M-20 J (201) / Allegro
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 16; Flight Crew Total 353; Flight Crew Type 256
Situational Awareness; Human-Machine Interface
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Airspace Violation All Types
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Human Factors
My route was...HAR LDN LYH LIB. On the HAR-LDN segment; I noticed that the CDI needle on my HSI was deflected left; signifying that I was to the right of course. I initiated a left to turn to intercept the course but the CDI stayed out to the left and would not center. I then turned on the autopilot to intercept the course. When I hit the NAV button on the autopilot; it initiated an un-commanded left turn (well past a normal intercept heading; it was going to fly me in a circle) I reset the autopilot several times with the same result: an un-commanded left turn. I did not worry about the left turns because the CDI was saying I should be initiating a left turn anyway. I then looked at the GPS which said I was not to the right of course; but to the left of course! I decided that the GPS was correct and initiated a right hand to turn to re-intercept the course. Consequently; I may have clipped the P-40/R4009 airspace while heading direct from HAR to LDN. It turns out that BOTH the HSI and the autopilot were malfunctioning. The CDI needle was frozen; most likely due to a connection issue with the GPS. My maintenance shop removed it and reestablished the connections and it is not operating normally. The autopilot has been sent out for repair.I have learned many lessons here: 1) Don't flight plan so close to restricted airspace. I did not give myself sufficient buffer in the event of problems. 2) Pay more attention to reconciling the inputs from conflicting instruments. A frozen CDI needle can be a difficult one to detect in the short term. I should have been cross-correlating. 3) When I recognized an issue I should have immediately verified my course rather than trying to get the instruments to read correctly. 4) I was lulled to sleep a little bit because I was using flight following with an understood (with ATC) route of flight. It is my responsibility to make sure I am not encroaching. 5) I have taken the SFRA course for DC. I was paying attention to the wrong airspace making sure I knew where the DC SFRA was and not R4009. Big lessons for me!
M20 pilot reports a possible incursion into R4009 while attempting to fly from HAR direct LDN at 6;500 FT. The CDI had frozen in a position indicating right of course and a left turn to intercept was made before the failure was detected. Flight following was in use with no indication from ATC that an incursion would occur.