Narrative:

My wife and I were returning to indiana from florida; in our cessna 170. Departed florida; and refueled in GA. Diverted east-northeast toward roanoke; va; due to slow moving storm system across direct route to my destination. About 40 miles west of roanoke; I was able to turn nnw; toward southeastern ohio. We had been getting beat up pretty good with turbulence; and I climbed above a scattered layer into smooth air; climbing to 6500 MSL. The layer gradually increased in altitude; and I climbed to 8500 MSL to maintain VFR cloud clearances. Everything was still fine at this point; but I was about to make a very poor decision. The cloud layer gradually increased to a continuous layer. The cloud layer was expected; but I expected to be well past the cloud layer before having to descend in mid-ohio for fuel; and I stayed above the layer rather than backtracking and descending below the layer. This was a poor decision. The wind gradually increased to about 40 KTS headwind. It gradually became clear to me that I did not have adequate fuel to get past the layer. The cloud layer did indeed turn out to disappear approximately where I expected it to; but I could not get there with the fuel on board. I was way too far into the corner I created; by the time I admitted to it to myself. At this point; I did not believe backtracking was a reasonable option. The storm system; which I had done; an end-run around was slowly moving toward the route I had flown; the terrain behind me was higher; and the ceiling under the cloud layer was minimal. AWOS stations ahead of me were reporting ceiling of greater than 6000 ft; some of them reporting broken layer. I was still hoping that I would find a break in the cloud layer; and be able to stay legal VFR. I finally realized that I had to choose between two poor options: 1. High probability of running out of fuel in flight if I continued trying to fly past the cloud layer. 2. Descend through the cloud layer; even though I am only VFR rated. I chose to descend through the cloud layer. I set up a heading toward a nearby airport reporting high ceiling; stabilized descent; and descended on instruments. The layer was not very thick; but I did not maintain VFR cloud clearance requirements. Center would have known where and at what altitude I was; from my transponder. Hopefully there was no other airplane cruising in that layer. My altimeter and transponder do have a recent IFR certification. After breaking out; I landed; and refueled. Remaining fuel was minimal. I then continued on to my destination in indiana. Within about 30 miles; the ceiling was unlimited. This is only about the third time that I have ever proceeded on top of an undercast. I did not plan to do it. I did not have adequate and recent enough weather information to commit to that course of action; particularly with the fuel on board. I have been kicking around the idea of getting my instrument and commercial ratings; thinking that it would be an interesting thing to learn; even though I have no desire to actually do instrument flying on a regular basis. This event has pushed me further in that direction. The jam I got myself into was my responsibility; caused by my poor decisions and not leaving a legal and safe way out. Fortunately; the minimal instrument time that I get every two years during biennial flight review allowed me to keep the airplane under control.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: VFR C170 pilot descended through a cloud layer without clearance after strong head winds increase fuel consumption.

Narrative: My wife and I were returning to Indiana from Florida; in our Cessna 170. Departed Florida; and refueled in GA. Diverted east-northeast toward Roanoke; VA; due to slow moving storm system across direct route to my destination. About 40 miles west of Roanoke; I was able to turn NNW; toward southeastern Ohio. We had been getting beat up pretty good with turbulence; and I climbed above a scattered layer into smooth air; climbing to 6500 MSL. The layer gradually increased in altitude; and I climbed to 8500 MSL to maintain VFR cloud clearances. Everything was still fine at this point; but I was about to make a very poor decision. The cloud layer gradually increased to a continuous layer. The cloud layer was expected; but I expected to be well past the cloud layer before having to descend in mid-Ohio for fuel; and I stayed above the layer rather than backtracking and descending below the layer. This was a poor decision. The wind gradually increased to about 40 KTS headwind. It gradually became clear to me that I did not have adequate fuel to get past the layer. The cloud layer did indeed turn out to disappear approximately where I expected it to; but I could not get there with the fuel on board. I was way too far into the corner I created; by the time I admitted to it to myself. At this point; I did not believe backtracking was a reasonable option. The storm system; which I had done; an end-run around was slowly moving toward the route I had flown; the terrain behind me was higher; and the ceiling under the cloud layer was minimal. AWOS stations ahead of me were reporting ceiling of greater than 6000 FT; some of them reporting broken layer. I was still hoping that I would find a break in the cloud layer; and be able to stay legal VFR. I finally realized that I had to choose between two poor options: 1. High probability of running out of fuel in flight if I continued trying to fly past the cloud layer. 2. Descend through the cloud layer; even though I am only VFR rated. I chose to descend through the cloud layer. I set up a heading toward a nearby airport reporting high ceiling; stabilized descent; and descended on instruments. The layer was not very thick; but I did not maintain VFR cloud clearance requirements. Center would have known where and at what altitude I was; from my transponder. Hopefully there was no other airplane cruising in that layer. My altimeter and transponder do have a recent IFR certification. After breaking out; I landed; and refueled. Remaining fuel was minimal. I then continued on to my destination in Indiana. Within about 30 miles; the ceiling was unlimited. This is only about the third time that I have ever proceeded on top of an undercast. I did not plan to do it. I did not have adequate and recent enough weather information to commit to that course of action; particularly with the fuel on board. I have been kicking around the idea of getting my instrument and commercial ratings; thinking that it would be an interesting thing to learn; even though I have no desire to actually do instrument flying on a regular basis. This event has pushed me further in that direction. The jam I got myself into was my responsibility; caused by my poor decisions and not leaving a legal and safe way out. Fortunately; the minimal instrument time that I get every two years during biennial flight review allowed me to keep the airplane under control.

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.