BE35 pilot reports diverting to hdc due to weather at his destination and discovering too late that ...

Narrative:

I inadvertently entered class D airspace at hdc. I've landed at that airport dozens of times but not since last october. Apparently in january an ATC control tower was activated. I wasn't aware of that and while diverting to hdc to land during thunderstorm conditions and flying on partial panel due to an inflight instrument air pump failure (although in VFR conditions) I had little to no time to obtain airport information except to consult my chart (current electronic chart on foreflight mobile) which showed hdc as an uncontrolled airport.this apparent airspace issue occurred because I was unable to understand ATC (new orleans approach) [and] possibly the controller tried to give me the tower frequency but I was unable to understand it. I heard 125.70 but thought he was giving me the AWOS frequency; or unicom which is 122.70 (tower at hdc is 120.57.) prior to trying to contact new orleans approach my radios had worked perfectly on this three hour flight. My electronic chart; which was downloaded just 3 days prior; didn't show hdc as a towered airport (despite there being a tower for 6 months apparently.) I got a briefing prior to departure; but I had not intended to land at hdc until thunderstorms prevented us from reaching [our original destination;] so [I] didn't get airport information for hdc. Landing at hdc was a last minute decision to get on the ground and avoid rapidly developing thunderstorms. This type event could be prevented if electronic charts are updated more frequently than paper charts! In the information age; pilots ought to be able to rely on the information in electronic charts; especially those suited for ads-B platforms like foreflight; which have been downloaded 3 days prior and especially if that information (activation of a control tower) occurred 6 months previously. These efb type systems are highly touted to pilots as the future of aviation and what all will be using in just two years; but in this case were no more beneficial than paper charts. Electronic charts should be updated more frequently than paper charts; even VFR charts like I was using; or pilots should be warned that they are no more useful than the paper charts.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE35 pilot reports diverting to HDC due to weather at his destination and discovering too late that the airport now has a Tower. Apparently the Tower was activated over six months ago but current electronic VFR charts do not indicate the Class D status.

Narrative: I inadvertently entered Class D airspace at HDC. I've landed at that airport dozens of times but not since last October. Apparently in January an ATC control tower was activated. I wasn't aware of that and while diverting to HDC to land during thunderstorm conditions and flying on partial panel due to an inflight instrument air pump failure (although in VFR conditions) I had little to no time to obtain airport information except to consult my chart (current electronic chart on Foreflight mobile) which showed HDC as an uncontrolled airport.This apparent airspace issue occurred because I was unable to understand ATC (New Orleans Approach) [and] possibly the controller tried to give me the tower frequency but I was unable to understand it. I heard 125.70 but thought he was giving me the AWOS frequency; or UNICOM which is 122.70 (Tower at HDC is 120.57.) Prior to trying to contact New Orleans Approach my radios had worked perfectly on this three hour flight. My electronic chart; which was downloaded just 3 days prior; didn't show HDC as a towered airport (despite there being a tower for 6 months apparently.) I got a briefing prior to departure; but I had not intended to land at HDC until thunderstorms prevented us from reaching [our original destination;] so [I] didn't get airport information for HDC. Landing at HDC was a last minute decision to get on the ground and avoid rapidly developing thunderstorms. This type event could be prevented if electronic charts are updated more frequently than paper charts! In the information age; pilots ought to be able to rely on the information in electronic charts; especially those suited for ADS-B platforms like Foreflight; which have been downloaded 3 days prior and especially if that information (activation of a control tower) occurred 6 months previously. These EFB type systems are highly touted to pilots as the future of aviation and what all will be using in just two years; but in this case were no more beneficial than paper charts. Electronic charts should be updated more frequently than paper charts; even VFR charts like I was using; or pilots should be warned that they are no more useful than the paper charts.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1274581
Time
Date	201506
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	HDC.Airport
State Reference	LA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 35
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 5 Flight Crew Total 2125 Flight Crew Type 1380
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

BE35 pilot reports diverting to hdc due to weather at his destination and discovering too late that the airport now has a tower. Apparently the tower was activated over six months ago but current electronic VFR charts do not indicate the class D status.