Narrative:

VFR flight to jwn at 16500 feet MSL. Good VFR at departure and enroute. I knew that there was some weather in the area of nashville; so we elected to delay our departure a bit allowing the thunderstorms to dissipate prior to our arrival.our satellite downlink weather was inoperative; leaving us with storm scope and onboard tactical radar only. About 150 miles out of jwn; I called terra haute flight service for an update to the weather in the nashville area. Was advised that the thunderstorms had mostly dissipated; but that residual rain and lowered visibility remained in the area. Elected to continue VFR and call for an update as we got closer.called for a second briefing about 40 minutes outside of jwn. Advised that while convective activity was no longer an issue; there was still rain and reduced ceiling / visibility in the area. During this time; I was also starting to pick up radar precip echoes; and the storm scope was showing some lightning in the area of bna; only about 20 miles from jwn. Given the terrain; lowered ceilings and visibility; continued rain showers in the area; and onset of night; I made the decision to continue the flight under IFR.called indy center for an IFR clearance at 16;000 feet. Was given clearance as expected. Prior to being handed off to the next sector; was told of a possible deviation; and given a phone number to call. Was advised that at some point during the flight we may have transitioned through an active restricted area.flight continued under IFR with some minor deviations around weather and a successful ILS to runway 20 at kjwn. I checked my track; and indeed I did transition through R3704A/B; which were apparently hot that evening. My original flight plan was to go via psi to allow for a climb to 16;500 feet before transitioning over the dtw class B airspace. However; I turned early (upon reaching 10;000 feet) directly to jwn. In doing this; the new flight path would have intercepted R3704A. Normally this would not have been an issue. I monitor the sectional during flight; and would have seen this coming. However; this would have come to my attention at the same time I was talking to flight service; working radar and storm scope; formulating a plan for the continuation of the flight into deteriorating weather; and transitioning the plane; myself; and passengers from a daytime VFR to a nighttime IFR operation (with potential turbulence). The workload in the aircraft was such that the restricted area was overlooked.there were no systemic failures on ATC or the airspace system design that contributed to the events in this report. Indeed; the ATC facility was very helpful and courteous; even with the notification of the possible deviation. From my perspective; this deviation was caused by a lack of awareness of the restricted area being active due to my attention being focused on other items during a high workload phase of flight.certainly this is something that I will be aware of in the future. Upon reflection; I was a bit surprised that neither the on board avionics (dual garmin GNS 430W with avidyne entegra ex 5000 mfd) or the foreflight mobile app on my ipad alerted me to this. As a follow up to my own corrective action; I am submitting a feature request to foreflight to notify of potential restricted airspace encroachment.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: PA46 pilot was informed after the fact that he penetrated an active restricted area while in a VFR climb to 16;500 feet. A high work load at the time prevented him from noting the restricted area on his electronic sectional chart.

Narrative: VFR flight to JWN at 16500 feet MSL. Good VFR at departure and enroute. I knew that there was some weather in the area of Nashville; so we elected to delay our departure a bit allowing the thunderstorms to dissipate prior to our arrival.Our satellite downlink weather was inoperative; leaving us with storm scope and onboard tactical radar only. About 150 miles out of JWN; I called Terra Haute flight service for an update to the weather in the Nashville area. Was advised that the thunderstorms had mostly dissipated; but that residual rain and lowered visibility remained in the area. Elected to continue VFR and call for an update as we got closer.Called for a second briefing about 40 minutes outside of JWN. Advised that while convective activity was no longer an issue; there was still rain and reduced ceiling / visibility in the area. During this time; I was also starting to pick up radar precip echoes; and the storm scope was showing some lightning in the area of BNA; only about 20 miles from JWN. Given the terrain; lowered ceilings and visibility; continued rain showers in the area; and onset of night; I made the decision to continue the flight under IFR.Called Indy center for an IFR clearance at 16;000 feet. Was given clearance as expected. Prior to being handed off to the next sector; was told of a possible deviation; and given a phone number to call. Was advised that at some point during the flight we may have transitioned through an active restricted area.Flight continued under IFR with some minor deviations around weather and a successful ILS to runway 20 at KJWN. I checked my track; and indeed I did transition through R3704A/B; which were apparently hot that evening. My original flight plan was to go via PSI to allow for a climb to 16;500 feet before transitioning over the DTW class B airspace. However; I turned early (upon reaching 10;000 feet) directly to JWN. In doing this; the new flight path would have intercepted R3704A. Normally this would not have been an issue. I monitor the sectional during flight; and would have seen this coming. However; this would have come to my attention at the same time I was talking to flight service; working radar and storm scope; formulating a plan for the continuation of the flight into deteriorating weather; and transitioning the plane; myself; and passengers from a daytime VFR to a nighttime IFR operation (with potential turbulence). The workload in the aircraft was such that the restricted area was overlooked.There were no systemic failures on ATC or the airspace system design that contributed to the events in this report. Indeed; the ATC facility was very helpful and courteous; even with the notification of the possible deviation. From my perspective; this deviation was caused by a lack of awareness of the restricted area being active due to my attention being focused on other items during a high workload phase of flight.Certainly this is something that I will be aware of in the future. Upon reflection; I was a bit surprised that neither the on board avionics (Dual Garmin GNS 430W with Avidyne Entegra EX 5000 MFD) or the ForeFlight mobile app on my iPad alerted me to this. As a follow up to my own corrective action; I am submitting a feature request to ForeFlight to notify of potential restricted airspace encroachment.

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.