Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 6.2; Flight Crew Total 307; Flight Crew Type 59
Confusion
Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT
Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
The plan for today's flight was to do a ZZZ city tour. This was my first city tour. As part of preparation for the flight; I did some online research and learned what is typically done by pilots on the city tour. Planning an exact route for the tour is a little bit more difficult than other missions because it is not clear if or how you will be cleared before the flight. My research did not uncover FAA guidelines or FLY charts for the ZZZ city tour; these are available for other major cities like Los Angles; San Francisco; or New York; and would have been helpful in my preparation.The research indicated that the best way to initiate the tour was to fly to the Name Towers and contact ZZZ Approach. Flying at 1;800 feet to avoid the Class B shelf just east of the towers; I was handed off to ZZZ. On first contact; I was unable to hear ATC due to poor signal. I was able to make contact on subsequent calls and was cleared into the Class B for the tour.While changing radios; talking to ATC; and setting up my charts for the tour; my course had drifted further south than intended; and I realized that I would not be able to maintain a 2;000 lateral feet from the Name Towers. I initiated a climb and changed course slightly to the left to remain clear of the towers. I flew between the two northwest towers at 1;800 feet; choosing to stay closer to the tower on my left as it was the easier one to maintain visual separation from it with a low wing airplane. Review of GPS data after the flight shows that my course maintained over 2;000 feet from the right tower and approximately 1;250 feet laterally and 350 feet vertically from the left tower. After clearing the towers; I began a descent to 1;500 feet for the tour.At no point during this event was a collision with any tower imminent.For future tours; I have learned that it is best to stay clear of the Name Towers and will plan future flights to remain north of the towers. The towers close proximity to the Class B makes it difficult to maintain vertical separation; so it seems best to choose a route that maintains lateral separation.I have also noted the controller frequencies (ZZZ Approach/Departure; ZZZ Tower) to reduce the time required to copy and enter frequencies for future tours; a factor that may have contributed to the course deviation described above. I'm not sure what caused the poor signal on initial contact to tower; but maybe remaining further north of the towers would improve line of sight to ZZZ.Finally; I was extremely focused on the next phase of the flight; the city tour; at the time and need to remember to focus on the current situation. Better situational awareness would have allowed me to detect the towers earlier and allowed me to take corrective action further from the towers.
GA pilot reported conducting a city tour and flying close to multiple towers within close proximity to the Class B airspace.