PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified; Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Instrument
Air Traffic Control Military 0; Air Traffic Control Non Radar 0; Air Traffic Control Radar 16; Air Traffic Control Supervisory 2; Flight Crew Last 90 Days 16; Flight Crew Total 692; Flight Crew Type 190
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Physiological - Other; Communication Breakdown
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Human Factors; Weather
I was planning a day VFR flight. This was a flight I had made many times before. I had used the Garmin pilot app to do a weather pre-briefing; then got an official weather briefing from 1800wxbrief.com. TAFS along the route of flight were showing improving weather for the day. Current weather at Departure airport was 9SM and OVC030; Destination was 10 SM and SKC. The closest and only weather reporting station en-route showed 9SM and OVC011.  With the lack weather stations along the 150NM flight I had made the assumption that the OVC011 would only be for a short period in the middle of the flight. With OK weather at the departure airport and great weather at the destination I took off. I had a back up plan that I could always turn around and return if the weather got low; or was lower than expected.I did want to get home; so I was definitely experiencing some get-home-itis; but I had a plan to return to the departure point; so I felt it was safe to start out. En-route; the weather was worse than forecast; and worse than what was reported at the en-route weather station. Ceilings and visibilities started to drop just 10 NM east of the departure point. At this point though; I was flying through a gap between a mountain ridge and a restricted area that was active. Vis was 5 miles and ceilings were 2;000 overcast. Flying at 1;500 AGL I decided to continue on; as the restricted area and terrain wouldn't have allowed for a 180 turn even if I had wanted to.Safely away from the mountain; I entered a flat area of terrain that would last 80 NM or so. Here the vis and ceiling dropped very slowly. The terrain was flat; with few obstructions; so not much to worry about. I had slowly pushed the nose over and kept dropping altitude maybe 50 feet at a time over this long stretch. Looking back had the vis and ceilings changed more rapidly; I believe I would have make a 180 turn and headed back. I was now just south of the ZZZ airport; only about 50NM away from the destination airport; when I finally realized that I was in a bad spot. I was now flying at 600 feet AGL; and if I climbed 100 feet I would enter the bases. This happened a few times; but I kept pushing the nose over and got back below them. Visibility dropped to between 2 and 3 miles as I approached an interstate; which brought with it many towers that were 300 AGL. I realized that I had not reset my altimeter setting; and my altitude may be off. Worried that I might hit one of the towers; I began separating myself laterally from them. I knew I was in trouble when I started dodging the towers.This would have been an excellent time to declare an emergency; but there was no time. I was busy going between looking out the window; then to my IPAD/GPS; to plan my next course. I was task saturated. There wasn't time to think about declaring an emergency. To stay alive; I had to keep flying the plane. I probably did the best thing I could have done. Aviate; Navigate; no time for communicate. Then; in a span of 10 seconds the visibility dropped from 3NM; to 2NM; to 1NM. The last thing I remember seeing was that I crossed a road that was perpendicular to my course; and saw a farm house zip by. I remember thinking that I was way too close to that house. Then; I was in the clouds. I remembered back to my initial training about what to do if you encounter IMC conditions on a VFR flight. The advice was to make a 'U' turn and get back to those conditions. I began a left turn. I turned over too far; to a 20 degree bank. I felt my head start to spin; just like in my early days of instrument training. I immediately knew that if I continued to turn; that I would lose control of the aircraft. I was 600 feet or less off the ground; and making a turn toward the last tower I was trying to avoid. I had been flying at full cruise (140 MPH); and never thought too slow down. Without any more thought; I snapped my full attention to the attitude indicator; and leveled the wings. I then eased back on the yoke to a 5 degree nose up attitude that I knew would give me a fast climb; without worry of getting to slow and stalling the plane. I climbed straight ahead. The windscreen slowly began to lighten as I worked my way through the clouds. For what seemed like ages; but was probably less than 2 minutes; I stared at the attitude indicator and did everything I could to keep it level. At about 4;000 MSL I popped through the tops of the clouds. Visibility was unlimited; and it was clear above. Looking out ahead of me; the clouds only continued for another 10 miles along my route of flight. I took a few miles to just fly straight and level and compose myself. During this time I realized that the reason I was having to fight so hard to keep the plane's wings level; was that I had the autopilot engaged on heading hold mode. When I began the left turn; I made it 20-30 degrees off of the heading bug. I was fighting the autopilot trying to turn the aircraft back to the right.I called ATC to get flight following through the Class C en-route to my destination. I didn't say anything to ATC about the event; but looking back; I wish I had. Even though I was safely out of the clouds; I was still quite shaken up. Even though ATC had not delayed me; they might have. Had I still went ahead and declared an emergency they would have known that I was shaken up; and they would have helped me to get on the ground quickly and safely.Looking back on the flight there were so many times I should have called up ATC and told them I was in an emergency situation; but I didn't. That point should have been 10 NM east of my departure point; between the restricted area and the mountain ridge. Yes; it was still VMC; but I was already trapped. I couldn't climb; I couldn't turn back; and the weather was worse than I expected. At that moment there was only go forward or declare and emergency. I decided to press forward into weather that I was pretty sure was going to get worse. Had I called up ATC; I could have declared an emergency and climbed right then to get on top of the clouds. The risk was extremely high either way; at least climbing would have gotten me away from the terrain and obstructions that were along my route.The best thing I will take away from this event is the idea of personal minimums. I have heard a lot about setting them for yourself; but never thought I needed them as a VFR pilot. As an IFR pilot sure; but VFR weather minimums are clear; 3 miles and 1;000 feet. It has always been black and white in my mind. That day the weather was showing VFR; why would I have not taken off. Now it is abundantly clear why I need to set my own personal minimums much greater than the minimums.
PA-28 pilot reported continuing flight in deteriorating weather conditions by descending to dangerous level and then climbing through IMC conditions without a clearance.