Brock,

Do you know the area well enough to know what his options might have been
either straight ahead or within only 90 degrees left or right?

I wonder was making a 180 the best decision?

Jay Beckman
PP-ASEL
Arizona Cloudbusters
Chandler, AZ

I grew up about 30 miles SW of Bloomington so I'm very familiar. Our
plane is based at KAAA and I've taken lessons here at KBMI.
Looking at my Chicago sectional here, the 180 was probably his best
shot. There are a couple of private strips that he was closer to but it
was dark by then and there's no way he could have found them unless he
was familiar with the area. He was approaching the halfway point
between Champaign/Urbana(KCMI) and Bloomington. I suppose he could have
continued to Champaign. Another option might have been to put it down
on I-74(which runs from Bloomington to Champaign) but that stretch of
Interstate doesn't have very many exits or large enough towns that
would illuminate the road very much. Kind of a dead patch of
interstate.
He was very close to making runway 29 here at Bloomington.
I'll post more info as I find it.

Brock Boss