DANGEROUS DECISION - This is NO place for a NON-INSTRUMENT PRIVATE PILOT to be!

It's getting dark and I'm stuck above the clouds.

I got this wrong and I'm posting this video to hopefully highlight the dangers of flying above cloud or VFR on top for a non-instrument pilot, especially when under time constraints. . This video is not instructional and I am NOT an instructor. I have learnt a valuable lesson from this mistake and I will think twice before doing this again.

This video depicts a situation that was neither safe nor wise and possibly in breach of VFR rules. I have thought long and hard about whether I should post it on my channel or not, but in the spirit of safety and disclosing my mistakes so that others may learn and hopefully not do the same I have decided it is worth it.

For your information I have a UK issued PPL along with an IR(R) rating as well as a night rating. I am an experienced instrument pilot but I am not an instructor and none of my videos should be used for instruction. The little Pipersport I currently fly is certified for Daytime VFR flight only and whilst flying it I am required to always maintain visual flight rules.

My name is Terry Kent and I am a General Aviation PPL private pilot operating out of North Weald EGSX about 12 miles to the north east of London in the UK. Short Field is my channel focused on the lighter side of General Aviation including flight and airfield reviews, equipment unboxing and review plus all things private pilot related. I use various cameras to record my videos including GoPro and Insta 360 and stills and edit them in Adobe Premiere Pro, I am an animator as well and often use animations to describe situations more clearly I use Blender and Adobe After Effects for these. I always attempt to post my videos in the highest possible quality, normally 4k.

I fly a 2011 Pipersport two seat single engine aircraft that is also known as the PS28 or SportCruiser in the USA (America) it is know under the FAA as an LSA or Light Sport Aircraft and can be flown on a very basic license. In the UK it is a Part 21 airplane which requires a full licence but it's generally cheap to run, affordable maintenance and great value for money. It cruises at 100 to 105 knots and has superb short take off and landing or STOL capabilities. I visit farm strips, back country and short airfields, some of them dangerous and I try not to crash :-), as well as international airports and try to learn something new every time I fly.

I fly VFR and IFR as well as visual and instrument approaches.

My videos may give helpful information to pilots but please remember these are just for entertainment, I am not an instructor nor should anything shown in my videos be used for real world aviation, also the airfields I visit may have totally changed or even closed since the making of the video so always consult the latest information for your country.

If you enjoyed this video, please give it a ‘thumbs up’ and leave me a comment in the box below, I love to read them and I also like to hear what you like or dislike about my video. Please share it with anyone you think would be interested and I'd so love it if you ticked SUBSCRIBE and DING THE NOTIFICATION BELL to be informed by YouTube when I upload my next video. Thank you so much.

If you are interested, my video content is available to purchase as stock footage, please contact me via my email address in the ABOUT section of my channel for more information.

If you like my content you could buy me a coffee but no worries if you don't want too, I'm just chuffed that you are even interested in my videos, and if you ever see me at any airfields please come over and say 'Hi' and I'll probably buy you a coffee.

If you see me around please, please come over and say 'Hi'.

#privatepilot #generalaviation #backcountryflying #shortfield

[ghostrunner]

I love the idea of a british person climbing through clouds just to see the sun

[jonberg]

