This morning, in cooperation with Lifeline Pilots, I flew a patient from KUGN in Northern Illinois to I50 in Northern Indiana. (Those are airport codes.) The weather was marginal VFR with low clouds, but I thought a VFR flight would be more entertaining for my patient, and would save me a few minutes over an IFR flight.

The clouds were at 1500' and so I flew about a 1000' above the North Shore of Lake Michigan. We passed by Chicago -- it's always a spectacular sight. Then we passed over Gary Indiana and headed towards the I50 airport. The overhead layer started to come down pushing me uncomfortably close to the ground. But it was a thin layer so I went above it. There was another layer of clouds above that but I had over 1000' of headroom so I flew between the layers.

As we approached I50 I started searching for a hole in the thin clouds. We had passed a few 10 miles back but I hadn't seen any for awhile. Up ahead there was a ridge of clouds and I thought sure there's be a hole on the other side (there often is). But no, not this time. Over the ridge it was still solid cloud above and below me.

So I turned around, flew 10 miles north and found one of the holes I had passed. I spiraled through that hole and headed back to I50 flying 600' above the ground in a maneuver called: Scud Running.

There were antennae and wind farms all reaching up to my level, and I had to dodge around them. I was never in any real danger, but flying this close to the ground certainly focusses the mind.

We got to the airport and landed without incident. My passenger's friend was there to pick her up, and we said our goodbys.

And then I filed an IFR flight plan and flew home above the clouds in the bright sunshine. That's what I should have done from the very start.