Peter wrote:
The problem with the C172/TB9/TB10 type of operating ceiling (say 12k) is that it isn’t enough to get you VMC on top a lot of the time.
Precisely. I’ve just done two consecutive easy flights in the Mooney that would have been impossible in the TB10. Neither of them was a particularly exciting weather day, but the tops were around FL120 and the TB10 would have struggled. The Mooney was just getting comfortable at FL150.
Peter wrote:
The next level is to cross fronts VMC on top and for that, you need FL250 sort of performance, at least.
You see, you need an aeroplane with a turbo! I was climbing at 700fpm at FL200 the other day. The downside to these altitudes is that bottled oxygen becomes quite marginal – if you’re regularly above about FL200 you also need pressurisation.
Peter wrote:
The main risk in flying under CBs is getting hit by lightning.
Is that right? I have always assumed that turbulence, microbursts and unmanageable up and down drafts (really three ways of saying much the same thing) as well as potential hail damage would be more of a worry.
There are many issues flying under a CB. For a VFR only pilot, there is also the issue of nothing being able to see the outside world if the CB chooses to drop its contents while you are under it.
Regarding the original post, I think it’s good to keep your VFR skills alive. IFR is great, but it’s just another tool in the box. Somedays it won’t suit your mission and VFR is the appropriate tool to use. For example, most of my trips around Scotland would have been totally pointless under IFR. Even in clear weather, I’d have been too far above the terrain to really enjoy it.
dublinpilot wrote:
For example, most of my trips around Scotland would have been totally pointless under IFR.
In the UK you have the fantastic possibility of going IFR very low on your own without ATC. I once flew from Leeds to Stuttgart and the freezing level and cloud cover did not allow for classic controlled IFR so I went below the freezing level through the clouds, requesting control zone crossings, receiving traffic information of other aircraft also in IMC. Very good in this case — poor disjointed minimum service ATC compared to the continent but you get something powerful in return.
I have probably done it a few times… hail is not all that common; certainly not guaranteed. And at 150kt (and anyway one would slow right down) it should not do more than take the paint off. But a lightning strike will do a lot of damage to a GA plane. For a start you have a mandatory shock load inspection, because the current could damage the crankshaft bearing(s), etc. And it is likely to damage a lot of other stuff; one recent DA42 case came to 20k or so and the engines were not done on that one. There is usually avionics damage. And that assumes the plane is either all-metal, or metal mesh and bonded together, so most “plastic” homebuilts would likely be severely damaged or destroyed, never mind what happens to the occupants.
Yes; you can fly all over the UK below CAS, in Class G, IFR, non-radio 
I usually don’t bother to get Class D crossings; not worth the radio calls and then (if it doesn’t arrive in time) doing a very sharp dive or a dogleg.
I will never fly under a real CB. Period. Good luck to pilots who do.
The posts on turbo engines and flying high are in a new thread
As I wrote before, this is a great thread which might benefit from more stuff on flying VFR in bad wx.
I will never fly under a real CB
How can you tell a “real CB” when you are underneath a cloud layer? What is a “real CB”? A TCU can chuck out just as much rain. This is often what is above the layer:
I can’t always tell, of course, especially when it’s am embedded CB, but my ADL120 and my Stormscope can. In all other cases, flying low beneath a cloud deck I will stay away from all the very dark places and areas of heavy precipitation. Also the weather data will show if there can be embedded CBs or not.
achimha wrote:
In the UK you have the fantastic possibility of going IFR very low on your own without ATC. I once flew from Leeds to Stuttgart and the freezing level and cloud cover did not allow for classic controlled IFR so I went below the freezing level through the clouds, requesting control zone crossings, receiving traffic information of other aircraft also in IMC. Very good in this case — poor disjointed minimum service ATC compared to the continent but you get something powerful in return.
As far as I know, the UK still requires IFR flight to be 1000ft above the highest point within 5 or 8km (can’t remember which). I think it’s 2000ft when in mountainous terrain which I’m sure Scotland would be. So that would require a minimum altitude of 4-5K at best. That is what I was referring to. Really to make the most of it you want to be no higher than 2000ft, down in the valleys and between the islands. This requires VFR.
I’m not for a second saying that VFR is better than IFR, just that it’s a tool available to the pilot, and you select the most appropriate tool available for the job.
But don’t let that put you off Scotland! There is little enough airspace there (and much of it is closed at the weekends or only activated by NOTAMs) to make staying legal easy, even for the most VFR adverse pilot 
I flew under the black once. Don’t plan to repeat. Fortunately it was right after a period of training in real IMC for a ticket I never got. ATC simply refused to clear me through controlled airspace higher up where I was clear of weather, wending my way past spectacular cloud formations. They forced me down in spite of my pleas and I thought I could scoot under the black clouds to the blue beyond. It’s unbelievable what happens when the clouds let loose. I was absolutely furious with myself, “what a stupid way to go!”
Never again!
