A VFR pilot reported descending IMC on a cross-country flight to land short of his destination becau...

Narrative:

After getting 5 to 7 weather briefings; I left on a flight to ccr. I knew that I was flying into a high pressure area and needed to get out of the rockies to get to clean air. I planned to refuel in bce but the wind was 90 degrees to the runway and gusting 15-22; so I landed in a nearby airport. The flight plan called for using 44 of 50 gallons for the next leg. This meant I would use an extra 5 gallons on the next leg. I called weather and was advised that the front over the northern california was in place. The plan was to go over the top of it and it worked and descend into an opening in the weather. As we approached stockton I found the weather was solid overcast. I was with flight following and asked for reporting on ccr and sck. I was told; I think; 8000 ft broken or something like that at sck. I had one tank close to empty and the other at ¼. Fuel flow was at 10 gallons an hour and I had 8-12 gallons onboard. I did not want to risk running low on fuel. I informed center I would land in sck and I started my descent into IMC. We were 40 miles out and I knew the ground was about 2000 ft with an 8000 ft ceiling. I hoped the clouds were 3 or 4000 ft thick. They were not. I guess it was 6000 to 7000 ft thick. The descent went fine and we broke out 25 miles east of stockton and center informed stockton that we were low on fuel. We landed with 7 to 8 gallons of fuel in the left tank. Fuel would have been a problem in another 30 minutes; but we were ok. I stayed with center for the flight and I don't know how he could have informed me that the layer was solid overcast; or how he would know. Shortly before and after the flight; the sky opened and I would have been able to descend into ccr or sck without a problem. We had been at 12;000 ft to 17000 ft for the flight; on oxygen; just before entering the sierra nevada's. I was informed that the oxygen had run out. Nuts!! I started on my instrument ticket; but events prevented me from getting it. I know that the training saved our lives. The airports; lee vining and bryant didn't look promising as we approached them. If I had known the extent of the closing in the clouds; I would have landed there. Center and sck were great. I didn't declare an emergency but they did monitor the flight and gave me what I requested. We need a way to get accurate weather to aircraft. I don't know how but we do.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A VFR Pilot reported descending IMC on a cross-country flight to land short of his destination because overcast conditions were not conducive to continuing.

Narrative: After getting 5 to 7 weather briefings; I left on a flight to CCR. I knew that I was flying into a high pressure area and needed to get out of the Rockies to get to clean air. I planned to refuel in BCE but the wind was 90 degrees to the runway and gusting 15-22; so I landed in a nearby airport. The flight plan called for using 44 of 50 gallons for the next leg. This meant I would use an extra 5 gallons on the next leg. I called weather and was advised that the front over the northern California was in place. The plan was to go over the top of it and it worked and descend into an opening in the weather. As we approached Stockton I found the weather was solid overcast. I was with flight following and asked for reporting on CCR and SCK. I was told; I think; 8000 FT broken or something like that at SCK. I had one tank close to empty and the other at ¼. Fuel flow was at 10 gallons an hour and I had 8-12 gallons onboard. I did not want to risk running low on fuel. I informed center I would land in SCK and I started my descent into IMC. We were 40 miles out and I knew the ground was about 2000 FT with an 8000 FT ceiling. I hoped the clouds were 3 or 4000 FT thick. They were not. I guess it was 6000 to 7000 FT thick. The descent went fine and we broke out 25 miles east of Stockton and Center informed Stockton that we were low on fuel. We landed with 7 to 8 gallons of fuel in the left tank. Fuel would have been a problem in another 30 minutes; but we were OK. I stayed with Center for the flight and I don't know how he could have informed me that the layer was solid overcast; or how he would know. Shortly before and after the flight; the sky opened and I would have been able to descend into CCR or SCK without a problem. We had been at 12;000 FT to 17000 FT for the flight; on oxygen; just before entering the Sierra Nevada's. I was informed that the oxygen had run out. Nuts!! I started on my instrument ticket; but events prevented me from getting it. I know that the training saved our lives. The airports; Lee Vining and Bryant didn't look promising as we approached them. If I had known the extent of the closing in the clouds; I would have landed there. Center and SCK were great. I didn't declare an emergency but they did monitor the flight and gave me what I requested. We need a way to get accurate weather to aircraft. I don't know how but we do.

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.

Attributes
ACN	890511
Time
Date	201005
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	SCK.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-24 Comanche
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 1.0 Flight Crew Total 611 Flight Crew Type 88
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

A VFR pilot reported descending IMC on a cross-country flight to land short of his destination because overcast conditions were not conducive to continuing.