C182 pilot reports being unable to obtain an IFR clearance enroute to rac due an ATC equipment outag...

Attributes
ACN	1208000
Time
Date	201409
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	RAC.Airport
State Reference	WI
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skylane 182/RG Turbo Skylane/RG
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	None
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50 Flight Crew Total 4000 Flight Crew Type 350
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Enroute to racine; wi an IFR flight plan was filed to gary; in since IFR ATC services were not available from chicago tracon. I proceeded up the chicago lakefront in marginal VFR conditions and entered instrument conditions without a clearance to do so. When passing kenosha; wi I contacted milwaukee approach control and requested a pop up IFR clearance to racine. Weather at rac was reporting 800 overcast and 4 miles visibility. The mke controller declined the request for IFR clearance stating they were not capable at that time. The controller recommended landing visually since IFR services were not available. I stayed in contact with mke approach control and explained I was intercepting the 04 ILS at rac while flying the approach. While intercepting and flying the approach I entered instrument (IMC) flight conditions without a clearance to do so. Once in visual contact with runway 04 I advised ATC and switched to CTAF. Phone call to mke approach after landing indicated they could only accept phoned in flight plans due to the chicago ARTCC facility outage. They explained flight plans could only be entered manually and pop up clearances were not available.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C182 pilot reports being unable to obtain an IFR clearance enroute to RAC due an ATC equipment outage. The reporter elects to fly an instrument approach to RAC in IMC without a clearance.

Narrative: Enroute to Racine; WI an IFR flight plan was filed to Gary; IN since IFR ATC services were not available from Chicago tracon. I proceeded up the Chicago lakefront in marginal VFR conditions and entered instrument conditions without a clearance to do so. When passing Kenosha; WI I contacted Milwaukee approach control and requested a pop up IFR clearance to Racine. Weather at RAC was reporting 800 overcast and 4 miles visibility. The MKE controller declined the request for IFR clearance stating they were not capable at that time. The controller recommended landing visually since IFR services were not available. I stayed in contact with MKE approach control and explained I was intercepting the 04 ILS at RAC while flying the approach. While intercepting and flying the approach I entered instrument (IMC) flight conditions without a clearance to do so. Once in visual contact with runway 04 I advised ATC and switched to CTAF. Phone call to MKE approach after landing indicated they could only accept phoned in flight plans due to the Chicago ARTCC facility outage. They explained flight plans could only be entered manually and pop up clearances were not available.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

C182 pilot reports being unable to obtain an IFR clearance enroute to rac due an ATC equipment outage. The reporter elects to fly an instrument approach to rac in IMC without a clearance.