Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Total 755; Flight Crew Type 385
Training / Qualification
Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Weather; Human Factors
My student and I departed...under VFR conditions...well after the fog had cleared for that morning. The clouds were high and we could see for miles on end. We flew GPS direct...and [then] the clouds became lower; going from 1;000 FT AGL to 600 FT AGL as well as there being some fog near the ground that was thinning. We decided to proceed north...around protected airspace...and then head west towards [an] airport; which had better weather reported. We were able to maintain VFR separation at 600 FT MSL (300 FT AGL) until we reached the northern tip of the protected airspace; where we hit some low; dense fog. Knowing that there was better weather nearby; my student and I continued onwards; flying a gradual descent to stay clear of the clouds. We reached a point at about 200 FT AGL where we could no longer fly any lower due to the terrain and tall trees and decided to turn around and abandon our cross country. As we began the turn we entered the clouds and inadvertent IMC. Since we couldn't see any obstructions around us we decided to also climb back up to 700 FT MSL (400 FT AGL) to avoid hitting anything in the turn. We then became disoriented and entered into a low-g pushover. Soon afterwards we came out of the clouds with the nose pointed straight down and I recovered from the pushover. We landed in a field nearby to assess any damage to the helicopter and upon finding nothing severely damaged; we picked up and flew the helicopter directly back to our [home field]. In hindsight we should've abandoned the cross country sooner instead of pushing into the clouds. Had we decided to land at the intermediate airport or turn around to go back home we wouldn't have entered the clouds and become disoriented.
An R22 instructor and student pilot; attempting to maintain VFR flight beneath a lowering overcast; entered IMC; became disoriented and descended out of the clouds in a nose down; vertical attitude. Pilots recovered and landed in a field.