Narrative:

I planned a VFR test flight of my aircraft; which would take me via hinck to kelsi to wynet to pll to krena and back. I climbed to 3;500 MSL and performed the intended checks. As the airplane turned for the leg from wynet to pll; I decided to intercept the leg from pll to krena east of pll to save time. When I made the turn; I realized on both the moving map on my GNS480 as well as the commercial chart software that had running on a tablet pc as a backup moving map that the leg from pll to krena would cut across the southern edge of rfd's class D airspace. In heading mode on the autopilot; I proceeded to fly south of rfd's airspace; which on both moving maps was indicated to be a 5 NM radius from the rfd airport from the surface to 3;200 MSL. Even though I was at 3;500 MSL; I didn't want to get near rfd's airspace. I passed approximately 8 NM south of the krfd airport according to both moving maps. As I got past rfd; for some odd reason I decided to look at my sectional to make sure I was clear of the class D airspace; and to my horror; I found that what was depicted on both commercial databases was wrong! The class D airspace for rfd on the current database is depicted as a 5 NM radius from the rfd airport with a top of 3;200 ft MSL. When I look at the current sectional; it is depicted as a 5nm radius from the surface to 8;000 MSL; and a 10 NM ring from 2;000 to 8;000 MSL. I had unintentionally incurred upon this outer ring by 2 NM and 1;300 ft above the floor. This was the third flight I made in the past week along this similar route! Each time; I relied on the data from three commercial sources along with the airspace depicted in the GNS480 from a commercial chart maker to help me avoid airspace along my route! Can you imagine my horror as I write this? The lesson that I learned was that this kind of thing is a real 'gotcha'. I relied on electronic charts instead of the good old sectional map and it burned me badly. I will never fly VFR without first referring to the sectional and continually referring to the sectional to make sure it is consistent with the electronic charts. In the mean time; I hope the commercial chart maker fixes this problem. I looked throughout the midwest at all the class B; C; and D areas to see if there are any other errors. In each case; the airspace is being properly depicted in the database. The rfd class D airspace is depicted as a 5 NM ring and the info box describes the area of this airspace as from the surface to 3;200 ft MSL. Clearly; this is a huge error and I didn't recognize it until after I had gone through the outer ring; which isn't depicted; on the low altitude airways chart. I actually flew east of pll and south of the inner ring depicted on the chart. I am pretty sure I was not greater than 10 NM south of rfd; but rather around 8 NM south. Since I did see the inner ring depicted on my moving maps; I was easily able to avoid the inner ring. Since the outer ring wasn't depicted; I didn't know it was there until it was too late and I had already flown through the edge of it. I may have done this three other times in the past six days as I mentioned before. This was the first time I realized the problem and the other two times I flew clear of the inner ring without realizing there was an outer ring. It was only today that I correlated the moving map software in my efb and on my GNS480 that I realized the discrepancy. Ugh.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot of light twin on navigation test flight using a low altitude airways chart; stored in an EFB; for orientation and airport avoidance enters RFD TRSA without clearance. This TRSA; which extends up to 8000 FT; is not depicted on the low altitude airways chart; only a Class D circle up to 3200 FT.

Narrative: I planned a VFR test flight of my aircraft; which would take me via HINCK to KELSI to WYNET to PLL to KRENA and back. I climbed to 3;500 MSL and performed the intended checks. As the airplane turned for the leg from WYNET to PLL; I decided to intercept the leg from PLL to KRENA east of PLL to save time. When I made the turn; I realized on both the moving map on my GNS480 as well as the commercial chart software that had running on a tablet PC as a backup moving map that the leg from PLL to KRENA would cut across the southern edge of RFD's Class D airspace. In HDG mode on the autopilot; I proceeded to fly south of RFD's airspace; which on both moving maps was indicated to be a 5 NM radius from the RFD airport from the surface to 3;200 MSL. Even though I was at 3;500 MSL; I didn't want to get near RFD's airspace. I passed approximately 8 NM south of the KRFD airport according to both moving maps. As I got past RFD; for some odd reason I decided to look at my sectional to make sure I was clear of the Class D airspace; and to my horror; I found that what was depicted on both commercial databases was WRONG! The Class D airspace for RFD on the current database is depicted as a 5 NM radius from the RFD airport with a top of 3;200 FT MSL. When I look at the current sectional; it is depicted as a 5nm radius from the surface to 8;000 MSL; and a 10 NM ring from 2;000 to 8;000 MSL. I had unintentionally incurred upon this outer ring by 2 NM and 1;300 FT above the floor. This was the third flight I made in the past week along this similar route! Each time; I relied on the data from three commercial sources along with the airspace depicted in the GNS480 from a commercial chart maker to help me avoid airspace along my route! Can you imagine my horror as I write this? The lesson that I learned was that this kind of thing is a real 'gotcha'. I relied on electronic charts instead of the good old sectional map and it burned me badly. I will never fly VFR without first referring to the sectional and continually referring to the sectional to make sure it is consistent with the electronic charts. In the mean time; I hope the commercial chart maker fixes this problem. I looked throughout the Midwest at all the Class B; C; and D areas to see if there are any other errors. In each case; the airspace is being properly depicted in the database. The RFD Class D airspace is depicted as a 5 NM ring and the info box describes the area of this airspace as from the surface to 3;200 FT MSL. Clearly; this is a huge error and I didn't recognize it until after I had gone through the outer ring; which isn't depicted; on the low altitude airways chart. I actually flew east of PLL and south of the inner ring depicted on the chart. I am pretty sure I was not greater than 10 NM south of RFD; but rather around 8 NM south. Since I did see the inner ring depicted on my moving maps; I was easily able to avoid the inner ring. Since the outer ring wasn't depicted; I didn't know it was there until it was too late and I had already flown through the edge of it. I may have done this three other times in the past six days as I mentioned before. This was the first time I realized the problem and the other two times I flew clear of the inner ring without realizing there was an outer ring. It was only today that I correlated the moving map software in my EFB and on my GNS480 that I realized the discrepancy. Ugh.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.