I've had plenty of opportunities to brush up on my instrument skills lately. It has been rainy. It has been foggy and plenty dark.

This morning I departed in darkness, rain and clouds, cleared to Visalia. The weather forecast for Visalia was for fog and visibility of 1/2 mile, not clear enough to make it, but Fresno International was an acceptable alternate with a slightly better forecast.

After breaking out of the rain and getting on top of the cloud layer, things began to brighten up as the day broke. The rest of the way was a mixture of rain showers and clear spots, and as I crossed over Fresno I got a clear view of the airport and most of the city. That was a very good thing. If Visalia was not possible I could easily come back and land at Fresno.

After Fresno the haze on the ground began to thicken. I dialed up the automated weather observation on the radio. Visalia was reporting 1 1/2 miles of visibility, not a lot, but enough to make an attempt.

The controller cleared me for the procedure, and as a lowered into the haze layer my forward visibility was greatly reduced. I tracked my position on the GPS and was lined up with the runway, only 2 miles out, but I couldn't see it. I reached what is called the "decision height" and leveled as I glanced up and down from the instruments to the windshield and back.

Like the light at the end of a tunnel, the runway numbers solidified in my vision, and seconds later I was flaring for the landing. Yes.