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A legend cub pilot landed on a paved road after encountering unforecast fog with no airports in his vicinity.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 943546 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201104 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Light Sport Aircraft |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30 Flight Crew Total 3000 Flight Crew Type 133 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC |
Narrative:
I was flying in VFR with 5 mile visibility or better when visibility started to decrease; but visibility was still 3 miles or better. Scud appeared under me which I had never experienced before and immediately I was in IMC and in a lot of trouble. Have calculated I was in IMC for at least 20-21 minutes with only a GPS HSI heading bug and small rate of turn indicator. Not instruments for flying IFR. In a protracted time (20 minutes) I decided I could no longer fly under the above circumstances. GPS showed no towns; airports; or towers in the area ahead. I let down at approximately 200 ft per minute until I broke out at approximately 200 ft AGL. I tried to fly to the nearest airport 18 miles distant; visibility and altitude made that impossible; so I landed on a blacktop two-lane highway; which turned out to be state route 1. Human performance on my part was poor; although I had checked weather twice before flight and VFR was indicated; although obviously not present. However; I was the one who did not pick up changing conditions fast enough to react with a 180 degree turn when still in VFR conditions.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A Legend Cub pilot landed on a paved road after encountering Unforecast fog with no airports in his vicinity.
Narrative: I was flying in VFR with 5 mile visibility or better when visibility started to decrease; but visibility was still 3 miles or better. Scud appeared under me which I had never experienced before and immediately I was in IMC and in a lot of trouble. Have calculated I was in IMC for at least 20-21 minutes with only a GPS HSI heading bug and small rate of turn indicator. Not instruments for flying IFR. In a protracted time (20 minutes) I decided I could no longer fly under the above circumstances. GPS showed no towns; airports; or towers in the area ahead. I let down at approximately 200 FT per minute until I broke out at approximately 200 FT AGL. I tried to fly to the nearest airport 18 miles distant; visibility and altitude made that impossible; so I landed on a blacktop two-lane highway; which turned out to be State Route 1. Human performance on my part was poor; although I had checked weather twice before flight and VFR was indicated; although obviously not present. However; I was the one who did not pick up changing conditions fast enough to react with a 180 degree turn when still in VFR conditions.
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.