A single engine pilot at 9500 feet; VFR on top; reported encountering icing conditions but was unabl...

Attributes
ACN	1344041
Time
Date	201603
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	BKX.Airport
State Reference	SD
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 27 Flight Crew Total 763 Flight Crew Type 132
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC

Narrative:

Flying VFR-on-top at 9500 ft MSL. No flight plan filed and no VFR flight following in place. Since weather is VFR-on-top; I decided to go to an area where there is no icing and planned to take IFR clearance and land at an airport southwest of msp. However; I encountered icing conditions in stratus layers as I could see on the windshield and also on leading edges of the wings. Tried contacting minneapolis center for couple of minutes on 128.0 and 134.0 and got no reply; and I observed that ice build-up is progressing. I was monitoring the ceilings constantly in flight using foreflight and stratus device. Hon reported 1200 ovc. Since I could not contact minneapolis center and thinking that turning around may expose me to more icing; I made a decision to just descend so that I can be in contact with the ground and hence descended through the clouds to an area nearer to hon. Once I broke out of the clouds between hon and bkx; I decided to proceed to bkx clear of clouds in class G airspace and safely landed at bkx where I spent the rest of the day and the night. After landing; I noticed that wing leading edges has around 1/8 to 1/4 inch ice.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A single engine pilot at 9500 feet; VFR on top; reported encountering icing conditions but was unable to contact Center for an IFR clearance to descend. A descent was initiated into IMC without a clearance; to VMC below 2400 feet. After landing; ice was still adhering to the leading edge of the wing.

Narrative: Flying VFR-on-top at 9500 ft MSL. No flight plan filed and no VFR flight following in place. Since weather is VFR-on-top; I decided to go to an area where there is no icing and planned to take IFR clearance and land at an airport SW of MSP. However; I encountered icing conditions in stratus layers as I could see on the windshield and also on leading edges of the wings. Tried contacting Minneapolis Center for couple of minutes on 128.0 and 134.0 and got no reply; and I observed that ice build-up is progressing. I was monitoring the ceilings constantly in flight using Foreflight and Stratus device. HON reported 1200 OVC. Since I could not contact Minneapolis Center and thinking that turning around may expose me to more icing; I made a decision to just descend so that I can be in contact with the ground and hence descended through the clouds to an area nearer to HON. Once I broke out of the clouds between HON and BKX; I decided to proceed to BKX clear of clouds in class G airspace and safely landed at BKX where I spent the rest of the day and the night. After landing; I noticed that wing leading edges has around 1/8 to 1/4 inch ice.

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.