A C172 PLT BELIEVES HE PENETRATED THE MIL AIRSPACE BY CARSWELL AFB IN TEXAS.

Narrative

ON OCT/XA/98 I TOOK OFF FROM GRANBURY; TX; (F55) FOR 1 HR OF TRAINING IN A RENTED C172. MY INTENTION WAS TO PERFORM SOME TOUCH-AND-GO LNDGS AT CLEBURNE; TX. I HAD BEEN TO CLEBURNE WITH AN INSTRUCTOR ABOUT 18 MONTHS PRIOR TO THIS DATE. THE SECTOR MAP SHOWS A LAKE NEAR THE ARPT. PRIOR TO TKOF; I LINED UP WITH THE RWY AND SET THE DIRECTIONAL GYRO. AFTER CLBOUT; THE GYRO STILL WAS NOT AGREEING WITH THE MAGNETIC COMPASS. THE CORRECTIONAL KNOB WAS NOT RELEASING THE INST. I SET IT THE SECOND TIME WITH NO RESULTS. THEN I USED THE HAND-HELD GPS AND SET IT FOR F18; THE ARPT SYMBOL FOR CLEBURNE ARPT. IT WAS A VERY BRIGHT DAY; AND IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO READ THE GPS SCREEN. SO I SET UP THE MOVING MAP WHICH IS EASIER TO FOLLOW. I FOLLOWED THE MOVING MAP TO AN ARPT WITH A LAKE CLOSE BY. I CALLED CLEBURNE UNICOM AND WAS INFORMED THAT THEY WERE USING RWY 33 WITH A L APCH. THERE WERE NO ACFT IN THE PATTERN. I COMPLETED 4 TOUCH-AND-GO LNDGS FOLLOWING THE PROC OF ANNOUNCING THE DOWNWIND; BASE AND FINAL ON EACH LNDG USING FREQ 122.8. I LEFT THE PATTERN AND RETURNED TO GRANBURY USING THE GPS. THE PROB IS USING THE GPS WITHOUT XCHKING AGAINST OTHER SYS (MAGNETIC COMPASS OR VORS). I AM NOT SURE WHETHER I ENTERED THE INCORRECT SYMBOL OR THE GPS MALFUNCTIONED. I HAD NO INTENTION OF VIOLATING MIL AIRSPACE.