Pilot reported an alleged airspace violation while being under flight following and handed off to a ...

Narrative:

While in contact with ATC and cleared to descend at pilot's discretion I was told to contact ZZZ tower. I was also told to avoid ZZZ1 airspace which I did. I was not told to avoid the ZZZ airspace. After numerous attempts to get through to ZZZ tower contact was made. The tower operator was extremely busy because the tower was short on staff. This airport was doing a lot of training flights and was very busy. The tower operator was handling both ground control and tower operations. After finally making contact with the tower; the tower operator got upset because I entered his class D airspace. I thought I was handed off by approach control to ZZZ tower. I don't know if I was handed off by approach to ZZZ tower; or if the tower operator was to busy to realize what was happening.in the future I will make sure that before I enter controlled airspace I will be in contact with the person controlling that airspace and not depend on being handed off by another controller. Even though I realize that I need to be more diligent about controlled airspace; I believe that because the tower operator was so overworked is what really caused the problem. If the tower operator was not doing ground control and tower control at the same time in an extremely busy facility radio contact could have been made much sooner and this would have never happened. I would suggest that in the future if the tower is short on staff; the number of training operations be reduced so as to not overload the tower operator.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot reported an alleged airspace violation while being under flight following and handed off to a Tower by Approach Control. Reportedly; Tower Controller was working numerous frequencies/positions and advised pilot that he had violated the Class Delta airspace.

Narrative: While in contact with ATC and cleared to descend at pilot's discretion I was told to contact ZZZ Tower. I was also told to avoid ZZZ1 airspace which I did. I was not told to avoid the ZZZ airspace. After numerous attempts to get through to ZZZ Tower contact was made. The Tower operator was extremely busy because the Tower was short on staff. This airport was doing a lot of training flights and was very busy. The Tower operator was handling both Ground Control and Tower operations. After finally making contact with the Tower; the Tower operator got upset because I entered his Class D airspace. I thought I was handed off by Approach Control to ZZZ Tower. I don't know if I was handed off by Approach to ZZZ Tower; or if the Tower operator was to busy to realize what was happening.In the future I will make sure that before I enter controlled airspace I will be in contact with the person controlling that airspace and not depend on being handed off by another Controller. Even though I realize that I need to be more diligent about controlled airspace; I believe that because the Tower operator was so overworked is what really caused the problem. If the Tower operator was not doing Ground Control and Tower Control at the same time in an extremely busy facility radio contact could have been made much sooner and this would have never happened. I would suggest that in the future if the Tower is short on staff; the number of training operations be reduced so as to not overload the Tower operator.

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	1745059
Time
Date	202005
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 40 Flight Crew Total 5361 Flight Crew Type 1482
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Airspace Violation All Types Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

Pilot reported an alleged airspace violation while being under flight following and handed off to a tower by approach control. Reportedly; tower controller was working numerous frequencies/positions and advised pilot that he had violated the class delta airspace.