Cessna 150
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 100; Flight Crew Total 3900; Flight Crew Type 300
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Distraction
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution
Aircraft; Human Factors; Weather
This is probably the most embarrassing thing I've done in an airplane; and had the potential to be a fatal accident.My mission for the day was to fly to look at an airplane I was considering purchasing. The seller had multiple people interested in the plane; and it was first come first serve. I had another pilot who had a VFR only Cessna 150 who offered his airplane for the flight; and was going to fly the plane home if I purchased the new plane. The weather was forecast to be marginal VFR with some IFR along the route; but ceilings of 800-1;000 feet; becoming broken to clear as the day progressed. The weather was forecast to be bad the following day; so I 'had' to take the flight that day.To complicate issues; I needed to get back to pick my son up from school that evening. Needless to say; I had a huge case of get-there-itis clouding my judgment.I spoke to the aircraft seller; he said there was a bit of fog at our destination; but it appeared to be very thin and breaking up.We departed home base in marginal VFR broken conditions. I actually did maintain VFR in the climb on top (barely). We were cruising on top in sunshine and clear skies.I had a portable ADS-B capable GPS unit; and I was paying close attention to the weather enroute. I saw a couple stations near our destination reporting marginal VFR broken conditions; and an airport near the destination was VFR; 10 miles and clear! Perfect! I got lucky! It took me another hour to realize that the VFR airport report was 4 hours old; and was not being updated by ADS-B. Oops! What's more; I had received a weather brief earlier that day; and I supplemented it with my iPad; for whatever reason my weather program was not updating; so I was still on the 4 hour old weather at our departure time.To add insult to injury; this plane literally has no equipment; we had a handheld transceiver and the portable GPS; that was it. We could get 5 miles of range out of the handheld on a good day. At least it had an attitude indicator.So; we're now 2 hours into the flight; I'm waiting for the ADS-B to refresh. Not good; all the areas within range of our fuel supply were reporting overcast ceilings and anywhere from low IFR to 1;000 feet ceilings and 5 miles visibility. We continued another half hour; and I'm literally saying a prayer hoping for a hole. Nothing! We saw an area that looked like an opening; but it was actually an area of ground fog; not good. At this point; the left fuel gauge is bouncing off 'E'. I ask the owner if the fuel gauges were accurate; he assured me they were 'pretty close'. We did find an airport at the very edge of our fuel supply that was reporting 1;000 feet broken ceilings and set course for it. I'm sitting in the plane thinking 'I don't want to get busted for VFR into IMC'! All the while watching the gauge bounce off of 'E' was really unnerving; plus I thought; what if the weather closes in there; then I'm out of gas and have to cobble together an emergency approach.All the while; my mind is starting to race; thinking of what an idiot I was; how do I explain this; the guy with me has a family too; etc. Now I'm going to be a statistic. Then I pulled myself back together; realized that we were in an emergency; and I was landing. I looked at the aircraft owner; and told him that I was taking control of the plane. I was concerned about the possibilities of a mid-air collision; so I abandoned the thought of going to our intended destination; and instead picked an airport well away from a major city that was reporting good visibility below the clouds and (reasonably) high ceilings. I dialed up an RNAV approach on my handheld; switched to UNICOM (figuring I could break things off if I heard another plane on the approach); and into the soup we went.The approach went well; and thankfully the 50 year old altimeter was pretty close. The aircraft owner was pretty well messing himself in the other seat; I had to ignore him and fly the airplane. We broke out of the clouds right at 1;000 feet; and landed safely.We had 3 gallons of fuel remaining; we would have run out had we gone to the other airport. I still am shaking about that a little bit. We waited a couple hours on the ground for conditions to improve; then continued to our destination.Lessons for the day; nothing; and I mean nothing is worth taking a chance like that. Here I am; as a senior pilot and an instructor; supposed to be setting the standard for not taking chances; add a dose of get-there-itis and a weather report from an airplane seller had me blasting off into weather I should never have been in. I wanted to fly the new plane back if I bought it; so we took the owner's marginally equipped plane out on a very marginal day for a long cross country. Not very bright. Had I been in a well equipped airplane; this flight would have been a non-issue. I had multiple IFR capable planes I could've taken.If nothing else; I think I pretty well scared the aircraft owner into upgrading his plane and getting his instrument ticket. Even though he was rated in his plane and was flying; I know he didn't make an objective decision about the weather because he had me with him.We would be dead had I not been rated and current. I have made myself a couple promises out of this; one is 'no long cross countries in a non-IFR plane if I have any; and I do mean any type of schedule to keep'. Another is that 'it can wait;' we flew back in nice VFR conditions later that day. Finally; no marginal IFR in an under equipped airplane; ever. I did buy the plane; once I saw it was IFR equipped and current! I did miss picking up my son from school; however my in-laws picked him up and all worked out anyhow.
A C150 pilot reported the pressures that led to departing into marginal weather and resulted in a descent through IFR conditions to a precautionary landing for fuel.