While practicing instrument flying in VFR conditions; the pilot flying became disoriented and entere...

Narrative:

I started the procedure turn at the VOR where I started outbound course on a heading of 270 and after 1 minute began my parallel procedure turn by turning back to a heading of 30 and looking to intercept the 270 radial with a 090 and to indication on the VOR. After getting to heading of 30 degrees I waited for the radial to come and it didn't so while trying to figure out what radial I was on; I accidently turned left to a heading of 330 and entered a restricted area. The controller notified me of this and I took action to turn back southwest toward the VOR and once again trying to determine the radial I was on. At this point I became disoriented and I lost about 1;000 ft of altitude and as I was about 1;500 ft and I began to recover and return to the altitude of 2;500 ft when the controller contacted me and advised me to simply to return to the airport and asked if I felt comfortable to perform an ILS approach; and concurred that I did feel comfortable to perform it. I then received vectors for the ILS approach into my home airport and then proceeded to land and after landing and performing the after landing checklist. I called approach to cancel my IFR flight plan. While I'm an IFR rated pilot and current; I do realize that I need more training before trying to perform these approaches alone in IMC. This was a valuable learning experience for me. It also has made me realize what my current limitations are in terms of IFR flying.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: While practicing instrument flying in VFR conditions; the pilot flying became disoriented and entered restricted airspace. When this was pointed out by ATC; the pilot exited the airspace but also descended 1;000 FT prior to becoming re-established at his cleared altitude.

Narrative: I started the procedure turn at the VOR where I started outbound course on a heading of 270 and after 1 minute began my parallel procedure turn by turning back to a heading of 30 and looking to intercept the 270 radial with a 090 and to indication on the VOR. After getting to heading of 30 degrees I waited for the radial to come and it didn't so while trying to figure out what radial I was on; I accidently turned left to a heading of 330 and entered a restricted area. The Controller notified me of this and I took action to turn back southwest toward the VOR and once again trying to determine the radial I was on. At this point I became disoriented and I lost about 1;000 FT of altitude and as I was about 1;500 FT and I began to recover and return to the altitude of 2;500 FT when the Controller contacted me and advised me to simply to return to the airport and asked if I felt comfortable to perform an ILS approach; and concurred that I did feel comfortable to perform it. I then received vectors for the ILS approach into my home airport and then proceeded to land and after landing and performing the After Landing Checklist. I called Approach to cancel my IFR flight plan. While I'm an IFR rated pilot and current; I do realize that I need more training before trying to perform these approaches alone in IMC. This was a valuable learning experience for me. It also has made me realize what my current limitations are in terms of IFR flying.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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	1088577
Time
Date	201305
Place
Locale Reference	OKB.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 7.1 Flight Crew Total 334 Flight Crew Type 233.2
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

While practicing instrument flying in VFR conditions; the pilot flying became disoriented and entered restricted airspace. When this was pointed out by ATC; the pilot exited the airspace but also descended 1;000 ft prior to becoming re-established at his cleared altitude.