A PA-28 pilot; attempting to make up time on a long cross country by flying direct VMC routes vice o...

Attributes
ACN	913817
Time
Date	201010
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	WAL.Airport
State Reference	VA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	GPS & Other Satellite Navigation
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 88 Flight Crew Total 148.1 Flight Crew Type 9.6
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

I was on a long cross country trip. I just landed at a nearby airport to refuel. I was in the clouds for the last 2 hours on an IFR flight plan. I had traveled almost 80 NM extra as opposed to flying a direct route. I wanted to make my next leg of the trip VFR and a direct route. The clouds were low at approximately 2;500-3;000 ft. I was flying VFR when I noticed on my GPS screen that I was coming up on some air space that I just assumed was the outline of the class east airspace when the class D airport (wal) was closed. After looking at the sectional I realized that it was not class east I was in but rather restricted airspace. The cloud bases were low and my main concentration was to avoid the clouds and class D airspace near by. I was unfamiliar with the area and did not realize until it was too late but I had inadvertently entered restricted airspace 6604A & 6604B in northern virginia. I left the area as soon as I realized my mistake. I was not in radio contact with any facility at the time. I learned that you must study your route of flight thoroughly and maybe making up for lost time is not always the best way of doing things.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-28 pilot; attempting to make up time on a long cross country by flying direct VMC routes vice on an IFR flight plan; discovered he had penetrated a restricted area.

Narrative: I was on a long cross country trip. I just landed at a nearby airport to refuel. I was in the clouds for the last 2 HRS on an IFR flight plan. I had traveled almost 80 NM extra as opposed to flying a direct route. I wanted to make my next leg of the trip VFR and a direct route. The clouds were low at approximately 2;500-3;000 FT. I was flying VFR when I noticed on my GPS screen that I was coming up on some air space that I just assumed was the outline of the Class E airspace when the Class D airport (WAL) was closed. After looking at the sectional I realized that it was not Class E I was in but rather restricted airspace. The cloud bases were low and my main concentration was to avoid the clouds and Class D airspace near by. I was unfamiliar with the area and did not realize until it was too late but I had inadvertently entered restricted airspace 6604A & 6604B in northern Virginia. I left the area as soon as I realized my mistake. I was not in radio contact with any facility at the time. I learned that you must study your route of flight thoroughly and maybe making up for lost time is not always the best way of doing things.

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.