Originally Posted by
RatherBeFlying
Forecast, reports and satellite will give an indication of where the clouds are. Mind you, in the mountains, afternoon weather tends to get active. There's a reason for "Alpine Starts".
You need to learn local weather patterns and fly when the weather is in your favor.
Well, this was my 4th attempt to go, cancelled the other 3 due to questionable weather outlook (one was airborne cancellation). I asked the nearby airport owner (a pilot himself) on any good-to-know gotcha's, I regularly watched the weather against the forecasts several times on webcams on the nearby ski slopes, matched fairly well. This was supposed to be nearly cloudless day by forecast, and at 9 AM, I got a confirmation from Jasna (on the downwind side) that the weather is looking excellent for flying. I was warned en-route about gliding competition in the area. And then I saw what you saw...
Looks like mountain weather can sometimes trick even the most experienced locals, can't assume anything.
Overflying cloud you do need fuel to turn back to good weather if you can't find a way down. Just be very sure it won't close in behind
If you seriously screw up the drill is to get over low ground and high ceilings before thinking of a descent. ATC needs to know. If all goes well, the paperwork will be waiting
I actually had 3/4 of the tank at that time,and refill of 1/4 of the tank was waiting for me at destination,thinking about the return legs too. I could have even been holding for an hour if I had been sure it was temporary, but it looked getting worse. There is a controlled airspace from 8000 feet there, and I think the clouds tops reached that. ATC (FIC) already knew about the my problem, I told them about the clouds at 4:34 on the video. So if I needed assistance for entering the controlled airspace, they would have surely helped, and also they could have prepared all the incident reporting, personal interview/testimony schedule and suggested traffic fine in a very smooth manner.
But when I wanted to see first, what the situation was below the cloud base, I slipped through...
...and this is why I am here now.