8 days around the Great Lakes

This is a really, REALLY long post, but it contains PIREPS on:

- 2006 Cherokee Pilots Association Fly-In in Osage Beach, Missouri
- Amelia Earhart Museum in Atchison, Kansas
- New Abraham Lincoln Center, in Springfield, Illinois
- Cedar Point Amusement Park (Roller Coasters!), in Sandusky, Ohio
- Flooding in Ohio
- Niagara Falls, in both New York and Ontario, Canada
- Flying into Canada
- Willow Run, Michigan

....so bear with me!

As with so many great flights, this one began with a single goal: To
give the kids Niagara Falls.

I say that awkwardly because I don't think you just "take the kids
to see the falls." As with all the great wonders of the world, you
can only give your children the opportunity to view the grandeur, and
hope that they are sentient and mature enough to appreciate what they
are experiencing.

Also, as with most great flights, our mission gradually expanded and
morphed over time, until it ended up an 8-day, round-the-Great Lakes
adventure, with stops at the Cherokee Pilots Association convention and
cities in seven states (and Canada) along the way. Only a GA aircraft
could make such a trip possible...and we did it in style! Hang on,
and fly along with me...

Cherokee Pilots Association Fly-In, Osage Beach, Missouri.

The Cherokee Pilots Association Convention has leapt to the top of our
favorite fly-ins list. We've attended all four of their modern
renditions, and have marveled at the way the organizers have honed
their skills until the event now runs like a well-oiled machine. Even
more remarkably, the fly-in is NOT organized by the CPA per se, but
rather by a small group of interested members who simply decided that
Cherokee pilots needed a convention. This loose confederation of
interested (and widely separated, geographically) Cherokee pilots has
managed to grow this convention into a top-notch event, with
outstanding seminars, vendors, and keynote speakers.

This year AOPA's Phil Boyer graced the event, and did an excellent
job as keynote speaker. As always, he was GA's number one
cheerleader, and the "Win A Six in '06" Cherokee Six was a big
hit, too. After arriving mid-day on Friday, we drooled on the Sixes
newly upgraded panel and the new "speed" cowling (which,
incidentally, is already shows some chafing wear - NOT a good sign),
and Mary and I longed for all that extra space...

That evening the Missouri Pilots Association put on their annual (and
outstanding) hangar barbecue for us, which was once again held inside
the equivalent of a giant EZ-Bake Oven. It seems that it's always
hot in Osage Beach, and the heat and humidity were simply breath-taking
inside that big tin box. However, the ice-cold beer and camaraderie
soon made us all forget our discomfort, and we all enjoyed meeting new
friends and getting re-acquainted with old ones.

The next day was filled with seminars, the most interesting (IMHO) of
which was put on by a Lockheed-Martin flight service station employee.
She spent an hour outlining the planned roll-out for the new
consolidated flight service stations, and it was quite interesting to
hear how all FSS radio frequencies and phone numbers, nationwide, will
ultimately be answerable from just three locations. (Actually, from
just one of those three, in the event of an emergency.) The
technology behind all this is fascinating - I just hope it all works!

The gala event - the banquet - was quite excellent, with great food
and service. If anything, the Tan-Tar-A resort's food has improved
over the last three years more than any other thing about this fly-in.
We had a great time, and truly enjoyed meeting Phil afterwards.

Then, it was off to the Big Bear bar, where the real hangar-flying
began. We spent many more hours trading flying stories, and - after
checking the none-too-promising prog charts -- toddled off to bed
before midnight, knowing that an early launch was probably out of the
question.

Sadly, the progs were right. Sunday morning showed a line of severe
weather stretching from our position northeast directly to our planned
destination, Sandusky, OH. This slow-moving front wasn't predicted
to move out soon, so it was time for "Plan B" - but where to go?

Amelia Earhart Museum, Atchison, Kansas

We'd always wanted to visit Atchison, Kansas, home of Amelia Earhart,
but never really had a good reason to head that way. Now, it seemed,
we had a terrific reason to fly West - the weather was perfect
that-away! So, Atchison became our new destination...

We weren't disappointed. The FBO in Atchison was surprisingly open
for business on a Sunday (although it took a bit to find the guy, who
was working down in the prop shop), and he let us use their excellent
retired police cruiser courtesy car to run into town. We explored this
old railroad town, and had a wonderful time at the Amelia Earhart
Museum, which is located in her old family home. (It has been
completely restored by the 99s, the organization of women pilots, to
which Mary proudly belongs.)

We always tend to forget just how much Amelia Earhart accomplished in
her brief life, before becoming immortalized by failure on such a grand
scale. It was fantastic to see all the different things she
accomplished in life, and we managed to score a bunch of new
memorabilia for our popular "Amelia Earhart Suite" at the gift
shop...

After a nice lunch at a river-side bar and grill called
"Flyer's", we realized that it was only 1 PM on the longest day
of the year! With 8 more hours of daylight ahead of us, it was time to
check on the progress of our front. Could we head east, or should we
head west?

Lincoln Museum, Springfield, Illinois

The front had gradually pushed far enough East for us to make it to
Springfield, Illinois, where the brand new Abraham Lincoln Museum and
Library was located. We also had old college friends who live there,
so the decision was made - we would continue Eastward, and the trip
was still on track.

