Narrative:

I took off from chandler airport (chd) to fly on a cross-country. After contacting sdl tower to transition through their airspace; I noticed my oil temperature was nearing red-line temperature. I enriched the fuel mixture to full rich; which normally makes the engine run cooler; but the temperature continued to its red-line. On top of sdl airport; the oil temperature gauge red-lined. Since I still had oil pressure; rather then requesting to land at sdl; I requested sdl tower for a 180 degree turn to chd and let them know my status. While returning to chd; I tried reducing the oil temperature by reducing power. [I] continued to monitor the oil temperature and oil pressure gauges [and] looked for possible landing spots in case I needed to land. [I] contacted a pilot/mechanic on the radio and updated my passengers concerning the airplane's status. I don't believe that I violated the pxr 6 NM horizontal limit; but possibly could have since I didn't have the extra time to verify my position. The mechanic suggested that I try climbing south of chd to see if the oil temperature would drop. I contacted chd tower and requested to transition their airspace to the south. They cleared me to fly over at 3;000 ft. Since I wanted to be as high as possible; I climbed to 3;000 ft without verifying my position. After I climbed to 3;000 ft; I realized that I had climbed into the 2;700 ft vertical shelf of the class B airspace. I immediately descended below 2;700 ft. After passing the 2;700 ft vertical class B airspace shelf; I climbed to transition chd's airspace. When south of chd; since the oil temperature gauge still indicated red-line; I decided to terminate the flight and requested to land at the airport. Chd tower asked if I needed priority handling; I said no; but that I just needed to land. Chd tower cleared me to land on runway 4R and I landed on that runway. What I should have done is fly directly to chd and land without trying to troubleshoot the problem. This would have prevented me needing to climb (resulting in the airspace violation) and allowing me to get the airplane on the ground faster.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot reported that his aircraft developed high oil temperature after takeoff and while troubleshooting he climbed into PHX Class B airspace.

Narrative: I took off from Chandler Airport (CHD) to fly on a cross-country. After contacting SDL Tower to transition through their airspace; I noticed my oil temperature was nearing red-line temperature. I enriched the fuel mixture to full rich; which normally makes the engine run cooler; but the temperature continued to its red-line. On top of SDL airport; the oil temperature gauge red-lined. Since I still had oil pressure; rather then requesting to land at SDL; I requested SDL Tower for a 180 degree turn to CHD and let them know my status. While returning to CHD; I tried reducing the oil temperature by reducing power. [I] continued to monitor the oil temperature and oil pressure gauges [and] looked for possible landing spots in case I needed to land. [I] contacted a pilot/mechanic on the radio and updated my passengers concerning the airplane's status. I don't believe that I violated the PXR 6 NM horizontal limit; but possibly could have since I didn't have the extra time to verify my position. The Mechanic suggested that I try climbing south of CHD to see if the oil temperature would drop. I contacted CHD Tower and requested to transition their airspace to the south. They cleared me to fly over at 3;000 FT. Since I wanted to be as high as possible; I climbed to 3;000 FT without verifying my position. After I climbed to 3;000 FT; I realized that I had climbed into the 2;700 FT vertical shelf of the Class B airspace. I immediately descended below 2;700 FT. After passing the 2;700 FT vertical Class B airspace shelf; I climbed to transition CHD's airspace. When south of CHD; since the oil temperature gauge still indicated red-line; I decided to terminate the flight and requested to land at the airport. CHD Tower asked if I needed priority handling; I said no; but that I just needed to land. CHD Tower cleared me to land on Runway 4R and I landed on that runway. What I should have done is fly directly to CHD and land without trying to troubleshoot the problem. This would have prevented me needing to climb (resulting in the airspace violation) and allowing me to get the airplane on the ground faster.

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.