AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2015 - 87

P&E

DOGFIGHT: OVER THE LAKE OR NOT?

Senior Editors Jill W. Tallman and Dave Hirschman are making the trek to Oshkosh for the really big show-
should they fly over Lake Michigan or not?

I'll take the scenic route

Go jump (over) a lake

Leave Lake Michigan to the ships

Come on, the water's fine

B Y J I L L W. TA L L M A N

B Y DAV E H I R S C H M A N

NOT JUST "NO," but "heck, no." That's how I feel about flying a
51-year-old engine over Lake Michigan en route to EAA AirVenture.
I'm not too proud to bring John and Martha King into the argument. The Kings are huge proponents of managing risk factors in
flight. Following their example, I believe there are enough risks
inherent in flying a small piston aircraft that I try very hard to
manage the risks I can control. In addition to practicing good airmanship, that means I don't fly IFR at night, and it means I don't
overfly 70 nautical miles of cold (very cold) water when an overland route is available.
Let's talk about that water for a moment. Lake Michigan
warms up to a whopping 60 degrees in July. Not exactly bathtub
temperature. Assuming a successful
ditching-which is a big assumption
in a fixed-gear airplane-the prospect of bobbing like a very cold cork
in a life vest while waiting for the
U.S. Coast Guard to arrive is not a
happy one.
Even if I climb to a good gliding
distance, how many great landing
spots could there be on either side
of that lake? I'd rather not have to
JILL W. TALLMAN
find out.
From Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK) to Outagamie
County Regional Airport (ATW) in Appleton, Wisconsin-about
16 nautical miles north of Oshkosh-flying direct and over the lake
is 570 nautical miles, or about six hours of flying in my 1964 Piper
Cherokee 140. So a fuel stop is mandatory anyway. Sure, zigzagging
around the lake adds a chunk of time to my flying day, but flying
direct is not going to save me a huge amount of time if a fuel stop
already is required.
I have flown over Lake Michigan in GA aircraft on several occasions. The first time, in Editor in Chief Tom Haines' Beech Bonanza
A36, I could not stop looking for cargo ships. In the event of a ditching, how long would it take one of those slow-moving behemoths
to spot us and come to our aid?
Zipping across in a Bonanza is one thing. In my Cherokee, which
cruises at 110 knots or so, that amount of time could easily become
20 minutes to a half-hour with headwinds. That's too long to spend
gripping the yoke and listening to the engine-wait, what was that?
Was that a hiccup? A very smart colleague of mine says, "The risk
is small-but it's not zero, and there's no real payoff for taking it."
Isn't flying to Oshkosh supposed to be fun? Of course, it is. So
I'll take the scenic route.
AOPA

AS THE AVIATION world prepares to convene in Oshkosh, Lake
Michigan confronts pilots arriving from the east or northeast
with a stark choice: to fly over it, or around it. Even though I
fly single-engine, piston airplanes, I usually opt for "over," and
here's why.
First, there's typically only about 20 minutes of exposure. An
airplane cruising at 150 knots can cover the roughly 70 nautical
miles from western Michigan to Wisconsin in less than 30 minutes. If you fly at 10,000 feet, you're within gliding distance of
shore for about 10 of those minutes. Assuming your engine is operating normally, weather conditions are good, and there's plenty of
fuel in the tanks, it seems reasonable to expect the engine to continue chugging along.
Second, the Second City. Chicago,
on the lake's south shore, has some
of the world's busiest airspace, and
there's little chance of a VFR clearance into the Class B there. Even
when flying IFR, expect to be routed
to the (appropriately named) BRAVE
intersection over the middle of the
lake. A Chicago skyline tour is a
DAVE HIRSCHMAN
scenic compromise-but that, too,
gets crowded, especially during
AirVenture week. And the bustling waterfront presents few good
emergency landing sites (except, of course, the "park" where
Meigs Field used to be).
Third, there's good ATC radar and radio coverage over the
lake in both Milwaukee and Muskegon approach airspace. In the
rare case of a catastrophic engine failure, you can declare an emergency, squawk 7700, and have confidence that a search will begin
promptly-and that rescuers will know right where to look.
Fourth, the water's fine. OK, the surface water temperature is
typically in the low 70s at its summer peak. That's not the Caribbean,
but it's plenty survivable. And no sharks here.
Finally, crossing the world's sixth-largest lake gives me a chance
to wear the stylish FAA-approved flotation device I've carried on
many overwater flights but, thankfully, have kept dry. It's the aviation equivalent of an umbrella. As long as I carry it, I'll probably
never need it.
If you opt to fly across the water, and you (or your passengers)
want to relax during those anxious minutes beyond gliding distance
from shore, try this: Go to the moving map on your GPS or tablet,
and zoom out-way out. The lake looks so much smaller when it
only covers an inch on your display.
AOPA

EMAIL jill.tallman@aopa.org

EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2015