A pilot reported that he became distracted while navigating with an ipad and failed to realized he h...

Attributes
ACN	947983
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MTN.Airport
State Reference	MD
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 2 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Component
Aircraft Component	Electronic Flt Bag (EFB)
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 10000 Flight Crew Type 1200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Narrative:

[Was in] level cruise at 1;500 ft MSL heading northeast. Had [a] paper sectional chart and new ipad with scanned sectional chart (both current). Was using ATC for sfra services and was terminated north of bwi. Began to use ipad for navigation; but had it 'zoomed in' too far and lost track of the big picture. Saw mtn visually about 3 NM from my position and realized I had to be within their airspace and I didn't even have the frequency to call. I turned away; watched for traffic; and when well clear of traffic; I looked up the tower frequency and radioed to make sure there had been no conflict. Controller was very professional and fair; reminding me of my obligation to contact the tower and the fact that he had a formation flight inbound whose path I crossed under. Hind sight says that I should have converted my sfra radar service into flight following. Obviously; I [should have] spent more time consulting the real sectional chart; or even my moving map GPS instead of becoming distracted with the new gadget for the information. The shape of the class D airspace northwest of mtn is not circular and I did not notice the straight edge of the airspace on the moving map until too late. A more common circular dashed line would have immediately perked up my suspicion; prior to entry.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot reported that he became distracted while navigating with an iPad and failed to realized he had entered class D airspace until he visually sighted the airport.

Narrative: [Was in] level cruise at 1;500 FT MSL heading NE. Had [a] paper sectional chart and new iPad with scanned sectional chart (both current). Was using ATC for SFRA services and was terminated north of BWI. Began to use iPad for navigation; but had it 'zoomed in' too far and lost track of the big picture. Saw MTN visually about 3 NM from my position and realized I had to be within their airspace and I didn't even have the frequency to call. I turned away; watched for traffic; and when well clear of traffic; I looked up the Tower frequency and radioed to make sure there had been no conflict. Controller was very professional and fair; reminding me of my obligation to contact the Tower and the fact that he had a formation flight inbound whose path I crossed under. Hind sight says that I should have converted my SFRA radar service into flight following. Obviously; I [should have] spent more time consulting the real sectional chart; or even my moving map GPS instead of becoming distracted with the new gadget for the information. The shape of the class D airspace northwest of MTN is not circular and I did not notice the straight edge of the airspace on the moving map until too late. A more common circular dashed line would have immediately perked up my suspicion; prior to entry.

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.

A pilot reported that he became distracted while navigating with an ipad and failed to realized he had entered class D airspace until he visually sighted the airport.