VFR pilot, first real IMC experience

[peerlesscowboy]

Interesting. A dark, moonless night, over featureless terrain. (ocean) The Only way the OP knew he flew into a cloud was the reflection of his rotating beacon on the cloud.
Let's throw a monkey wrench into the works. Suppose his beacon was working when he departed, but it failed some time during the flight. (prior to entering the clouds)
He knew nothing about it. would he have known that he was in the clouds, untill he got back and descended to enter the TP.?

Interesting hypothetical I'd guess there'd be a little glow out on the wingtips from the position lights that SHOULD be on and/or maybe a little moisture coming in through the air vents if they're open? Other than that, .............

 

[Palmpilot]

1) Why do you care about planes that will stay at different altitudes?

2) Tail beacons are still visible.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I was agreeing with your observation, and adding that it also applies in cities. However, one exception to that would be traffic below, because I've noticed that their lights tend to blend in with city lights. I agree that such traffic would not be a factor if both aircraft stay at their present altitudes.

 

[Palmpilot]

I don't believe I advised freaking out.

This is the last time.

Make 180 turn back to VMC.

Advise ATC ASAP of your change in direction and the reason why: "Approach - Bugsmasher 234 inadvertent IMC, turning left 1-8-0 right now."

End of statement.

Given that the vector he was on was for traffic avoidance, it might not be safe to deviate from it before communicating with ATC.

 

[acrophile]

This may be true regarding the verbatim definition of IMC, but on the flip side those conditions are actually considered by the FAA to be "actual instrument" for the purposes for logging. So it's one of those odd cases where you aren't legally in IMC but you are in actual instrument conditions.

Yup, flight in those conditions is loggable as instrument time, even though the conditions are not IMC. The FAA refers to those conditions as actual instrument flight conditions (IFC), but not actual instrument meteorological conditions (IMC).

And that's a crucial distinction, because it's IMC (rather than IFC) that we have to steer clear of for the sake of both the legality and the see-and-avoid safety of a VFR flight.