I’m not an airline pilot but I try to fly like one, as precise and professional as I can be. This year I was determined to be ultra-prepared for my single-pilot IFR run to Sun-n-Fun. My preparations were thorough. My camping gear had been collected, inspected, repacked, weighed and positioned in the Cessna’s cavernous interior. A hard-copy of the Sun-n-Fun NOTAM was in the plane. The Garmin GPS database was up-to-date. The engine oil had been changed, fuel loaded, windows washed. A cranky auto-pilot servo had been surgically whipped into shape by the talented Charles Blaise at PF Flyers in South Carolina. But the smartest decision I made was an unusual one: I filed a flight plan to somewhere else.
