clearance to his airport.

Narrative: Planned VFR flight from Ocean City; NY in afternoon. Some fog in Atlantic City area in morning; waited until it burned off visually; and checked weather at airports between Ocean City and destaination perhaps five or six times in course of day. Atlantic City International; Philadelphia; Newark and my destination were all marginal VFR to VFR; back and forth. None were IFR at any time. Kennedy showed MVR to IFR; but I fly regularly in the NJ-Long Island-NYC area and it's not uncommon for JFK and the south shore of Long Island to be IFR while other airports to the west and north are marginal to VFR. The only airport showing IFR at all was BLM; slightly inland from the New Jersey coastline. Unfortunately; there are very few stations that report along the Jersey coastline between ACY and EWR. Although I checked a variety of websites to confirm weather; perhaps for this reason; I should have called Flight Service for a briefing on any frontal lines; rather than relying on METARs. Since the flight was to be VFR; and required flying up the Hudson River corridor below 1100 feet to remain clear of the NY Class B; a marginal ceiling of 1000 to 1200 at my destination was no factor -- I fly the corridor regularly; and it requires a VFR pilot to be sufficiently low that the reported ceiling was higher than the allowable altitude in the corridor. Newark was also showing ceilings at about 1000 to 1100 feet. What I missed was that while the direct route was; in fact; VFR to MVFR along the entire route of flight; the line of fog and low ceilings was literally along the coastline. It was entirely VFR with some MVFR to the west; over ACY; Philadelphia; west of Newark and right into my destination. Unfortunately; the lack of reporting stations along the shoreline and the fact I did not call the briefers for PIREPs led me to takeoff from Ocean City; looking at ceilings that were good VFR to the north and west; but when I flew out to the coastline; I was almost immediately in fog and IMC. Returning to Ocean City was not advisable; as there is no precision approach there; and there are some obstructions in the vicinity. To avoid the high-rise hotels on the Atlantic City coast; I turned north but slightly east to stay over the water; and with ceilings at perhaps 450 feet; I called Atlantic City approach for a follow. I informed them that I am instrument qualified and equipped; but not current; and did not have approach plates onboard. Told them I expected VFR to the north along the route of flight; and requested a climb to safe altitude of 2000; where there was a good horizon but extremely limited ground contact. As I flew north; they handed me off to Approach. As I approached the northern edge of Approach's airspace; the controller stated that radar service was being terminated. I asked to remain with them on the frequency and with my discrete transponder code because although I was in clear sky conditions above a cloud layer at 2000; I still had little or no ground contact; and needed to descend through the clouds to a lower altitude for VFR; which my onboard satellite weather indicated was directly ahead to the north. Approach agreed to remain with me on the frequency and instructed me to descend through the clouds and notify them when I was in VFR conditions. I began my descent slowly via use of instruments; but did not find VFR conditions until I was below 1000 FT; at about 700 FT AGL over the water along the New Jersey shoreline. When I tried to reach Approach; there was no joy -- I was too far and too low for line-of-site VHF. I proceeded northbound at 700 FT; checking onboard METARS; all of which showed EWR and TEB still MVFR with ceilings hovering around 1100 FT -- plenty high enough for a flight up the Hudson River corridor and into ZZZ. Unfortunately; as I approached Sandy Hook at the north tip of the New Jersey shore; the fog left me in IMC again; and I was forced down around 300 FT; unable to see the Verazzano Bridge to the north; at themouth of the harbor. I circled at Sandy Hook; and called New York Approach. The controller said he could not see me on his radar as I was too low and too far south; I informed him I was instrument qualified and certified but not current when he asked if I wanted to go IFR. He said my destination was still showing MVFR with 1000 FT; but said he'd give me a short IFR to get me home. I accepted while reminding him I did not have approach plates; and he said he understood but that this was the best way to get me to a VFR or MVFR airport from my location; as I was just south of EWR's class B. He instructed me to climb to 3000 FT and provided vectors north; remaining east of the New Jersey side of the river and west of Manhattan; and told me when he handed me off to the next controller he would make them aware of my situation; i.e. not current and no plates. The next controller provided additional vectors; then handed me off to another who gave me vectors for the ILS. Upon being given final intersection distance and cleared for the ILS; I asked the controller if he would call the ILS step-downs for me; as I had no plates onboard. At that moment; a Supervisor came on and said; 'if you're not comfortable doing this; we'll find you another airport -- this isn't an ASR; it's an ILS.' I told him I just needed the step-downs called by ATC because I had no plates. I flew the localizer inbound and before I needed the vertical guidance; I was in VFR conditions and landed without incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.