C172 pilot reported violating sfra regulations during a weather deviation.

Narrative:

Yesterday; I experienced firsthand the consequences of poor flight planning and overconfidence. I took off with the intention of flying to ZZZ; two other airports; and back to departure airport. I knew the weather was going to be marginal; so I was prepared to turn around and return at any moment. I completed a biennial the day before; and was intending to practice flying to keep current. Unfortunately; while preparing the arrival into ZZZ already; I committed the first infraction because ZZZ tower told me via radio to call a number. Knowing that something was wrong made me nervous. I decided to return to my departure airport and call it a day; but the weather had turned so bad that a direct route was not possible. I could see on the G1000 with nexrad where the precipitation was and it pushed me east. Potomac asked the FBO to relay the message that I should land immediately and wait for the agencies. But the weather had become so intense (thunderstorm and heavy rain; wind) that I decided to divert to ZZZ1.my immediate concern was to land safely and evaluate the situation from the ground. I was in constant communication with tower and I felt it would have been counterproductive to try and speak to potomac. I believe I stayed outside of airspace bravo the whole time. However; I violated dc sfra regulations and I was told in the air that police and secret service would be waiting for me on the ground. This increased my stress level significantly; and was probably not so helpful. I debriefed with the chief pilot at my flight school today and he said it would have been best to identify as an emergency on guard or potomac; so that they knew that I was diverting due to weather; and to have a direct line of communications.on my arrival; I was told by the local FBO to await interviews with police and secret service. I answered all their questions and acknowledged that I got disoriented and somewhat overwhelmed with the situation. I was comfortable with the G1000 but I now plan to use an ipad backup in the future; which also makes it easier to think through how the flight will proceed; which airspaces are touched etc. I have agreed with the flight school to do some additional training; especially around the airspace restrictions.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 pilot reported violating SFRA regulations during a weather deviation.

Narrative: Yesterday; I experienced firsthand the consequences of poor flight planning and overconfidence. I took off with the intention of flying to ZZZ; two other airports; and back to departure airport. I knew the weather was going to be marginal; so I was prepared to turn around and return at any moment. I completed a biennial the day before; and was intending to practice flying to keep current. Unfortunately; while preparing the arrival into ZZZ already; I committed the first infraction because ZZZ Tower told me via radio to call a number. Knowing that something was wrong made me nervous. I decided to return to my departure airport and call it a day; but the weather had turned so bad that a direct route was not possible. I could see on the G1000 with NEXRAD where the precipitation was and it pushed me east. Potomac asked the FBO to relay the message that I should land immediately and wait for the agencies. But the weather had become so intense (thunderstorm and heavy rain; wind) that I decided to divert to ZZZ1.My immediate concern was to land safely and evaluate the situation from the ground. I was in constant communication with Tower and I felt it would have been counterproductive to try and speak to Potomac. I believe I stayed outside of airspace bravo the whole time. However; I violated DC SFRA regulations and I was told in the air that Police and Secret Service would be waiting for me on the ground. This increased my stress level significantly; and was probably not so helpful. I debriefed with the Chief Pilot at my flight school today and he said it would have been best to identify as an emergency on guard or Potomac; so that they knew that I was diverting due to weather; and to have a direct line of communications.On my arrival; I was told by the local FBO to await interviews with Police and Secret Service. I answered all their questions and acknowledged that I got disoriented and somewhat overwhelmed with the situation. I was comfortable with the G1000 but I now plan to use an iPad backup in the future; which also makes it easier to think through how the flight will proceed; which airspaces are touched etc. I have agreed with the flight school to do some additional training; especially around the airspace restrictions.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1530849
Time
Date	201803
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 3 Flight Crew Total 314 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence