[FlarePath]

Get onto instruments straight away and initiate a gentle descent: if this rapidly brings you back to VMC. level off and turn into the circuit and do a low level circuit and land.

First priority is to fly the aeroplane and ideally to note immediately the height at which you entered IMC.

then, while keeping on instruments fly straight and level

Ignoring the smart ar se sky gods, giving all this instrument advice to a non instrument rated pilot........

Isn't prevention better than cure Doc.. tell the patient not to fly in Carp WX....

[Dave_Ett]

To clarify:

The base was reported as 1500 feet, both I and my instructor were satisfied it was safe for me to fly.

Another instructor had recently landed and confirmed it was fine at circuit height. ATIS said it was fine. METAR said it was fine.

Just turned out to be a bit lower than advised - that's nature eh?

Thanks for all the answers so far. I'm surprised at the lack of "tell ATC asap because you're within an ATZ and it could be pretty busy there". My train of thought is that communicate could be level pegging with aviate in this situation - thinking of the "what's going to kill me next"?

[mo0g]

Just because someone isn't instrument rated, it does not mean they have not been taught how to fly S&L and do a rate 1 turn in IMC.

UK/EASA PPL Exercise 19 = Basic instrument flying

[Shoestring Flyer]

Learning how to fly an aeroplane on a forum....Not good!

[PeteSpencer]

Get onto instruments straight away and initiate a gentle descent: if this rapidly brings you back to VMC. level off and turn into the circuit and do a low level circuit and land.

First priority is to fly the aeroplane and ideally to note immediately the height at which you entered IMC.

then, while keeping on instruments fly straight and level

Ignoring the smart ar se sky gods, giving all this instrument advice to a non instrument rated pilot........

Isn't prevention better than cure Doc.. tell the patient not to fly in Carp WX....

OK FlarePath :I'll bite just the once: PPL training allows for instrument appreciation: I've no way of knowing whether OP had reached this stage.

I hope the thrust of my post was not to advise on extended instrument flying but to make the best of a bad job, get out of IMC as safely and quickly as possible and onto the ground using whatever skills/instruments he had at his disposal..

At this point in the flight the AH is your friend, IR or no : ignore its message at your peril.

Talking to somebody is best left till he'd got himself together , you know ' aviate, nav.................................. '

I'd leave the discussion of the wisdom of taking off into IMC until he was safely on the ground, had changed his underpants and had had a cup of tea and a Mars bar.

What would be your advice, FP, to the question posed in OP?
'Can't help you mate, tough sh it, you shouldn't have taken off in the first place' ?

Hands up the smart ar ses who would advise 'Nah, you're not instrument rated, don't bother with them'

Peter
PPL IR

[Morten]

I'm surprised at the lack of "tell ATC asap because you're within an ATZ and it could be pretty busy there". My train of thought is that communicate could be level pegging with aviate in this situation - thinking of the "what's going to kill me next"?

Like I said in my post above - it is not likely to be busy because the cloudbase is too low for other VFR traffic to be arriving/departing. Not everyone will (hopefully) have made the same mistake of taking off .

Then , if you do the sensible thing and do a low circuit below the cloudbase, you will be aviating and navigating, and you can then also do some communicating.

Morten

[Pete L]

Agree with all the above. Did it on my QXC. Climbed into the cloud above while focusing on the ridge at Gloucester trying to get a full 1000' above. Gentle descent on instruments and have another go.

Done several 180s since. In hills, I try to ensure I have a direction which guarantees a safe climb to MSA, generally straight ahead.

[FlarePath]

Ok I'll also bite. the OP has not yet posted his qualifications or experience level. True, most PPL's will have had some basic instrument training for this very situation, yet here we have a post that suggests none of this training appears to have been carried out, or has been completely forgotten.

Therefor my advice would be nothing more than the OP has already stated he has done in the past, while in the circuit, so do it again, do NOT carry on into IMC level off before and if required land. If in IMC then yes monitor rigidly AH & IAS and gently descend back to clear air. Then decide whether to land or find a way round the carp.

[Dave_Ett]

Was a student with about 25 hours at that point. Am now qualified, with about 50 hours - living in the danger zone!

I ought to add that I've been an avionics tech for 23 years, so have an awful lot more appreciation of instruments and their purpose / use / failure modes than your average PPL student.