In 1984 in California in a Cessna 152, I greatly exceeded my abilities and made some poor, rookie decisions. I had about 88 hours total experience, about 35 hours since the private license, and took my friend on a Sunday afternoon round trip flight from Hayward (HWD--southern part of San Francisco Bay) southeast to San Luis Obispo (SBP) in central California, in very late October (short days). We made it fine to San Luis, but lingered too long on the ground at an Oktoberfest event (I did not drink any alcohol). By the time we were at the airport for the return journey it was clearly too late in the afternoon for my experience level. The sun was lowering and it became starkly clear I would be flying at night on the final portion. I was not current at night and had only several hours total of night experience, and that with an instructor, in Miami, Florida, 5 years previous (had a several year gap of non-flying from getting the license in Florida to taking it up again in California). Soon, things deteriorated further; it was clear from ATIS that my home airport was socked in with coastal fog. I didn't let my passenger know how concerned I was. He wasn't at all aware of my gathering fright and I kept it successfully to myself. And, he had that classic and potentially deadly get-there-itis, had to be at work the next morning in San Francisco. I thought about diversion airports, but with that low level of experience, any significant changes to plan were daunting. Was thinking about flying northeast over a maybe 2, 000 foot mountain ridge to inland Livermore (ATIS said clear sky), away from fog. That didn't sound inviting, flying over the dark ridge. I noted on the sectional Reid Hillview Airport, in San Jose, with its less than 3, 000 foot runway. That was the decision. I had never landed there before, and it is tucked into a very densely built up area. Luckily there was no traffic, no fog, and we came in over a shopping center in the dark. And as it turned out, the landing light was non-functioning in this rented aircraft. We dropped in like a ton of bricks. We survived. Left the airplane there and we took trains and a taxi back to the departure airport and our car; quite the hassle---hours, getting home in the wee hours. The next morning had to take trains and buses about 50 miles back to pick up the airplane so as to return it to the departure airport where the flight school needed it. To this day I have never had the courage to tell my friend how frightened and over my head I was, and what kind of danger we were in. I did fly some hours after that but flying even back then became prohibitively expensive and I stopped at 94.5 hours in the log book, and that was it. Lesson: don't push the daylight, and don't push your abilities, and certainly don't take friends up with you until you're fully ready and confident. I have had a recurring DREAM, for years, being non-current, getting ready to fly late in the afternoon, taking up unsuspecting friends. Your on-top, winter season/late afternoon video brought back these memories. Perhaps by telling this true tale, someone will not make the stupid mistakes I made that day.

[davesaunders]

I am a beginner student pilot. Sharing your “poor judgment calls“ and how you resolved them is priceless to me. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences as I feel they give me a lot to think about as I begin my journey to the skies. Safe flying!

[valberlin]

Taking off is optional. Getting back down is mandatory! Thanks for the lesson.

[GolfFoxtrot]

Its amazing how quickly things can change and how a slight change in atmospherics can have such a drastic change on the situation. Nicely put together, as always.

[timothykok]

I love the fact that you decided to share your story. Because of pilots like you aviation will get saver, mistakes are our greatest learning tool and you sharing yours is fantastic. Great job and thank you.

[barbsldsr]

Good lessons. I was interested to hear that you were in contact with ATC for traffic and terrain info. No matter how embarrassed you may be about the situation you've put yourself in, IT'S OK TO ASK FOR HELP. ATC is there to support your safety, if you need it, use it.

[ScottsSynthStuff]

An instrument rating is probably one of the best things you can do to improve the safety of your flying. It gives you SO many more options.

[javar]

Don’t be too hard on yourself. It appears you have plenty of experience and in an emergency situation you could’ve done a IFR Descent in altitude to get you under the scud again . I started flying when I was 15, private pilots license when I was 16, commercial license when I was 18, and then that same year I did the IFR and multi engine jet course as well. I flew up time all over Canada mainly on wheels. My first job was flying from Vancouver to Qualicum Beach On Vancouver Island. Ironically, where I live half the year now. When I graduated from multi engine turbo props to a jet position my first was a 737 200. One day flying from Edmonton to Winnipeg, it was -20 Celsius, I knew I had to deice. I checked the weight and balance, had the first officer do the walk around, took on fuel for the flight, and the alternate, and another 30 mins . Plane was deiced, but it was snowing hard and disability was only 500 feet horizontal. I knew I had to get going quick or I wouldn’t get out of the airport. Ground transferred me to Tower and I was cleared to position and hold. Everything looked good. Clearance given for takeoff with a straight out departure to 8000 feet. On the roll something just felt odd. I didn’t hear the same sound that I normally would. Nothing to abort the takeoff as everything was green, but the noise was wrong. I continued with the takeoff. As soon as I rotated, the first officer said trim forward. Nose felt extremely light and I had to apply forward pressure immediately to keep my airspeed at V-1. . Essentially, I missed an item on the weight and balance report. The plane was loaded improperly. I had 2000 pounds or more of farming equipment into pods at the extreme rear of the aircraft. They should’ve been in the middle. It put me tail heavy by a long shot. Thankfully I was able to control the pitch and thought about continuing with the flight as the weather was much better in Winnipeg. The plane was more or less stable so I continued on to Winnipeg. I probably aged four years in that three hour flight. It was my error not to check where the pods placed . I assumed load Tech would’ve done the math as they usually do. I learned a good lesson. Never assume flight operations, the low tech, the jet fuel guys, are going to do your job. Your job is your job. Double check theirs. That was about 10, 000 hours ago. I have had the good fortune I’m flying those hours in complete safety. Commercial aircraft have just gotten easier and easier to fly. For all you young pilots out there, take it off auto pilot frequently and fly legs by hand and feet. The training will help you immensely in a tough time. You get to be one with your aircraft. Not just simply monitoring systems.God bless and level wings.

