"Nomen Nescio" ] wrote in message ...
From: "Henry Kisor"

The long and short of the answers I have received is
"Maybe, but not likely." I'll have my evasive pilot (not a terrorist but a
good guy on a mercy mission of sorts) file a flight plan, cross the lake at
a reasonable altitude, have "engine trouble" and land well short of his
posted point of arrival to offload his cargo before the sheriff arrives.

Your pilot could also file an inaccurate flight plan, or no flight plan, land at an uncontrolled
but active airfield, dump his cargo, and immediately takeoff and blend in with other traffic
to disappear and go flying off into the sunset. A quick change of N numbers wouldn't hurt,
either.

I fly in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I fly over Lake Superior all the time.

There are a zillion airports within 40 miles of the lakeshore. Lots of them have no personel
at all at any time (just grass strips). There are (as far as I know) only two control towers in the
whole area (Marquette MI and Duluth, MN). There's just not much FAA up here.

There is a radar at Sawyer (Marquette) but it does not have line-of-sight to the
lake shore, and the radar doesn't even show in the airport control tower. It
reports to Minneapolis center.

I assume there is a radar at Duluth.

I believe those are the only two radars on the Lake Superior shore.

Lake Superior is pretty narrow near Sault St. Marie, and there are no control towers
(and I think no radars) anywhere near there.

BTW, every book should have a part set in Mackinaw Island. It's just a neat place,
so work that into the story. It has neither control tower nor radar, but does have a
park service official.