As I continued East, I flew over Biloxi, Mississippi, and a strange memory came flooding back of my first night solo cross-country in the A-4 Skyhawk. We were launched into the black of a Mississippi night to see if we could get down to the coast on our own, shoot and instrument approach, then come back home and do landings.

I did the flight, but I forgot to turn off a fuel pressurization switch as I started my descent into Biloxi, which unfortunately resulted in about half of my fuel being vented overboard. I recognized this error as I went missed approach and headed for home. A quick mental calculation said I would have just enough to make it home, but only if I did a maximum range (“bingo”) profile and short a low fuel approach into my home field.

Somehow, I managed to do just that and taxi in without attracting too much attention, for my mistake went unnoticed by my instructors. The next day, though, the maintenance folks chewed me out for landing with too little fuel, and I was lucky in that their calculations were off by quite a bit – I had less than half what they had thought.

Flying along in today’s United States is much different than just 5 years ago. It used to be that we would check NOTAMS, which usually spoke about things being out of service, check the weather, than blast off on a flight. Today, though, no pilot dares wander much outside of their home landing pattern without checking NOTAMS for the existence of TFRs – Temporary Flight Restrictions. These are blocks of airspace reserved by the government, usually in the interest of “national security”.

They can crop up any time, any where, and the penalty for violating them is the chance to fly formation with some F-16’s, followed by numerous long chats with gentlemen in dark suits and sun glasses. This discussion is sometimes called an interrogation, and usually results in your picture making at least the local news, if not the national news.

Now when we fly long distances and times, I find myself having to call Flight Service every few hours to see if new TFRs have popped up. It’s unlikely, as long as you aren’t near where the Vice President of President are traveling, but there is always the risk.

Speaking of risks, one thing I like to do to reduce risks is to keep my second GPS/Comm as a “Safety Radio”. This means that I have it always tuned to 121.5 for comm, listening in case someone else is in trouble or if I have to get out a hurried call for assistance. Also, the GPS function is always dialed up to the “Nearest Airport” function so that I can see the distance and direction to the nearest safe landing strip. It’s amazing how technology can improve our safety and situational awareness.

Once I arrived into Pensacola, I met up with Brian Mickelson and his wife. Brian is one of my oldest friends from the Navy, as we met in our boot camp-like indoctrination back in 1984 in Newport, R.I. Brian was a helicopter pilot in the Navy and is within a year of finishing up his 20-year career as a Commander. He also was one of the groomsmen in my wedding.