get yourself an IR and always fly IFR
How do I file an IFR flightplan for aerobatics? In a VFR plan I just put in RMK/aerobatics but will that be accepted by IFPS on an IFR plan? And do I have to remain in the airways or can I file DCT to my usual practice area? How should my altitude be filed?
pilots getting lost flying en-route IFR
American Airlines Flight 965 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Have to admit this was not en-route IFR though, but the same mistake could have happened en-route.)
Oh, and in the last year alone I can remember two F16 scrambles for a commercial aircraft entering the Dutch FIR without radio contact. As this is one of the few scenarios where those guys are allowed to break Mach 1 while over land, it was a big new item - half of the Netherlands heard the sonic booms.