Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 67; Flight Crew Total 93; Flight Crew Type 93
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification
Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Weather; Human Factors; Procedure
[I] saw that the local marine layer; with low clouds; was beginning to come in on the north side of the airport. Local AWOS indicated 'few clouds at 600.' [I] misjudged their distance and thought they were further away than they were. Wind was coming from 330 at 8 KTS; so I took off to the north into the wind. I immediately saw my mistake as the low clouds loomed in front of me. They were right above the north end of the runway and directly in my flight path; seemingly lower than reported on the AWOS. Thinking quickly; I turned crosswind at 425 FT MSL...to help get turned around as quickly as possible. As I turned crosswind; I clipped the edge of one of the clouds and was briefly in partial IMC. Once clear of the cloud; I turned downwind and departed to the south.A mountain range was very close to the airport; meaning very high terrain within a short distance. Failure to maintain situational awareness could have been deadly. A more prolonged incursion into IMC; or focusing so much on avoiding clouds that I forgot about the high terrain; could have resulted in a crash. The best choice would have been to remain on the ground; but I did not want to get myself and my two passengers stuck there if the airport went IFR.The next best choice would have been to use the opposite runway and takeoff to the south; but I did not think about taking off with a light tailwind since I had never done so previously. I was engaged in rigid thinking that I must always takeoff into the wind; no matter what. My failure to judge how far away the clouds were was primarily the result of a lack of experience judging cloud distances and relying on my instructor to verify cloud clearance for me during training.
C172 pilot misjudged the proximity of clouds and inadvertently went into IMC immediately after takeoff from a non-towered airport. Pilot was able to regain visual flight and clear nearby high terrain after completing a turn to downwind.