A PA28-180 PLT; ON AN IFR FLT PLAN; MADE HEADING AND ALTDEV WHEN IN ZDC AIRSPACE.

Narrative

I WAS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN FROM HFY GREENWOOD; IN; TO GAITHERSBURG; MD (GAI). WE WERE IN AND OUT OF IMC FOR THE LAST 50 MI OR SO. I HAD BEEN WITH ZID FOR SOME TIME AND HAD BEEN RECEIVING THEM; BUT HAD NOT BEEN HANDED OFF AS YET. I TRIED SEVERAL TIMES TO REACH ZID BUT WAS UNABLE. I THEN PULLED THE NEAREST CTR FREQ ON THE GPS WHICH WAS ZDC. I TOLD THEM I HAD NOT BEEN HANDED OFF BY ZID. MY CLRNC WAS DIRECT TO GAI. ZDC THEN AMENDED MY CLRNC DIRECT TO MARTINSBURG; THEN FREDRICK; THEN GAI. I WAS ATTEMPTING TO FIND THE IDENTIFIER AND FREQ FOR MARTINSBURG. WHILE LOOKING AT THE CHART; I ALLOWED MY ALT TO DROP 300 FT AND WAS TOLD BY THE CTLR HE WAS SHOWING ME 300 FT LOW. I CORRECTED ALT. I INPUT; INCORRECTLY; MARTINSVILLE; VA; INSTEAD OF MARTINSBURG; WV. I TURNED TO AN INCORRECT HEADING OF 231 DEGS AND REALIZED THIS WAS INCORRECT. I THEN CALLED CTR AND ASKED FOR VECTORS TO MARTINSBURG; WV; UNTIL I COULD GET PROPERLY SET UP. AT THIS TIME; I WAS STILL MIXED IMC. THE PROB WAS DUE TO MY NOT HAVING BOTH ENRTE CHARTS L24 AND L22 OUT. I WAS OPERATING FROM L22 WHEN THE CLRNC WAS CHANGED. I WAS THEN UNABLE TO LOCATE THE L24 CHART AND MAINTAIN ALT. AFTER I WAS TOLD THEN; AND CORRECTED THE ALTDEV; I ALLOWED MYSELF TO BECOME RATTLED WHEN I SHOULD HAVE ASKED IMMEDIATELY FOR VECTORS TO MARTINSBURG AND ASKED THE CTLR TO STAND BY WHILE I WAS GETTING SET UP. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS WERE THE VISIBILITY; THE CONCERN WITH THE HDOF FROM INDY TO ZDC AND MY CONCERN WITH FLYING INTO THE ADIZ AREA WHICH GAI LAYS IN. THE CTLR WAS VERY PATIENT; GIVING WHAT I NEEDED TO CORRECT THE SIT. MY LIMITED IFR EXPERIENCE IN THE AIRSPACE AROUND WASHINGTON DC AREA IS ALSO A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR. THE INCIDENT COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED WITH BETTER COCKPIT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ON MY PART. WE HAD NO PROB ON THE RETURN TRIP FROM GAI BACK TO HFY; KEEPING ALL NECESSARY CHARTS READILY AVAILABLE.