GA SMA UNAUTH PENETRATION OF AIRSPACE N90.

Narrative

THE POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE HAPPENED DURING A RETURN TRIP TO WALL KILL; NY FROM PHILADELPHIA; PA; IN 3/88. ONE OF THE PAX WAS A FLT INSTRUCTOR WITH WHOM I WORKED. ON THE RETURN; IT WAS ONLY THE OTHER CFI AND MYSELF IN THE ACFT. I WAS ELECTED TO FLY THE RETURN TRIP AS PIC. I HAD NOT FLOWN UNDER INST REF IN NEARLY 19 MONTHS--I ASKED MY FRIEND IF HE WOULD MIND IF I DID SOME TIME UNDER THE HOOD. HE EAGERLY AGREED SINCE HE WAS A NEW CFI AND HAD NOT FLOWN WITH ANOTHER PLT UNDER THE HOOD. IT SOON BECAME APPARENT THAT I WAS HAVING TO WORK/THINK HARDER THAN USUAL AS I WAS TIRING EASILY. WHEN I RETURNED TO VISUAL REF FLT WE WERE APCHING SOLBERG VOR; I THOUGHT. MY FRIEND TUNED THE VOR TO HUGUENOT AND VISUALLY NAV'D TO AN AREA HE THOUGHT WAS HUGUENOT. AS WE PROCEEDED IT BECAME APPARENT THAT HE WAS IN ERROR. I WAS CONFUSED FROM SWITCHING FROM THE HOOD AND TRUSTING HIM BECAUSE; ALTHOUGH HE WAS A NEW INSTRUCTOR; HE HAD BEGAN SEARCHING THE SECTIONAL FOR CLUES THAT WOULD PUT WHAT WE SAW OUTSIDE INTO A LOGICAL PLACE WHERE WE THOUGHT WE SHOULD BE. I DID NOT REALIZE THAT HE HAD NOT BEEN KEEPING VERY GOOD TRACK OF OUR POS. WE TUNED AND BEGAN TO NAV TO HUGUENOT ON THE VOR. THIS RESULTED IN A NWESTERLY HDG. CONSIDERING THE WINDS; WE WERE CLEARLY E OF OUR PLANNED RTE. WE IDENTIFIED ESSEX COUNTY ARPT AFTER THE FLT AND IN CONSIDERATION OF THE TIME WHEN WE SAW THE ARPT; OUR CORRECTIVE ACTION AND THE SHAPE OF THE NY TCA; IT MAY HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE THAT WE INADVERTENTLY SKIRTED THE PERIMETER OF THIS TCA. SINCE WE DID NOT POSITIVELY IDENTIFY OUR POS UNTIL WE WERE CLR OF THE AREA; IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SAY FOR SURE IF WE DID IN FACT PENETRATE THE AREA. THE FLOOR OF THE TCA IN THIS AREA IS 3000 FT--WE WERE IN CRUISE FLT AT 3500 FT. CONTRIBUTING TO THIS EVENT WERE THE FOLLOWING FACTORS: 1) FAILURE OF THE PLTS TO COM AND DECIDE WHO WAS TO NAV AND WHAT THE DUTIES OF EACH PLT WERE TO BE. I HAD MADE ASSUMPTIONS AND OBVIOUSLY SO DID THE OTHER INSTRUCTOR. DUE TO THE FACT THAT WE WERE BOTH COMPETENT PLTS; WE BOTH THOUGHT THE OTHER KNEW WHERE WE WERE. 2) THE INABILITY TO POSITIVELY IDENTIFY THE BOUNDARIES OF THE NY TCA BY USE OF R'S AND DISTANCES; IE; DME TCA BOUNDARIES WOULD BE MUCH MORE EASILY DEFINED. SPECIFIC RTES SUCH AS THOSE PROPOSED BY AOPA MIGHT ALSO BE A SOLUTION. THE CURRENT DESIGN OF TCA AIRSPACE REQUIRES EXCESSIVE WORKLOAD IF ONE IS TO UTILIZE ALL THE AIR NEAR; BUT NOT IN; THE TCA!