Light Sport Aircraft
Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 66; Flight Crew Total 12823; Flight Crew Type 1
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Exited Penetrated Airspace
Human Factors; Weather
The 3 flights were to bring the newly purchased airplane to ZZZ1 for an overnight stop; continuing the next day to ZZZ2; the plane's new home base. The owner (a low-time sport pilot) occupied the rear seat; and was to receive flight training such as the relocation mission would allow. I was in the front seat (command seat). For all 3 flights; I self-briefed using my iPhone's apps; including Foreflight; My Radar; and The Weather Channel. I saw that ceilings & visibility along our route were good for VFR; with some storms along our second leg; but offset to the south. In a hurry to get going; I did not file; nor get a standard briefing for these flights. The plane was equipped with ADS-B in/out; with a large screen to portray weather. I was confident that en route decision making would be easy with such a setup. That was certainly true for the 1st leg; but during the 2nd leg; the storms just south of our route seemingly put some low clouds and scattered rain showers across our way. Descending to stay in VMC; I found myself in Class G airspace; dodging scattered low clouds and showers. The visibility was quite good; 5 to 10 miles at least; but the navigation was quite busy to stay in VMC; avoiding clouds; showers; towns; and the occasional class D. Too busy; actually; as I penetrated slightly into the southern part of the Class D at ZZZ; without communicating with the Tower. A quick turn to the south got us out quickly. In my preflight planning; I had expected to be above the Class D; and did not mentally keep up with the changing situation as I flew lower to stay visual. As if that were not bad enough; a thin stratus deck below us suddenly parted to reveal a small town. I doubt that I had the requisite 1000 ft. above its highest point. Soon; we were past all this and climbed up into Class E for the rest of the flight; and later for the subsequent flight. Thinking about it later; I had a classic case of get-home-itis. We were a thousand miles from home; in a 75 knot LSA - a big trip! Had I gotten a standard weather briefing; I probably would have seen 'VFR not recommended' for the 2nd leg. And I would not have flown that 2nd leg that day. A self-imposed sense of urgency and resultant inadequate flight planning set the stage for this embarrassing exercise in complacency - and me a pro pilot with a clean record! No pilot is immune to the occasional complacency attack. And nobody else can help the pilot ward it off - it's strictly an internal; or mental thing; I believe. Much to think about for me - I won't be done with it for a long time; if ever.
Light Sport instructor reported inadequate VFR preflight planning resulting in airspace incursion and encountering MVFR.