Narrative:

I accepted a flight to operate far part 135 to an accident scene to pick up a patient. Medical crew had said that it was turned down by another service; so I took that into consideration for my weather check. After careful review of the weather; the determination was the flight could be accomplished by both metar and taf readings. Radar was showing scattered light rain to the west of where the landing would be at the scene. Weather was expected to stay MVFR to VFR throughout the duration of the flight with possible light rain. After taking off for the scene it took about 3 times of going back and forth with dispatch to get the correct coordinates. The reception from them was readable but intermittent and we could not get the coordinates. I don't know if it had to do with position; but we kept calling to have them repeat and we finally got the correct numbers. Then we proceeded on course for the scene. Weather was good en route. Landing zone was then identified and we approached and landed without issues. We were on the ground for approximately 17 minutes. During that time; I was updating GPS and looking at weather on the garmin 396. The 396 was showing metar readings from surrounding airports and all looked good for trip to hospital. Weather radar on 396 was picking up light rain moving from west to east; and we were getting light rain in the area. Visibility was still good. Patient was loaded and we took off. Approximately 5 to 10 minutes into flight heavy rain started to fall and was greatly reducing visibility. I asked the medical crew if the patient was stabilized because we may have to land at another airport or field. All the while I was trying to call approach. I was not having much luck. I was also keeping my eye out for possible landing areas or nearby airports. We were flying over rolling terrain and heavily wooded areas with lots of wires and towers. I started to get boxed in and communications had to be split up amongst the crew. I was then circling looking for a place to land and that was making me really nervous because of the amount of wires and towers in the area that I could not see; and I could not safely maintain this orbit because I was setting myself up for spatial disorientation particularly the leans; which I have experienced in the past in a dual piloted aircraft. Visibility and the heavy rain on the windscreen made it impossible to safely pick out a safe landing area. I told approach I was having trouble staying VFR. They had me on radar and cleared me to 3000 ft direct on course to the area where I could get back into VFR conditions. Although I was in an emergency situation; I did not declare that with approach; which I should have and I can't really say why I didn't. Once I was cleared; I was relieved to be out of the hazardous situation that I was in; and I was certainly busy with maintaining IFR and communications with all parties involved. I was in IMC conditions for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Once I was able to see the ground again I started to descend and I believe approach had asked if I had visibility at this time and that is when IFR was canceled with approach. The rest of the flight was short and uneventful. Due to the situation; I deviated from far part 135/91 and I operated a VFR aircraft in IMC conditions. I felt this was the safest option available to me due to the inability to safely land the aircraft in VMC conditions.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Ambulance helicopter flight enters IMC conditions while attempting VFR flight.

Narrative: I accepted a flight to operate FAR Part 135 to an accident scene to pick up a patient. Medical crew had said that it was turned down by another service; so I took that into consideration for my weather check. After careful review of the weather; the determination was the flight could be accomplished by both METAR and TAF readings. Radar was showing scattered light rain to the west of where the landing would be at the scene. Weather was expected to stay MVFR to VFR throughout the duration of the flight with possible light rain. After taking off for the scene it took about 3 times of going back and forth with Dispatch to get the correct coordinates. The reception from them was readable but intermittent and we could not get the coordinates. I don't know if it had to do with position; but we kept calling to have them repeat and we finally got the correct numbers. Then we proceeded on course for the scene. Weather was good en route. Landing zone was then identified and we approached and landed without issues. We were on the ground for approximately 17 minutes. During that time; I was updating GPS and looking at weather on the Garmin 396. The 396 was showing METAR readings from surrounding airports and all looked good for trip to hospital. Weather radar on 396 was picking up light rain moving from west to east; and we were getting light rain in the area. Visibility was still good. Patient was loaded and we took off. Approximately 5 to 10 minutes into flight heavy rain started to fall and was greatly reducing visibility. I asked the medical crew if the patient was stabilized because we may have to land at another airport or field. All the while I was trying to call Approach. I was not having much luck. I was also keeping my eye out for possible landing areas or nearby airports. We were flying over rolling terrain and heavily wooded areas with lots of wires and towers. I started to get boxed in and communications had to be split up amongst the crew. I was then circling looking for a place to land and that was making me really nervous because of the amount of wires and towers in the area that I could not see; and I could not safely maintain this orbit because I was setting myself up for spatial disorientation particularly the leans; which I have experienced in the past in a dual piloted aircraft. Visibility and the heavy rain on the windscreen made it impossible to safely pick out a safe landing area. I told Approach I was having trouble staying VFR. They had me on radar and cleared me to 3000 FT direct on course to the area where I could get back into VFR conditions. Although I was in an emergency situation; I did not declare that with Approach; which I should have and I can't really say why I didn't. Once I was cleared; I was relieved to be out of the hazardous situation that I was in; and I was certainly busy with maintaining IFR and communications with all parties involved. I was in IMC conditions for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Once I was able to see the ground again I started to descend and I believe Approach had asked if I had visibility at this time and that is when IFR was canceled with Approach. The rest of the flight was short and uneventful. Due to the situation; I deviated from FAR Part 135/91 and I operated a VFR aircraft in IMC conditions. I felt this was the safest option available to me due to the inability to safely land the aircraft in VMC conditions.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.