Cessna Single Piston Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 74; Flight Crew Total 164; Flight Crew Type 75
Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Confusion; Distraction; Workload; Time Pressure
ATC Issue All Types; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Diverted
Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
I am a low hour pilot having just recently passed my flight exam. I was flying at night on a planned route from ZZZ1 to ZZZ2. As we approached ZZZ3; we felt that flying in the Utah Mountains at night was too risky. Therefore I decided to land in ZZZ3 though I had not planned that. After speaking with Approach; I decided to land at ZZZ3 even though I was very inexperienced. After being given a heading of 030 I found that I was flying straight toward a high mountain peak. I considered briefly what to do and eventually decided I must divert; which I did. Then I was given a Tower frequency which I entered into the radio; but could not contact the tower. I think it was because I entered the wrong frequency. After trying another frequency that I was pretty sure was correct; I could not contact anyone; so I was flying without communication in class Bravo. I was quite upset at this point and was struggling to clear my head and figure out what to do. I knew I was in trouble with ATC; but decided to focus on flying safely until I could make radio contact. I finally found an approach frequency in my foreflight program which I punched in and finally was able to re-establish communication. In all this confusion I also lost approximately 500 FT in altitude which may have caused problems for other aircraft. At this point I believe the tower knew I was in trouble and cleared me directly to the numbers to land. I did so and landed safely. I believe I should not have been flying in the dark. I allowed myself to make that decision because the FBO was not open until XA:00 the next morning and I did not want to fly in the daytime with thermals at high altitudes.  I did not plan adequately and I changed my plans about where to land while in the air and did not give myself time to be prepared to land at a busy airport at night. Because I was not well prepared and very inexperienced and had never landed in Class Bravo before I surely should not have attempted that at night. I was tired; had been working hard that week; all of which added to my stress level and caused my judgment to be compromised. Looking back; I allowed factors of being in a hurry and concern about time to become more urgent than proper planning. I have rarely been so stressed and traumatized as I was flying in Class Bravo without a radio. I never want to repeat that experience. I feel that in the flying I do; there is rarely if ever a need to land at class Bravo airports; which I will religiously avoid in the future; both in the day and at night. However; because I realized I did not function well in that stressful situation; it becomes apparent that I need more training especially as it pertains to communications in situations where I must divert or where I am under stress. I also need to have more training about Class B operations as it appears I did not understand the details of what was expected of me and how to perform when I had a loss of communication.
Low time C205 pilot; overwhelmed by circumstances of a night flight in mountainous terrain; diverted to an airfield in Class B after a temporary; self-induced loss of communication.