Narrative:

I departed from dpa; dupage airport for a return flight home. First time flying into or out of chicago class B airspace. I requested flight following while on the ground at dupage ground and was denied the squawk code and told to ask for flight following once in the air from chicago departure. Dupage tower gave me a right traffic clearance (southwest) and set up a gentle climb to 3;900 feet. (Autopilot inop). During my climb my ipad screen went dead. Lost all ipod visuals. At the time of the power loss; my screen showed my geo referenced mini airplane just approaching the class B airspace ring. I was radioing in for my flight following squawk code and had just received it and was in the process of tuning in my code into the transponder. I was unnerved with the loss of my ipad and was trying to power up the unit when I got a call from the chicago center controller yelling at me; which did nothing but make the situation more tense. At that time I was most concerned with aviating due to thermals and choppy air during the climbout. There is no excuse for penetrating the 4;000 foot airspace ring. I made a mistake. I was rattled due to the loss of my VFR direct ipad screen. I honestly thought I was beyond the class B ring but evidently I was very wrong. I am a new private pilot and this was the first time flying in or out of class B O'hare airspace; not that it should be any different or any harder than any other airspace. Rules are rules and I made a mistake. I was shaken by the loss of my ipad direct screen; and angry controller and choppy air during the climb out from dupage. I am embarrassed and very sorry for making a mistake like that. I assure you I will not let it happen again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: GA pilot reported a Class B airspace violation due to a loss of EFB GPS information.

Narrative: I departed from DPA; DuPage airport for a return flight home. First time flying into or out of Chicago Class B airspace. I requested flight following while on the ground at DuPage Ground and was denied the squawk code and told to ask for flight following once in the air from Chicago departure. DuPage tower gave me a right traffic clearance (southwest) and set up a gentle climb to 3;900 feet. (autopilot inop). During my climb my iPad screen went dead. Lost all Ipod visuals. At the time of the power loss; my screen showed my geo referenced mini airplane just approaching the Class B airspace ring. I was radioing in for my flight following squawk code and had just received it and was in the process of tuning in my code into the transponder. I was unnerved with the loss of my iPad and was trying to power up the unit when I got a call from the Chicago Center controller yelling at me; which did nothing but make the situation more tense. At that time I was most concerned with aviating due to thermals and choppy air during the climbout. There is no excuse for penetrating the 4;000 foot airspace ring. I made a mistake. I was rattled due to the loss of my VFR Direct iPad screen. I honestly thought I was beyond the Class B ring but evidently I was very wrong. I am a new private pilot and this was the first time flying in or out of Class B O'hare airspace; not that it should be any different or any harder than any other airspace. Rules are rules and I made a mistake. I was shaken by the loss of my iPad direct screen; and angry controller and choppy air during the climb out from DuPage. I am embarrassed and very sorry for making a mistake like that. I assure you I will not let it happen again.

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.