I don't believe it has anything to do with being from an uncontrolled
field. Perhaps more from trying to fly an unfamilar route straight
through the ADIZ. Would love to see their planned route on their map.

But it brings up the thought that if they'd simply been using flight
following, the whole mess would've probably been avoided.

So one question is (because I don't know), is flight following easy to
get in that area?

Thanks!