Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 2 Eng; Retractable Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25; Flight Crew Total 32000; Flight Crew Type 300
Distraction; Workload; Time Pressure; Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface
Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Human Factors
After T/O (takeoff) from ZZZ on Runway XX; I accidentally climbed into class C airspace. Initially the plan was to T/O on Rwy XY. The wind was almost a direct crosswind. while taxing to XY from the GA ramp; a small jet taxied out from someones residence coming the opposite direction. I asked if he was taxiing for T/O. He said yes; on Rwy XX. He said he had already advised ZZZ he was using that runway on an IFR clearance. I advised him I would change runways and follow him to RWY XX. That was mistake number one. I then moved the scale of the display window down to the lowest scale for taxi information. I had never been to this airport. I forgot to expand the scale before T/O which did not allow me to see clearly where Class C space was located after T/O. Mistake number two. After T/O I began an immediate left turn to avoid ZZZ Class C airspace and prepared to call to pick up my IFR clearance. It was bumpy due to afternoon surface heating. I reached for my pen to copy my clearance from ZZZ. I knocked my pen in the floor. Mistake number three. I thought first I will establish a heading on course away from ZZZ. I looked at the flight display screen for my initial fix only to realize my flight plan had dropped out. Before departure I was showing a friend how to load a flight plan from my mobile device. I shut the display down to start the engines and forgot the flight plan would drop out and need to be reloaded. Mistake number four. So; no initial heading information was available. at that point I tried to retrieve my pen to get the clearance. while my head was down in the floor I climbed to around 1;500 feet. 300 feet inside class C airspace. Mistake number five. I called ZZZ for clearance and was instructed to remain clear of Class C. Due to the partial disorientation of not having a route; I wasn't sure whether I was in it or not. to be safe I descended to 1000 feet and reloaded the flight plan. The point here is after a series of mistakes I ended up with an airspace deviation. How could it have turned out differently? I could have used the autopilot. I could have used my spare pen. I still could have departed [Runway] XY after the jet departed [Runway] XX. I should have checked that my flight plan was still in the aircraft's computer.
GA pilot reported several non-normal pilot actions lead to an airspace violation.