An embarrassed and contrite pilot of a low wing single engine aircraft; intent on making a prebooked...

Narrative:

Ok; I did it; the dumbest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I busted the MDA on the GPS [runway] 31 approach into W99. I can't believe I did this; but I did. I am now a statistic. At least I'm an alive statistic; I guess.it was a classic case of 'get-there-itis' to an extreme. My wife and I booked in advance a bed and breakfast. In my effort to please her; I was blinded by my desire to do just that. Dumb; dumb; dumb! I knew the ceilings as reported by ATIS were half of what the minimums were on the plates; ATC cleared me for the approach; and I went ahead and shot the approach anyway. The ironic thing is it was probably the best approach I ever shot in my life. That doesn't dismiss the fact that it was the dumbest decision I probably ever made in my life and I am not short of doing dumb things; but this one takes the cake.I am by nature one of the most safe; conservative pilots you will ever find. On this day my brain went dead. I'm pretty sure I know what lead me to the bad decision making process. The advance booking pretty much set a deadline that I subconsciously determined I was going to make. The rest is history. I feel like an alcoholic who has just recognized he has a problem. I can only hope this experience shakes the dumbness out of my head for the rest of my life.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An embarrassed and contrite pilot of a low wing single engine aircraft; intent on making a prebooked Bed & Breakfast reservation; descended well below the MDA on the GPS Runway 31 IAP to W99.

Narrative: Ok; I did it; the dumbest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I busted the MDA on the GPS [Runway] 31 approach into W99. I can't believe I did this; but I did. I am now a statistic. At least I'm an alive statistic; I guess.It was a classic case of 'get-there-itis' to an extreme. My wife and I booked in advance a bed and breakfast. In my effort to please her; I was blinded by my desire to do just that. Dumb; dumb; dumb! I knew the ceilings as reported by ATIS were half of what the minimums were on the plates; ATC cleared me for the approach; and I went ahead and shot the approach anyway. The ironic thing is it was probably the best approach I ever shot in my life. That doesn't dismiss the fact that it was the dumbest decision I probably ever made in my life and I am not short of doing dumb things; but this one takes the cake.I am by nature one of the most safe; conservative pilots you will ever find. On this day my brain went dead. I'm pretty sure I know what lead me to the bad decision making process. The advance booking pretty much set a deadline that I subconsciously determined I was going to make. The rest is history. I feel like an alcoholic who has just recognized he has a problem. I can only hope this experience shakes the dumbness out of my head for the rest of my life.

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	974970
Time
Date	201110
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	W99.Airport
State Reference	WV
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 950 Flight Crew Type 950
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

An embarrassed and contrite pilot of a low wing single engine aircraft; intent on making a prebooked bed & breakfast reservation; descended well below the MDA on the GPS runway 31 IAP to W99.