"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
Two days ago, while returning from the east coast on a business trip, I
heard an exchange between a plane going to OSH and the controllers in
Michigan. We were at 10,000 in an out of IMC and doing a large deviation
to avoid a line of thunderstorms.

The pilot going to OSH asked for an IFR clearance in the air to go to an
intersection near OSH (?) The controller patiently explained that a
reservation was required to get a clearance into OSH, although the pilot
didn't seem to understand what this meant, and kept asking for a clearance
to some intersection near OSH.

Finally, the controller said it wasn't going to happen, and offered VFR
advisories over the lake (roughly 80 miles). The pilot accepted this, and
proceeded to fly over the lake, between layers of clouds, at 4500 feet in
a single.

I mentally wished him luck.

While getting gas at my home base, the line guy related a story of a
couple in a clapped out ratty home built who wanted to leave at night to
fly over Lake Michigan, VFR. They said they did similar over water trips
all the time, and that they knew how to swim.

I think the most telling clue is the fact that they do it "all the time."
These people are squarely in the "bonehead" category of pilots that occupy
the bottom 10% of the population and are a statistic waiting to happen. The
fact that it's on the way to OSH is inconsequential.

Marco