An Instructor Pilot and his student; departed on the student's first cross country with an incorrectly set altimeter. Subsequently; they entered Class B airspace while transiting a Class D airport. The altimeter was then correctly set and they descended out of Class B.
Synopsis
An Instructor Pilot and his student; departed on the student's first cross country with an incorrectly set altimeter. Subsequently; they entered Class B airspace while transiting a Class D airport. The altimeter was then correctly set and they descended out of Class B.
Narrative
I was the instructor on a students very first cross country flight and he failed to set the altimeter to the correct field elevation of 466 FT. The departure airport is uncontrolled and has no automated weather or ATIS. The student set the altimeter to read one inch or 1000 FT lower than actual field elevation which read 9;466 on the analog altimeter. As we took off the student attempted to open our flight plan with radio with no response and climbed to 500 FT below the ceiling which we believed to be 2500 MSL as indicated by the altimeter. The student was too busy trying to keep up with the plane to notice the incorrect altimeter setting. Also; as the instructor; I was busy trying to get the student caught up in checklist procedures; nav logs; avoiding a scattered layer in moderate rain and contacting the correct ATC facility that I did not notice the error in the altimeter setting. As we flew west we planned to transition through an Air Force Base Class D airspace. Upon initial radar contact the Controller informed us; '...Radar contact 6 miles west of the VOR 3500 FT.' I responded as the pilot not flying; '...Indicating 2500 FT' Air Force Base Tower Controller then responded back; 'Field altimeter setting 29.80 check altimeter and ident.' The student began resetting the altimeter to the stated setting and it read 3500 FT. I immediately realized the mistake and that we were in Class B airspace and told the student to descend. I then responded to the Controller; 'Indicating 3500 and descending.' We descended to 2500 FT MSL and continued with our transition through the Air Force Base airspace. The time spent in the Class B airspace was about 2 minutes and both the student and I were unaware until the controller at Air Force Base informed us of the incorrect altimeter setting. I then took immediate action by having the student descend below the 3000 FT floor of the Class B airspace. This event was unintentional and the student and I learned a valuable lesson to double check altimeter settings and instruments.
Second reporter narrative
When departing I inadvertently set the altimeter too low so that while heading west through Air Force Base Class D airspace; I was higher than expected. This was about 6 miles east of that airbase when Tower corrected my altimeter setting and I immediately dropped to 2500 FT MSL; which is below the Class B airspace in that area. I was maybe in the Class B airspace for 1 minute. My departure airfield has no weather station so setting the altimeter is before each flight to field elevation.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.