Narrative:

I was leading a 3 plane formation on a VFR departure from ZZZ. We had coordinated with TRACON to depart VFR and fly 15-20NM south at 4500ft to a bridge on the mississippi river then descend to 2000ft and turn back north to fly up the river past downtown for a photo exercise. After departure; the flight was told to continue on runway heading and climb to 4500 ft. The flight was then given a turn to the south and then to the southeast. At this point; the flight was just a above the scattered layer partially obscuring the ground. I caught of glimpse of a river and bridge and from my distance from ZZZ determined this was the start point I was looking for to fly up the river. I then asked TRACON for a turn back to the right and a descent down to 2;000ft to what I thought was the bridge I was looking for. I was cleared as requested and as I was in the maneuver the controller reported radar contact lost. I continued the turn and descent to 2000ft and as I rolled out; the controller again called lost radar contact and asked that I cycle my IFF. He then asked for our position which I reported as 15 miles southeast of ZZZ. At this point I noticed a small airport just a couple miles ahead and just off to my nose. I initiated a climb to 3;000ft at this point thinking that I just went into class D airspace. Seeing the airport made me realize I was by the wrong river and bridge. I was 15 miles southwest of ZZZ not southeast which is where I thought I was. I initiated a turn back to the east when the controller reported radar contact again and confirmed that I was about 15 miles to the west of the correct bridge. Spatial disorientation caused this episode and led to a possible incursion into class D airspace. It could have been prevented by using the airplane's navigation system as a cross-check of my position instead of solely relying on visual navigation; especially with a cloud layer obscuring parts of the ground and having similar terrain over large parts of the area. TRACON could have been more help but losing radar contact and handling multiple airplanes at the time prevented any assistance from him. As a follow-on; we did find the right bridge and TRACON was very helpful in calling out conflicting traffic during the rest of this evolution.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight of three military fighter aircraft become disorientated during photo mission. Finding the Missouri River instead of the Mississippi they inadvertently enter ZZZ1 class D airspace.

Narrative: I was leading a 3 plane formation on a VFR departure from ZZZ. We had coordinated with TRACON to depart VFR and fly 15-20NM south at 4500ft to a bridge on the Mississippi River then descend to 2000ft and turn back north to fly up the river past downtown for a photo exercise. After departure; the flight was told to continue on RWY heading and climb to 4500 ft. The flight was then given a turn to the south and then to the southeast. At this point; the flight was just a above the scattered layer partially obscuring the ground. I caught of glimpse of a river and bridge and from my distance from ZZZ determined this was the start point I was looking for to fly up the river. I then asked TRACON for a turn back to the right and a descent down to 2;000ft to what I thought was the bridge I was looking for. I was cleared as requested and as I was in the maneuver the controller reported radar contact lost. I continued the turn and descent to 2000ft and as I rolled out; the controller again called lost radar contact and asked that I cycle my IFF. He then asked for our position which I reported as 15 miles southeast of ZZZ. At this point I noticed a small airport just a couple miles ahead and just off to my nose. I initiated a climb to 3;000ft at this point thinking that I just went into Class D airspace. Seeing the airport made me realize I was by the wrong river and bridge. I was 15 miles southwest of ZZZ not southeast which is where I thought I was. I initiated a turn back to the east when the controller reported radar contact again and confirmed that I was about 15 miles to the west of the correct bridge. Spatial disorientation caused this episode and led to a possible incursion into Class D airspace. It could have been prevented by using the airplane's navigation system as a cross-check of my position instead of solely relying on visual navigation; especially with a cloud layer obscuring parts of the ground and having similar terrain over large parts of the area. TRACON could have been more help but losing radar contact and handling multiple airplanes at the time prevented any assistance from him. As a follow-on; we did find the right bridge and TRACON was very helpful in calling out conflicting traffic during the rest of this evolution.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.