Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 4; Flight Crew Type 17
Situational Awareness; Confusion
Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Exited Penetrated Airspace
Airspace Structure; Human Factors
Background: I'm a military commercially rated pilot. Another friend and I flew a sightseeing tour. We conducted a thorough preflight brief to ensure that we both agreed on the route as well as felt comfortable with the plan of action. We launched and proceeded in accordance with our preflight planning using a chart as our primary means of navigation. After 45 minutes of flight time and successful execution of our route; we began heading South toward an outlying field at 4;000 ft MSL. This altitude kept us out of airspace. Once East we began descending to 3;000 ft. MSL and continued east to ensure airspace clearance. We agreed that flying north of a VFR Checkpoint X and east of VFR Checkpoint Y would ensure our clearance before turning south. Unbeknownst to us; this is where our disorientation began. We misidentified the VFR Checkpoint X. This led us to misidentify VFR Checkpoint Y as another point to the east of the actual [checkpoint]. Upon reaching what we thought was VFR Checkpoint Y; we turned south and began looking for our next VFR checkpoint. Expecting to fly over Town X; we then misidentified Town Y as Town X. This series of misidentifications led us to thinking that we were right on course with our planning when in fact we were now 6 NM east of our planned location. Still unaware of our errors and expecting to soon see VFR Checkpoint Z; we continued south; commenced a descent to 2;000 ft. MSL; and tuned the ATIS. We were preparing to make our inbound call. In actuality; we were now 8 NM southeast of our intended flight path and crossing the US/Mexico border. As we rounded the mountain and headed west through a cut in the range looking for VFR Checkpoint Z; I became confused as to why we had not yet seen [it] yet. This is the moment in which our disorientation became obvious and we knew we had shot too far south. Unsure of exactly how far south and not realizing we were now in Mexico; we continued rounding the mountain toward the northwest. ATC informed us of our position 7 NM south of the border and confirmed our disorientation. After breaking through the cut in the mountain range; our VOR reception became dependable and we noted our location. With our own reorientation and the help of ATC we landed to debrief the airspace and ADIZ violation.Contributing factors: After thoroughly debriefing this very serious disorientation; we attributed the incident to three main causes. First; our attention to detail when comparing the chart to the visual cues outside was poor. The entire incident can be traced back to our first false identification of VFR Checkpoint X. Had we paid more attention to positively identifying the VFR checkpoints; we would have realized our mistake far before entering Mexico. Secondly; we failed to back up our visual flight plan adequately. With no GPS; VOR signal; or other means of navigation; we should have been much more vigilant with our headings. Lastly; we became complacent in the cockpit. In our minds; we were two military pilots who fly often and had just successfully completed a complicated route. The easy part was getting back home; right? Wrong. We were much too relaxed in our return and have now learned our lesson the hard way.Lesson learned: First; visual navigation requires of a lot of attention to detail and should not be taken lightly; regardless of how well a pilot knows his or her local area. Second; I may never fly again without the use of GPS; whether installed in the aircraft or on a tablet. With access to that kind of technology; there is no excuse for disorientation. Third; we as aviators must remain fully engaged throughout the entirety of each flight and treat each phase of flight equally important. Be humble and don't get complacent.
Pilot reported that geographic disorientation led to an ADIZ penetration.