[rf3flyer]

My 2 pence worth.

Assuming we're talking about a VFR pilot, upon climbing unplanned into cloud, pull the power and descend back out of it PDQ. I don't care what the circuit height is meant to be, you've just climbed into it, keep your head but get down out of it!
Once you have visual reference then assess whether conditions are about to deteriorate further or if it's perhaps very localised and you can slip out from under.
When you've assessed that and made your decision about what you want to do you can then tell ATC about your change of plan.

Others mention the importance of the AH, but that assumes the machine you're flying has an AH.

[Charles Hunt]

As always, it depends.

If you are under a solid overcast with excellent visibility below and you just edge into the bottom of it, Then just descend again. Happened to me doing circuits as a student, not an issue, I just reported the cloud base for information.

On the other hand if you're approaching an indeterminate grey wall that goes down to the ground with no sign of light beyond turn back before you go into it. Only if you have missed the chance and gone into the murk will you then need to do the trained 180 to get back into clearer air.

I had this on an early solo navex and chickened out early and scuttled home.

[PeteSpencer]

Ok I'll also bite. the OP has not yet posted his qualifications or experience level. True, most PPL's will have had some basic instrument training for this very situation, yet here we have a post that suggests none of this training appears to have been carried out, or has been completely forgotten.

Therefor my advice would be nothing more than the OP has already stated he has done in the past, while in the circuit, so do it again, do NOT carry on into IMC level off before and if required land. If in IMC then yes monitor rigidly AH & IAS and gently descend back to clear air. Then decide whether to land or find a way round the carp.

(my italics)
If you read my post again I think you'll find you are agreeing with me.

Out

[PeteSpencer]

The clue is in the first paragraph of the OP: Entering cloud on the climb out:

This the question my post(s) were answering: Get out of cloud using all skills /instruments available and get back on the ground PDQ.

Nothing about circuits below cloud base or charging off somewhere cross country in IMC without qualifications.

Nothing about the wisdom of departing in the first place.

Just get the hell out of it, and down, safely and quickly.

Peter

[PeteSpencer]

Was a student with about 25 hours at that point. Am now qualified, with about 50 hours - living in the danger zone!

I ought to add that I've been an avionics tech for 23 years, so have an awful lot more appreciation of instruments and their purpose / use / failure modes than your average PPL student.

When you've got a few more hours and can comfortably trim the aeroplane and maintain a heading and height/altitude in VMC for extended periods without even thinking about it (not going to suggest a total as the chimers will be on me again), then sign up for an IR(R).

You will be taught (and tested ), amongst many other useful things, on low level bad weather circuits and the nice CAA/EASA boys will now let you count some of these hours towards a CBMIR should you decide to get serious.

However I need to say I'm not an instructor, just a PPL with a few bolt-ons who enjoys flying and would class myself as an ultra safe scaredy cat.

Peter

[T67M]

As stated above, Aviate, Navigate, Communicate. In that order. The detail actions you take will depend on the circumstances - for example, what configuration is the aircraft in, what do you know about the clouds, and what is the terrain like in the area? There won't be one correct answer that handles all situations.

I have once entered IMC inadvertently in the circuit on climb out - the weather above and around the airfield in most directions was CAVOK, but there was a bank of low cloud directly ahead of the runway caused by a high ridge of land. The cloud was from 600' to 1000' just beyond the nominal circuit crosswind leg, and two aircraft ahead of me had managed to turn onto crosswind before entering the cloud thus remaining VMC. However, I was in a faster plane and didn't make the turn early enough. I knew the cloud tops were only ~400 feet above the base, and that the terrain was rising rapidly ahead of me. I was stably in the climb and nicely trimmed so I decided to continue the climb through the cloud until I was above MSA and/or I had regained VMC. Initiating a (descending) turn from a stable climb could easily go badly wrong, and could even put me head-to-head with the aircraft that had just been cleared for take-off behind me. I did have controlled airspace above me, and while I was reasonably certain that I wouldn't infringe on a straight climb, a turning climb would result in a definite infringement and with my pointing straight at a major international airport just for good measure. I really did not need the extra hassle of getting a clearance as this would also have involved changing frequency, so I decided that if I did infringe, I would deal with it later on the ground as my priorities in the air were Aviating (keeping the plane under control) and Navigating (avoiding the cumulo granitus).