<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1410890, December 2016

The captain of a sikorsky S-76 reported that they unknowingly flew into a class 'C' airspace without clearance.

Attributes
ACN	1410890
Time
Date	201612
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	S-76/S-76 Mark II
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Direct
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 6800 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR

Narrative:

I requested clearance from tower 'depart at 2;000 feet; with the tower; negative flight following; on assigned code.' I received a clearance of 'maintain at or below 2;500 feet; with the tower; on assigned code' (or similar words). We departed and climbed to 2;500 MSL on tower frequency. At 10 miles; the tower frequency changed us. As we had not requested VFR flight following; I did not contact departure. Our chief pilot received a phone call after the flight questioning why we had flown into class C airspace without contacting departure (class C beyond 10 miles starts at 2;100 feet MSL). We typically receive a clearance at 2;000 feet MSL or below. I did not catch that our clearance to 2;500 feet took us into class C airspace which would mean that we needed to have contact with departure control.

Related reports:

• C182 pilot unknowingly penetrates dc ADIZ without clearance ...
• Cessna 337 pilot unknowingly took off without clearance.
• An aircraft was deiced on the fnt deice pad facing south at ...

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.37000feet.com

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Captain of a Sikorsky S-76 reported that they unknowingly flew into a Class 'C' airspace without clearance.

Narrative: I requested clearance from Tower 'depart at 2;000 feet; with the Tower; negative flight following; on assigned code.' I received a clearance of 'maintain at or below 2;500 feet; with the Tower; on assigned code' (or similar words). We departed and climbed to 2;500 MSL on Tower frequency. At 10 miles; the Tower frequency changed us. As we had not requested VFR flight following; I did not contact Departure. Our Chief Pilot received a phone call after the flight questioning why we had flown into Class C airspace without contacting departure (Class C beyond 10 miles starts at 2;100 feet MSL). We typically receive a clearance at 2;000 feet MSL or below. I did not catch that our clearance to 2;500 feet took us into Class C airspace which would mean that we needed to have contact with Departure Control.

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.