A private pilot and his father-in-law made a 300-mile trip to visit a friend. It was winter. They arrived in late morning. They reported that they had encountered instrument conditions but had been able to drop down below the overcast and continue to the destination, an uncontrolled airport. This must have required some fairly low flying, because the overcast at the time of their arrival hung at 600 feet; but since the entire flight followed an ocean shoreline, navigation would not have been difficult. Visibility under the low ceiling was five miles, and the pilot invited his friend to join them in a short flight to an airport about 50 miles distant for lunch. The friend, not a pilot himself but evidently gifted with a circumspection that pilots often lack, declined on the grounds that the weather did not look very good.
The pilot, proud of his recently acquired Aero Commander 500, invited his friend aboard to show it to him. He started the engines and taxied the airplane to a parking spot. They then disembarked and went to lunch.
During lunch, the pilot said that they were planning to go back that afternoon. His friend tried to dissuade him, suggesting that he remain overnight; but the pilot was determined, and they returned to the airport.
The pilot called for a weather briefing. The nearest reporting station, 40 miles north, called it 800 and three; VFR was not recommended. Local observations along the intended route were similar: ceilings of 600 to 800 feet, visibilities of three or four miles. Clouds were layered up to 28,000 feet. The briefer noted that the clouds forecast were such that it would not just be a matter of getting on top of a stratus layer.
Again, the pilot's friend tried to persuade him to delay his return. The pilot insisted that he had an appointment the next day and had to go back; but eventually he capitulated and agreed to remain overnight. Shortly afterward, however, he became aware that another pilot had just departed, and so he changed his mind again and resolved to be on his way.
The fixed base operator, aware that the pilot was eager to leave, asked another pilot who was getting ready to depart if he would report the flight conditions after takeoff on the unicom frequency. At this point, the AWOS computer at the airport was showing a 500-foot ceiling. The departing pilot confirmed that figure and added that the tops were at 2,000 feet, with another overcast layer at 8,000 and clear skies above that.
Now determined to go, the pilot had the airplane fueled, and he preflighted it. He and his passenger climbed aboard.
