Narrative:

I went on a short training flight solo and got lost. I could not find my way back to my home airport. I went west to our practice area for some slow flight and turns around a point and some south turns. I drifted south much more than I believed and when I turned east to go back to my home airport; I realized I was lost. I spent an hour or so trying to find a landmark I recognized to no avail. After approximately 2 hours in the air I was concerned about my fuel supply. I had only about 15 gallons on board when I left. I was increasingly concerned about running out of fuel and crashing. I had previously believed I would find my way back home and made a bad decision to pass up a couple of small airports where I could have landed and refueled. By the time I saw ZZZ airport I was convinced I was in an emergency situation and had to land and refuel.unfortunately; I had not brought my sectional chart with me that day and could not use it to help me find some recognizable landmarks. I also had nothing with me to give me the radio frequencies of any airports or towers. I felt I could not contact the tower at ZZZ so as I was fearful of fuel starvation; I decided it was better to land and not crash. I carefully observed no traffic in the vicinity of ZZZ and no planes moving on the ground even.I decided I must land. Unfortunately; I did not think of trying to get the tower's attention and get a green light permission to land. I was not even sure that towers gave permission to land by lights in these modern times. I know now that they still do that. I called the tower by phone that I borrowed and apologized and gave them my name; tail number and phone number. I got the tower frequencies from the FBO and established radio contact with the tower and ground control. I got permission to taxi and clearance to takeoff and went on my way to my home base.I learned many valuable lessons that day.first; I learned to always take everything I might need; even on a short flight near my own airport. Charts; navigation aids on my phone which I had left in my car; full gas tanks; letting someone know where I was going and how soon I should be back; which I did not do that day. I know now that even if I lose my radios; I know to squawk 7600 and wait for a light signal from the tower before I attempt to land.I made many questionable or downright bad decisions that day due to poor decision making and not ever having been lost before. But; I do learn from my mistakes and this situation if it ever happens that I am lost or low on fuel will never find me so ill prepared.I did two hours of ground instruction with my CFI friend today on what to do if [I get] lost and how to prevent getting lost in the first place; and how to contact someone by radio or phone to help me in such situations. I deeply regret my entering class delta airspace as I have never had any problems and do realize that I might have put others; in the air or on the ground; in jeopardy. Thankfully no one was hurt and no property was damaged.I now know that I must be prepared every time I go up in the air for any unforeseen circumstance. I believe I will be a much safer pilot and more skillful pilot because of this event.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GA pilot reported becoming disoriented and unable to locate the departure airport; concerned about fuel exhaustion; landed unannounced at a nearby Class D airport.

Narrative: I went on a short training flight solo and got lost. I could not find my way back to my home airport. I went west to our practice area for some slow flight and turns around a point and some S turns. I drifted south much more than I believed and when I turned east to go back to my home airport; I realized I was lost. I spent an hour or so trying to find a landmark I recognized to no avail. After approximately 2 hours in the air I was concerned about my fuel supply. I had only about 15 gallons on board when I left. I was increasingly concerned about running out of fuel and crashing. I had previously believed I would find my way back home and made a bad decision to pass up a couple of small airports where I could have landed and refueled. By the time I saw ZZZ Airport I was convinced I was in an emergency situation and had to land and refuel.Unfortunately; I had not brought my sectional chart with me that day and could not use it to help me find some recognizable landmarks. I also had nothing with me to give me the radio frequencies of any airports or towers. I felt I could not contact the Tower at ZZZ so as I was fearful of fuel starvation; I decided it was better to land and not crash. I carefully observed no traffic in the vicinity of ZZZ and no planes moving on the ground even.I decided I must land. Unfortunately; I did not think of trying to get the Tower's attention and get a green light permission to land. I was not even sure that towers gave permission to land by lights in these modern times. I know now that they still do that. I called the tower by phone that I borrowed and apologized and gave them my name; tail number and phone number. I got the tower frequencies from the FBO and established radio contact with the Tower and Ground Control. I got permission to taxi and clearance to takeoff and went on my way to my home base.I learned many valuable lessons that day.First; I learned to always take everything I might need; even on a short flight near my own airport. Charts; navigation aids on my phone which I had left in my car; full gas tanks; letting someone know where I was going and how soon I should be back; which I did not do that day. I know now that even if I lose my radios; I know to Squawk 7600 and wait for a light signal from the Tower before I attempt to land.I made many questionable or downright bad decisions that day due to poor decision making and not ever having been lost before. But; I do learn from my mistakes and this situation if it ever happens that I am lost or low on fuel will never find me so ill prepared.I did two hours of ground instruction with my CFI friend today on what to do if [I get] lost and how to prevent getting lost in the first place; and how to contact someone by radio or phone to help me in such situations. I deeply regret my entering Class Delta airspace as I have never had any problems and do realize that I might have put others; in the air or on the ground; in jeopardy. Thankfully no one was hurt and no property was damaged.I now know that I must be prepared every time I go up in the air for any unforeseen circumstance. I believe I will be a much safer pilot and more skillful pilot because of this event.

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.