PA28 PLTS WERE UNSURE WHETHER THEY PENETRATED TFR AIRSPACE. THEY ALSO RPT THE FAA DUATS SYS IS UNRELIABLE.

Narrative

WE WERE ON A FLT FROM ILG TO HFD. I FILED MY IFR FLT PLAN THROUGH DUATS. WHEN WE REQUESTED A CLRNC FROM ILG GND; WE WERE TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING IN THE SYS. RATHER THAN BE DELAYED; WE ELECTED TO PROCEED VFR BACK TO HFD. WE WERE RECEIVING VFR RADAR ADVISORIES THROUGHOUT OUR TRIP N. I WAS ACTING AS SAFETY PLT FOR THE OTHER PLT FLYING UNDER THE HOOD. WE APCHED THE NEW YORK CITY AREA AND WE WERE AWARE OF THE TFR AROUND GND ZERO. BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE SUN WAS SHINING; I DID NOT REALIZE HOW CLOSE WE HAD GOTTEN TO NYC. I DON'T BELIEVE WE ACTUALLY WENT THROUGH THE TFR; BUT WE WERE CLOSER THAN I WOULD HAVE WANTED. BECAUSE THE TFR IS NOT CHARTED; IT WAS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE JUST HOW MUCH WE MISSED IT BY. WE WERE NOT GIVEN ANY WARNINGS FROM THE APCH CTLR THAT WE WERE GOING TO ENTER THE TFR. SINCE WE HAD NOT EXPECTED TO FLY VFR; WE WERE NOT AS PREPARED AS WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO FLY IN THIS AREA. IFR FLT PLANS FILED BY DUATS HAVE NOT BEEN AVAILABLE TO ME NUMEROUS TIMES; EVEN THOUGH I GET A CONFIRMATION MESSAGE WHEN I FILE IT.