GENERAL AVIATION PLT ENTERS PROHIBITED AREA P-40 WHILE ENRTE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN.

Date: 2003-03 · Aircraft: Small Transport; Low Wing; 2 Recip Eng

Anomalies: airspace-violation-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

GENERAL AVIATION PLT ENTERS PROHIBITED AREA P-40 WHILE ENRTE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN.

Narrative

THE INCIDENT OCCURRED ON FRI/MARCH/03; ON A FLT CONDUCTED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PARTICIPATING ENRTE AND TERMINAL INSTRUMENT PROCS. I ACTED AS PIC AND HAD AS MY SAFETY PLT A CFII WITH A CURRENT INSTRUCTOR'S LICENSE. THE WX WAS MIXED IMC AND VMC. AFTER CHECKING WX; I FILED AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM MY HOME ARPT; JYO; TO LNS AS WELL AS ONE FOR THE RETURN FLT. THE FLT TO LNS WAS UNEVENTFUL; AS WERE MULTIPLE INSTRUMENT APCHES. FOLLOWING THE LAST APCH WE MADE A FULL STOP LNDG; AND PICKED UP OUR CLRNC TO RETURN TO JYO. THE ROUTING ASSIGNED WAS VIA V143 TO MULRR INTXN; DIRECT ARMEL; DIRECT JYO. DEP WAS UNEVENTFUL; AND WE INTERCEPTED V143. WE NOTED A SE WIND WHICH REQUIRED ME TO APPLY SOME CORRECTION TO THE L; HOWEVER BOTH VOR'S SHOWED US TO BE WITHIN 2 DEGS OF THE AIRWAY CENTERLINE (THE VOR'S WERE WITHIN 1 TO 2 DEGS AGREEMENT). WE WERE HANDED OFF FROM HARRISBURG APCH CTL TO BALTIMORE APCH CTL. MULRR INTXN LIES IN PROXIMITY TO THE SE BORDER OF P-40; THE AIRSPACE SURROUNDING CAMP DAVID; MD. APPROX ONE QUARTER TO ONE HALF MILE NE OF MULRR INTXN; I INITIATED A L TURN IN THE DIRECTION OF ARMEL; OUR NEXT FIX. AFTER COMPLETING ABOUT HALF OF THIS TURN TO APPROX 190 DEGS; BALTIMORE APCH INFORMED US THAT WE WERE INSIDE P-40; AND TO IMMEDIATELY TURN TO A HEADING OF 180 DEGS. MOMENTS AFTER WE ROLLED OUT ON THAT HEADING WE WERE ORDERED TO TURN FURTHER LEFT TO 090 DEGS; WHICH WE IMMEDIATELY DID. SUBSEQUENTLY WE WERE VECTORED BACK TO A SOUTHERLY HEADING. SHORTLY THEREAFTER WE WERE HANDED OFF TO WASHINGTON CENTER. AFTER WE ESTABLISHED CONTACT; WASHINGTON INSTRUCTED US TO PROCEED DIRECT TO MULRR; EVEN THOUGH BY NOW WE WERE WELL SOUTH-SW OF MULRR; AND TO RETURN TO MULRR WOULD HAVE TAKEN US IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM OUR DESTINATION. PRIOR TO OUR INITIATING THE TURN TO MULRR HOWEVER; WE WERE GIVEN INSTEAD A VECTOR TOWARD OUR DESTINATION; JYO. WE PERFORMED AN UNEVENTFUL APCH IN IMC AND LANDED. AS REQUESTED; I CONTACTED BOTH BALTIMORE APCH AND WASHINGTON CENTER BY TELEPHONE AFTER LNDG. BALTIMORE INFORMED ME THAT THEY SHOWED US PROCEEDING 'WBND' INTO P-40. ALTHOUGH WE CERTAINLY WERE TRAVELING SW BOUND (COURSES OF 248 DEGS AND 245 DEGS ON V143); WE NEVER KNOWINGLY PROCEEDED STRICTLY WBND. IN THE TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS; EITHER BALTIMORE OR WASHINGTON ALSO STATED THAT WE WERE IN A R TURN; HOWEVER THIS IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND; SINCE OUR FLT PLAN REQUIRED US TO; AND WE DID; TURN L AT MULRR. MOST SIGNIFICANTLY; BASED