Last week something happened that I would never wish upon anyone. I am writing this up with the hopes that those who fly among us get reminded of the importance of proper ADM (Aeronautical Decision Making).
This unpleasant, dangerous experience was 100% preventable by the pilot.
The weather at the time of the incident was: 13005KT 8SM SCT027 OVC038
00/M03 A3028
It was raining during this event.
The TAF called for worsening conditions with freezing rain and lower ceilings and visibility.
A pilot rented a plane from the flight school that I work at. This pilot is a new Private Pilot who just got his rating recently. He booked a plane for that day a few days ahead of time and came in early, checked out the binder from the girl behind the desk and went to the line to pre-flight. This all took place before myself or any other certified flight instructor arrived to the airport that morning.
The pilot called Flight Service and received a weather briefing. Unfortunately i believe that in this case, the pilot misinterpreted what he heard from the pre-flight weather briefer.
I am not sure what prompted the pilot to return to land, nor how long he was aloft prior to making the decision to return. According to him he made 5 failed attempts at landing because he couldn't see out of his front windshield. After the 5th attempt he called the FBO to make them aware of the situation. The FBO linemen came to the school to let us know and I jumped on the radio.
Here is the recording of radio communications during the event. Start listening from 16 Minutes in:
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/kgai/KGAI-Nov-26-2013-1500Z.mp3
At first he said he couldn't see because of "heavy rain". After a few more questions I realized that his windshield was iced over and he couldn't see a thing. I wanted to be outside at the runway to help direct him in so at some point I was using a handheld radio and the antenna for the LiveATC feed couldn't pick me up, all you hear are the pilots replies to my instructions.
It became apparent to me that the pilot was iced over and not utilizing his tools correctly to help solve the problem. His heater was off. I told him to put the cabin heat ON and open the defroster. The pilot opened the defroster but DID NOT turn the cabin heat. So in essence he was blowing cold air on an iced over window. At some point he says that he needs to "raise the gear, I am losing airspeed" I then instructed him to verify that the Pitot Heat is on. He did and he got some indications back.
The pilot managed to land safely and besides an bruised ego, there were no damage or injuries. It could have been VERY different as 80% of unintentional VFR flight in to IMC conditions end with a fatality.
Here is a picture of the windshield after he landed...