A VFR-rated helicopter pilot reported he chose to declare an emergency and descend through the cloud...

Attributes
ACN	1005513
Time
Date	201204
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Jet/Long Ranger/206
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Rotorcraft
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 8 Flight Crew Total 5500 Flight Crew Type 3500
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Flight to remote forestry site; weather [was] clear visibility 10 miles; intended flight 78 NM; 26 gallon needed for flight. Fuel on board 55 gallons; fuel burn 26 gallons per hour for aircraft. Departed [and] noted broken ceiling 900-1;000 ft cruise altitude. [At] 1;500 ft noted extensive cloud/fog cover below on route of flight [and] was unable too maintain visual with ground. [I] elected to return to point of departure. Deteriorating conditions were encountered at about 40 minutes from departure. Checked weather at [a nearby airport]; showed broken at 1;200 ft. Conditions overcast and deteriorating on arrival. After conversing with ATC/tower I elected to declare an emergency due to lowering fuel state and the need to descend through the clouds. The helicopter is VFR and I am a non-instrument rated pilot. I descended through the clouds breaking out at about 1;000 ft AGL; landed without further incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A VFR-rated helicopter pilot reported he chose to declare an emergency and descend through the clouds when he was caught above an overcast.

Narrative: Flight to remote forestry site; weather [was] clear visibility 10 miles; intended flight 78 NM; 26 gallon needed for flight. Fuel on board 55 gallons; fuel burn 26 gallons per hour for aircraft. Departed [and] noted broken ceiling 900-1;000 FT cruise altitude. [At] 1;500 FT noted extensive cloud/fog cover below on route of flight [and] was unable too maintain visual with ground. [I] elected to return to point of departure. Deteriorating conditions were encountered at about 40 minutes from departure. Checked weather at [a nearby airport]; showed broken at 1;200 FT. Conditions overcast and deteriorating on arrival. After conversing with ATC/Tower I elected to declare an emergency due to lowering fuel state and the need to descend through the clouds. The helicopter is VFR and I am a non-instrument rated pilot. I descended through the clouds breaking out at about 1;000 FT AGL; landed without further incident.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.