UPON OUR NAVIGATION DOWN V143 AND OUR APPROPRIATE L TURN; WE ARE UNABLE TO EXPLAIN HOW WE COULD HAVE BEEN; AS ALLEGED; INSIDE P-40. ONCE WE HAD COMPLETED THE TURNS AS DIRECTED BY THE VECTORS GIVEN US TO THE S; THEN E; IT WAS ALSO NOT CLEAR WHY WE WERE THEN TOLD TO PROCEED DIRECT BACK TO MULRR; IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION FROM OUR DESTINATION. THESE SEEMING INCONSISTENCIES LED US TO WONDER IF WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN MOMENTARILY CONFUSED WITH ANOTHER ACFT. BOTH THE INSTRUCTOR AND I ARE LOCALLY BASED AND FAMILIAR WITH THE AIRSPACE; AND THE INSTRUCTOR HAD FLOWN THE SAME RTE ON THE PRECEDING WEEK UNEVENTFULLY. ADDITIONALLY; PRIOR TO THE ALLEGED TRANSGRESSION; WE DID NOT RECEIVE A RADIO XMISSION INDICATING THAT OUR COURSE MADE IT LIKELY THAT WE WOULD ENTER P-40. BASED UPON OUR INSTRUMENT INDICATIONS I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT WE COULD HAVE ENTERED P-40. HOWEVER; IN REVIEWING THE ENRTE CHARTS; I DISCOVERED A CHART DISCREPANCY THAT MAY PROVIDE AN EXPLANATION. WE WERE NAVIGATING USING NOS IFR LOW ALT ENRTE L-24. WE IDENTIFIED MULRR USING DME FROM LANCASTER VOR. THE FIX PRIOR TO MULRR IS HYPER; WHICH IS 50 DME FROM LANCASTER. THE RTE SEGMENT BTWN HYPER AND MULRR IS PUBLISHED AS 8 NM ON THIS CHART; PUTTING MULRR AT 58 DME FROM LANCASTER. THUS WE HAD INITIATED OUR L TURN IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO REACHING 58 DME. TO CORROBORATE THIS; I LOOKED UP THIS SECTOR ON L-28; WHICH HAS OVERLAPPING COVERAGE OF THE AREA IN QUESTION. INTERESTINGLY; L-28 NOTES THE RTE SEGMENT BTWN HYPER AND MULRR TO BE 6 NM; NOT 8. ADDING UP THE RTE SEGMENTS BTWN LANCASTER AND MARTINSBURG ON THIS AIRWAY YIELDS THE CORRECT TOTAL OF 84 NM WHEN 6 NM IS USED FOR THE DISTANCE BTWN HYPER AND MULRR; ON L-24; WHERE THAT SEGMENT IS PUBLISHED AS 8 NM; THE SEGMENTS DO NOT ADD UP TO THE PUBLISHED 84; BUT INSTEAD TO 86 MILES. THIS SUGGESTS THAT THE 8 NM PUBLISHED ON L-24 IS AN ERROR. (TO GET A 'THIRD OPINION'; I CHECKED THE CURRENT LOW ALT CHART FOR THIS AREA; LOW ENRTE 47. THIS CHART ALSO STATES THE DISTANCE BTWN HYPER AND MULRR TO BE 6 MILES. HOWEVER; IT LISTS HYPER AS BEING 51 DME FROM LANCASTER; NOT 50 AS ON THE NOS CHARTS). IF THE CORRECT DISTANCE FROM HYPER TO MULRR IS 6 NM AND NOT 8; THEN WE FLEW 2 MILES PAST MULRR; LOOKING FOR 58 DME INSTEAD OF 56; BASED UPON THE PUBLISHING ERROR ON THE CHART. TWO MILES PAST MULRR IS ROBRT INTXN; WHICH APPEARS TO INTERSECT THE 5 NM RADIUS BORDER OF P-40. RECOMMENDATION: THE AREA IN QUESTION IS HIGH TFC DENSITY AIRSPACE; AND THE AIRWAY AND INTERSECTIONS DESCRIBED COME IN EXTREMELY CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE PROHIBITED AREA. MY RECOMMENDATION; IN ADDITION TO CORRECTING ANY ERRORS ON THE ENRTE CHARTS; IS TO ESTABLISH DIFFERENT ROUTINGS IN THIS AREA THAT WILL KEEP TFC AT GREATER DISTANCES FROM THE BORDERS OF PROHIBITED AIRSPACE.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.