<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1419587, January 2017

AS350 pilots reported landing in an open field when a VFR flight encountered IMC. After the snow shower had passed; the flight continued to their destination.

Attributes
ACN	1419587
Time
Date	201701
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Eurocopter AS 350/355/EC130 - Astar/Twinstar/Ecureuil
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Rotorcraft
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 84 Flight Crew Total 2582 Flight Crew Type 886
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Rotorcraft
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 700 Flight Crew Type 550
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

While enroute the PIC and myself had checked the weather before leaving finding favorable conditions. As the flight progressed the weather started to deteriorate. The airport and real time duats was reporting marginal VFR conditions and while attempting to find the lowest terrain towards [our destination] we encountered decreasing visibility and simultaneous windshield snow buildup. As a precaution the PIC decided to make an unplanned landing in the first available clearing where a safe; normal landing could be made. Once the weather cleared and the windshield was cleared and the aircraft was inspected for icing; the flight was continued as planned. I believe a possible preventative action could be for the placement of a weather station elsewhere in the valley seeing as the airport is in one of the most unique locations of all airports in existence and as such may not provide relevant information to helicopters flying in less than perfect VFR conditions.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: AS350 pilots reported landing in an open field when a VFR flight encountered IMC. After the snow shower had passed; the flight continued to their destination.

Narrative: While enroute the PIC and myself had checked the weather before leaving finding favorable conditions. As the flight progressed the weather started to deteriorate. The airport and real time DUATS was reporting marginal VFR conditions and while attempting to find the lowest terrain towards [our destination] we encountered decreasing visibility and simultaneous windshield snow buildup. As a precaution the PIC decided to make an unplanned landing in the first available clearing where a safe; normal landing could be made. Once the weather cleared and the windshield was cleared and the aircraft was inspected for icing; the flight was continued as planned. I believe a possible preventative action could be for the placement of a weather station elsewhere in the valley seeing as the airport is in one of the most unique locations of all airports in existence and as such may not provide relevant information to helicopters flying in less than perfect VFR conditions.

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.