Flight Crew Private
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 30; Flight Crew Total 1200; Flight Crew Type 1200
Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Distraction; Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Airspace Violation All Types; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Exited Penetrated Airspace; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Aircraft; Airspace Structure; Equipment / Tooling
Flew with some friends to a nearby airport early in the morning to do a pre-buy on an aircraft. After completing; I departed. I had an iPad with Stratus interface as Charting and VFR GPS. Departed Runway 27 and proceeded south. Made an attempt to contact Center for flight following at 2;000 MSL or so no contact; preceded south while climbing; [and] tried again at 3;500 MSL or so no contact. Tried some other frequencies no avail. AT this time I went to check sectional for frequencies and realized the iPad had overheated and screen had gone black. I then returned to the airport CTAF frequency and asked for a frequency for Center. Was given a frequency of 124.2. Made contact and was given a squawk code. Soon afterward was told to make immediate left turn to 140 and that we had entered a restricted area. Disengaged autopilot made immediate turn left; was told shortly thereafter to resume own navigation. Checked compass; adjusted HI; corrected Heading to 156 on course to my destination. Another call came to make a turn to 140 that we were back in restricted area. I made a left correction again and apologized to controller. In reflection the Stratus Device was on dash next to the compass and may have been interfering with its reading. After clearing the restricted area again within moments I used my the Nav App on my iPhone to get a correct bearing and establish ourselves back on route while I had my no pilot passenger get me proper paper sectional out for reference so I could concentrate on flying. The rest of the flight went on without incident. Lesson Learned: Unfamiliar location and equipment requires much more planning.
A PA-32 pilot using an iPad and Stratus interface had an aircraft compass malfunction and an iPad overheat shutdown resulting in a track deviation into a Restricted Area while contacting ATC. The compass precession may have resulted from the Stratus' glareshield location.