<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1280785, July 2015

Pilot under flight following questions if he should have contacted a tower for clearance through the class delta.

Attributes
ACN	1280785
Time
Date	201507
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MDT.Airport
State Reference	PA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft High Wing 1 Eng Fixed Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 1050 Flight Crew Type 450
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Procedural FAR

Narrative:

I was cruising VFR at an altitude of 2500 ft MSL to mdt. I contacted harrisburg approach prior to entering the TRSA for VFR advisories. Harrisburg gave me a transponder code and then verified radar contact. I was told to climb and maintain at or above 3500 ft to which I replied 'unable due to not being able to maintain VFR.' the controller said to maintain VFR and remain at 2500 ft. As I proceeded on course; I saw that my present course would take me into the mdt class D airspace but since I was talking to harrisburg approach; I assumed that two-way communication with harrisburg would suffice for the class D airspace. After reviewing the far/aim; I realized that I should have altered course or asked harrisburg to leave the frequency and contact mdt for clearance thru class D airspace.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot under flight following questions if he should have contacted a Tower for clearance through the Class Delta.

Narrative: I was cruising VFR at an altitude of 2500 FT MSL to MDT. I contacted Harrisburg Approach prior to entering the TRSA for VFR advisories. Harrisburg gave me a transponder code and then verified radar contact. I was told to climb and maintain at or above 3500 FT to which I replied 'Unable due to not being able to maintain VFR.' The controller said to maintain VFR and remain at 2500 FT. As I proceeded on course; I saw that my present course would take me into the MDT Class D airspace but since I was talking to Harrisburg Approach; I assumed that two-way communication with Harrisburg would suffice for the Class D airspace. After reviewing the FAR/AIM; I realized that I should have altered course or asked Harrisburg to leave the frequency and contact MDT for clearance thru Class D airspace.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.