Every day is a school day #2
Went flying tonight 15 miles North from Santa Monica to Van Nuys for some pattern work and took a young kid from the local school as a casual ride along who has just started training for his IFR ticket. On the return at 7:30pm the basis were down to 2000 so the tops of the hills on either side of the Sepulveda Pass were mostly covered, the pass is about 1 mile wide and 6 miles long with the highest point being about 1100 AMSL,. Upon entering the pass at about 1800 AMSL I had an uninterrupted view of the car lights on the freeway below all the way thru and could clearly see the city lights in Santa Monica at the end of the Pass, the tops of the high rises and LAX beyond that. My right seat asked if he could fly the final part till we got to the pattern at SMO to which I agreed. About 2 miles from the end of the pass just before the J Paul Getty Center I went to start folding charts and getting things tidied away, the chart would not slide all the way into the door pocket so I looked down to see what was blocking it which took about 10 or 15 seconds, upon looking up we were in full IMC ! I was shocked, in 23 years of flying I have never stumbled by mistake from VFR into IMC . I immediately said to him “What the foxtrot are you doing?” He froze, the altimeter read 2000, I took control and expedited a descent down about 200 feet and into the clear.
Upon landing I asked him what had happened. He responded “Well we were flying at 1800 and I don’t believe I was climbing” I asked did you see the clouds in front? To which he said he did and well prior to entering. I asked if he had seen the cloud why did he fly into it? He said he wanted to "hold altitude" which puzzled me. I then asked why if he had seen it did he not descend? He said he felt we were to close to the ground (the ground at that point was about 500 amsl (1300 feet below us). So the takeaway I got was a trained private pilot would rather fly into a cloud than avoid it by descending with 1300 feet of room till the ground. Truly bizarre, I am not picking on the guy as an individual, merely wondering how that mindset manages to manifest itself in the decision making process of a trained pilot.
Lessons learned by me:
1. Regardless of the certifications, if you’re going to let a right seat fly, watch them like a hawk.
2. If conditions are not clear skies for miles no casual shots on the controls.
3. Never assume anything.