Narrative:

I was approaching crw under approach control; vectors for ILS runway 23. The weather opened up and controller asked if I'd like to try runway 33; since that would be more favorable for the wind. Controller gave me an altitude of 3000 ft and told me to turn for the airport and let her know when I spied the field. I was pretty low at 3000 ft and could not see a long way; although visibility was excellent. Controller did not clear me below 3000 ft; but I saw what I thought was the runway and erroneously headed in. Controller received an altitude alert and called me at 2400 ft and I immediately climbed back to 3000 ft and approached uneventfully. What I had seen was not the runway. The visibility was excellent and I had clear ground in sight at all times without haze or cloud; so I never felt uneasy or in any danger of ground contact. Nevertheless; I was not cleared below 3000 ft. When controller turned me toward the airport; I suppose I 'went visual' and the result was an altitude deviation. This is not a complicated problem; just follow the clearance. I learned that at only 2000 ft or so AGL distances are stretched. I could not believe how far away 8 miles turned out to be from that altitude. What I thought was the runway and runway end lights turned out to be reflections from the sun (into which I was flying) on roadside objects. That is a lesson to be taken from this as well. Large airports (this is the first time into crw for me) always surprise me with how much land they occupy.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA34-200 on an IFR flight plan in VMC conditions was being vectored for an ILS; but accepted a runway change because of the improved visibility. During the vector the reporter deviated from his assigned altitude because he forgot that he was still IFR.

Narrative: I was approaching CRW under Approach control; vectors for ILS Runway 23. The weather opened up and Controller asked if I'd like to try Runway 33; since that would be more favorable for the wind. Controller gave me an altitude of 3000 FT and told me to turn for the airport and let her know when I spied the field. I was pretty low at 3000 FT and could not see a long way; although visibility was excellent. Controller did not clear me below 3000 FT; but I saw what I thought was the runway and erroneously headed in. Controller received an altitude alert and called me at 2400 FT and I immediately climbed back to 3000 FT and approached uneventfully. What I had seen was not the runway. The visibility was excellent and I had clear ground in sight at all times without haze or cloud; so I never felt uneasy or in any danger of ground contact. Nevertheless; I was not cleared below 3000 FT. When Controller turned me toward the airport; I suppose I 'went visual' and the result was an altitude deviation. This is not a complicated problem; just follow the clearance. I learned that at only 2000 FT or so AGL distances are stretched. I could not believe how far away 8 miles turned out to be from that altitude. What I thought was the runway and runway end lights turned out to be reflections from the sun (into which I was flying) on roadside objects. That is a lesson to be taken from this as well. Large airports (this is the first time into CRW for me) always surprise me with how much land they occupy.

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.