It was long time ago (pre-9/11, pre-GPS) in a place far far away (one of
my first glider races).

There was no transponder involved and no radio contact. But I did get
caught anonymously.

The race was with 20+ sailplanes and the day's task went NW out of
Fairfield PA (W73)then east before returning to Fairfield.

On the first leg, I got low and lost near Chambersburg. After climbing
up and spending some time with the map, I became completely disoriented
and flew Southeast towards the ridges instead of NW towards the other
ridges (good pilotage lesson here about the compass).

Low, lost and circling again, I simply thermaled around for an hour or 2
trying to match the geo with the chart. I had no luck, saw no other
sailplanes and since it's against the rules to get help from the ground,
I didn't ask for help. So after ejecting a few relief bags over terra
incognito, I finally spotted the home airport area and landed. I was in
last place that day.

Two days later, some Navy people showed up to talk to the contest
director (CD) about a Camp David airspace violation by a glider (I guess
the Navy does the presidential security at Camp David?). At that
morning's pilot briefing, the CD told us of the meeting but explained
how he assured the Navy that it couldn't have been a contest glider
because we were tasked in the opposite direction that day. I remained
quiet.

Was it me? Absolutely. How close did I get? This was a long time ago
when the prohibited zone was very small and didn't expand when the Prez
was visiting.

But apparently the Prez was in the house - sorry for the relief bag Ronnie.

Matt Whiting wrote:
Maule Driver wrote:

Let's see, I've managed to bust the ADIZ on the east side once, I've
botched the AOPA arrival procedure once, I've unknowingly violated the
old Camp David prohibited zone (didn't know until Navy mentioned it at
subsequent pilot meeting)...


You violated the Camp David P zone and didn't have the FAA come calling?


Matt