[douglasphillips]

A friend of mine years ago was flying in a remote area and the clouds formed up hard with a sudden storm. He'd had no IFR training. Once he realized how bad of a pickle he was in, he put out an emergency call. A very calm TWA captain who was a few miles away talked him through the descent through the cloud cover, and then the ATC controller gave him vectors through the storm until he got close enough to home. The very next weekend he signed up for instrument training!

[SimonHollandfilms]

climbed through overcast and got stuck....no holes and under time pressure to meet friend at destination airport....took a giant risk..using my gps over the location airport, descended through thick cloud with unknown base....wings level, low power, no turn, broke out at 1000ft agl...found airport and landed....pucker factor...high.

[PatrickJWenzel]

This would have to be top of the list for unintentional situations pilot intentionally lead themselves into. I’ve done it.

I tuned into a local VOR/DME, centred the CDI onto a radial, drew a corresponding line on my map, found the ground level plus 300 feet set the altitude alert, brought up the flight director, set 500 FPM descent, pitot heat ON, carb heat ON, came out of the cloud prior to my pre-selected altitude, took a breath.

It was a quite flight home.

[petermc]

I was there myself, building solo hours pre- PPL. I took off one evening and within 10 mins found I'd lost sight of the surface. I called the tower (EGHH), explained the situation and asked for a QDM back to the field. The controller gave me an SRA, during which the anxiety in his voice was palpable. I was calm, right up until the time I landed, parked up and got out. I nearly collapsed with exhaustion. That was back in '74, but you don't forget something like that.

[AKULA]

I think if more people would share their mistakes it would show how often things go wrong quickly and then they would be more aware of what's happening to them! Great job keeping your cool and thanks for sharing your mistake!

[helpstopanimalabuse]

Great video, i think you made the right decision to post. It was a brave & selfless act. "To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future."

[tonybonnici]

I'm not a pilot (wish I could) but I stumbled across this video and cheers mate. That was pretty cool of you to share that experience. In a world where people blame everyone and everything for their mistakes it was great to see you use that and turn it around as a lesson for others.. Happy flying mate

[Antoine-Zim]

Despite the beauty of that video flying over the sunny clouds, Such an awkward situation to find a hole. I’m working on my PPL so every pieces of pilot experiences are valuable. Thanks for your honesty and sharing your knowledge. Flying makes us humble. Greeting from windy NZWN New Zealand

[Ulbre]

You felt confident the whole time.
A. Because, as you said, you could mostly see the ground the whole time (even though the video may not look like it)
B. You have your instrument & night ratings (even if your bird isn't rated for them)
But for a new pilot or unrated pilot this could quickly become a nightmare.
Thanks for sharing your error so that all my learn.

[GlocknLoad]

My dad told me a story about him getting into this situation back in the '50s in Kansas City with his 1947 Taylorcraft. He didn't have an artificial horizon indicator just a turn and bank which would be worthless attempting to descend through. He said he put his plane into a spin and held it there until he came out under the clouds and could see the ground. He said he knew a spin would not allow the plane to accelerate past the structural limits of the plane. Thanks for sharing your video!

[svensubunitnillson]

I've taken off twice with a paraglider from a mountain in non VFR conditions, not able to see the ground or landing before descending through the layer. not very thick but enough to cause me worries. This video reminded me of those mistakes. thanks!