Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 17; Flight Crew Total 450; Flight Crew Type 450
Situational Awareness
Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Human Factors; Weather
I rent Cessna 172's (all with G1000). We departed for CHS without incident. It was a hot day; and density altitude and winds affected us getting prime performance and time to CHS; but overall the flight was without incident. What I failed to take into consideration before departing was that a tropical storm would severely impact our return flight. As it became clearer from the news reports that the tropical storm was bearing down on Florida and affecting weather up the entire East Coast; I called Flight Service for weather updates throughout the day. Because of a line of thunderstorms; moderate to high turbulence and cloud layers; flight during the day via VFR would not be possible. Every briefer I spoke with indicated 'VFR flight is not recommended at this time.' I knew not to go against this advice. However; they indicated that possibly the weather would get better as the daytime temperatures calmed and as portions of the upper bands of the storm passed through the airspace of my intended direct flight from CHS home. As it became closer to evening; I called Flight Service again and the weather had in fact; improved. I began to look at weather more closely. As more time passed; it appeared the situation between CHS and home was improving. As dusk approached; CHS was reporting the following: Winds 010 at 9; visibility 10; 4;500 SCT; 6;000 BKN; Temp/Dew 32/19; 3003 ALT. My home airport was reporting clear below 12;000 and 10 miles visibility. Three hours later; I decided to depart CHS. Coming out of Charleston; we had some scattered layers at around 1;500 FT but otherwise it was smooth air; and clear skies. Because of the tropical storm we had tail winds in excess of 25 KTS that carried us swiftly towards Augusta. I stayed at 3;500 out of Charleston and as we got closer to Augusta; I climbed up to 6;500 FT where the tail wind pushing us along was about 19 KTS. I got permission from Charleston to switch over to Macon Radio to give a PIREP. The weather was so amazing that I wanted them to get a nice PIREP. I have not bothered to contact Macon FSS to get the details of my PIREP but I remember informing him of the winds; the almost clear skies; and the scattered deck below us. We did have a scattered to broken layer at about 8;500 FT I thought but at night it was hard to judge the distance above us. At that time he informed me again that my home airport was reporting clear below 12;000 and 10 miles visibility. After being handed off from JAX Center to Atlanta Center; I again looked to the G1000 to take a look at any weather updates; all along the route it was still reported as VFR between my current location and home. When ATL Center passed me to Atlanta Approach; after about 12 minutes with him he asked me if I had the current weather. I informed him that the last I received was both from Macon Radio and from the AWOS frequency and that it remained unchanged. He suggested that I take another look because pilots flying into my home airport were reporting very low minimums in IMC conditions. At that point; I went back to Macon Radio and got an update and he informed me that he was UNABLE to obtain a good report from my home airport but that Dobbins Air Reserve Base was reporting ceilings of 1;200 or worse. I went back over to Atlanta Approach and informed him that I would at least go further into Atlanta since I was VFR at my present position. What I failed to recognize was that while I was not currently in IMC; it was clearly IMC below me and closing fast. I made note that both AHN (Athens) and another airport further east of Athens; was currently VFR since I had just flown over them and in case I needed to turn around. As we got closer to home it became clear to me that I was not going to be able to land VFR; at least it didn't look very promising. As we got within 5 miles of home; I could not make out any landmarks; I could not see the airport; I could not even see any recognizable land features whatsoever (and this was an airport that I have flowing in and out of; during both day and night flights; on dozens and dozens of times). I informed Atlanta that I would circle around and it was then; for the very first time; that I recognized my fuel may be an issue. The Cessna has a usable of 56 gallons; most of which was used on the way to CHS. At CHS I added 10 gallons; 5 on each wing; and that gave me a total of 17 gallons per side; 34 usable; and at 10 gallons per hour; that was about 3 hours of flight. I anticipated my flight home would be 2 hours or less with winds; and that would give me an hour of reserve; which in all my years of flying I had NEVER had to rely upon. As I circled over my home airport I was able to make some airport features out; but I was unable to determine how far down the ceiling extended to the surface. I could not risk getting too low and in IMC. I informed Atlanta of a no-go decision and input a direct-to to LZU which was VFR as we over flew it. Turning the 180 degrees back placed that 25 KT headwind into our faces and we slowed down tremendously; and I lowered altitude to 5;500 FT. I tried to keep the fuel burn to less than 10 gallons per hour with leaning it and monitoring that lean carefully. As I progressed towards LZU it became apparent that the weather that was once VFR over these areas had now; almost immediately; turned IMC and overcast. While I was VFR at 5;500 FT now; there was clearly a ceiling at about 2;500 and I could not determine how far down to the surface it extended. As my fuel began to burn off; I became increasingly worried that VFR flight to a destination where I could safely land was not going to happen. The weather had literally transformed right before my eyes; and the thick white layer below me didn't have any appreciable hints of VFR windows to break through in descent. I had burned fuel over my home airport while circling in an attempt to land. I had now arrived at LZU and it was buried in IMC. I then informed Atlanta that I would try another alternate airport but that I needed their help in finding one VFR. Nothing was available in my immediate area and panic set in. I was VFR over the top of a thick IMC level that did not look forgiving. My fuel would give me at best 40 minutes of flight while fighting against 25+ KT headwinds. As we got closer to AHN Athens; the layers below me would give way to small windows of VFR that gave a good picture into the city lights below. The bottoms of those levels were enough to give me space to dart down and then stay below the ceiling deck to hopefully land at Athens.As soon as I got within 4 miles of the airport; a window presented itself and I descended fast using the autopilot to maintain heading and attitude. I punched through the open area and came out at about 1;700 FT. AHN was at my 11 o'clock position and I turned direct towards it and landed on Runway 9. I didn't make any radio calls to AHN UNICOM or advisory but stayed with Atlanta the entire ride down. Of my entire flying history as a private pilot; this was the first instance that VFR to IMC had presented itself. I seriously thought I was going to fuel-starve the airplane while VFR on top while looking for a place to land. I had my best friend with me and that thought alone caused me to just clear Runway 9 at AHN and stop the airplane and compose myself. I had gotten us on the ground safely; three hours and 25 minutes after takeoff.
C172 Private pilot reports discovering that his destination airport has become IFR during a late night flight and the ensuing search for a VMC airport as fuel becomes an issue.