Immediately after take-off, we were able to see a single anvil-shaped
cloud waaaaayy off in the distance. With no way to judge, we
couldn't be sure if it was beyond Springfield, or before it - but
Springfield was almost 200 miles away. So, we just kept Atlas aimed
toward Springfield, talking to the various Centers and Approach
controls along the way.

Amazingly, inexorably, this giant anvil cloud ground its way toward
Springfield at precisely the same rate as us. Looming tens of
thousands of feet tall - yet, easily circumnavigated, by air - it
was an awesome sight. Underneath that tower of condensation,
prodigious amounts of water and lightning were being produced, yet all
around it was perfect, sunny VFR conditions. It was a typical summer
sky in the Midwest, but one I never get tired of observing.

Incredulous, given the odds against it, we watched in horror as this
single cell bore down on our destination. When we were just 15 miles
out, Springfield ATIS suddenly went to ¾ of a mile, high winds, and
heavy rain. Now what?

Talking to the tower controller, we were surprised to hear him say that
there would be no problem at all getting in, as the cell was already
moving off to the east. And he was right - as we approached the
pattern, we watched in amazement as the "curtain" of water pulled
away to the East, leaving the airport in sunshine while downtown was
still getting pounded, just a mile or two away.

Finding a hotel and a car turned out to be easy - the folks at 1st
Class Air were absolutely marvelous. They fetched the courtesy car for
us, drove it out to the plane so we could unload, called the hotel for
us, got us a great rate - and then INSISTED that we keep their car
overnight. They even suggested that we take the kids to the new
Lincoln Center, and to not worry about bringing the car back anytime
soon!

Even though we only bought 30 gallons of gas, these folks really rolled
out the red carpet for us - it was great to see an FBO that really
appreciates GA business. We then hooked up with our friends (who,
unbeknownst to us, had just lost their father that past week, so it was
good to see them), and made plans for the following day.

If you haven't been to the new Lincoln Center, there is little I can
say that will tell you how cool it is. I was skeptical, at first - I
mean, really, how much new can be said about Abraham Lincoln? But
I'll be the first to admit how wrong I was - the place is simply
astounding, with holographic presentations and displays of a quality
I've never seen before. Even the kids - who were understandably
wary of being dragged into yet another museum (we do this to them a
lot!) - admitted to having a great time. If you can swing it, make a
stop in Springfield - you won't regret it.

After the museum, I started to feel guilty about the FBO's courtesy
car - after all, we had been using it for 24 hours - and drove back
to the airport to return it. When they discovered that we were staying
overnight again, they again INSISTED that we keep their car, and not
bother with a rental! I can't speak highly enough of 1st Class Air
- their name really fits.

Cedar Point Amusement Park, Sandusky, Ohio

Tuesday dawned clear all the way to Lake Erie, so we bid adieu to our
still-grieving friends, and arced into a cobalt-blue sky. Atlas was
running like a champ - even on that nasty old over-leaded avgas -
and climbed easily up to 5500 feet, despite the heat, and our at-gross
condition. Even after four years, we're still amazed at the
difference those 235 horses make.

Sandusky, Ohio seemed like an odd duck of a town, to us. It sits on
the shores of Lake Erie, and obviously was once highly industrialized,
but is now living on tourism. Cedar Point juts out into the lake not
far from Sandusky, and is home to one of the oldest amusement parks in
America, having been in continuous operation for over 100 years. My
sister lives in Michigan, and has been taking her daughter to this
amusement park for over 20 years, so we had heard about the place for
decades - but what REALLY got our attention was when the Discovery
Channel did a show on roller coasters, and it became obvious that Cedar
Point was THE roller coaster center of the universe.

There was a time when I hated roller coasters - but no more. I now
actively seek them out, and Cedar Point offers 18 different coasters
- including the largest and fastest in the world! Our kids were
absolutely stoked about this part of the trip, and so was I.

After landing at Sandusky, we were surprised at the difference in
service offered by this family-owned airport. No one came out to park
us, and only directed us to park in the grass after we called them on
the radio. After dragging our luggage into the FBO, we were flatly
told by the girl that we weren't allowed to bring luggage inside the
building, because they were a customs point of entry into the U.S. So,
we had to leave our luggage unattended out in the vestibule of the FBO
- a bizarre and unsafe situation, if I've ever seen one.

I told the girl that we'd be staying overnight, and asked that we be
fueled - which brought little response. (This would become important
later.) No courtesy car was offered, but we had been told that our
motel was within "walking distance" of the airport - so we
figured we'd just hoof it down there.

Meantime, we discovered the little restaurant in the FBO - which
turned out to be quite excellent, if you're not in too much of a
hurry. (It's a one-person show.) So, the kids and I ordered
hand-dipped strawberry malts, and enjoyed a wonderful high-fat,
high-calorie dessert while I unwound from the flight. (Hey,
strawberries are fruit!)

Luckily, one of the FBO staff overheard us discussing the motel, and
found a line guy to drive us over. It turned out that the motel WAS
the next business down the road, but walking with two kids and luggage
would have really sucked. So, chalk one up for the FBO - they saved
the day!

The Knights Inn by the airport is an adequate little econo-box motel,
well-located between the airport and Cedar Point. If you're not
looking for anything too nice, it fits the bill. For the four of us,
it turned out to be way too small, but the price was right and it was
clean - which is the best you can usually say about any
"McMotel"...

Because it was still morning, we decided to head straight to the park
right after checking in. We rented a car from the auto dealer
literally right next to our motel, so that worked out remarkably well
- and headed off in search of fun!

Within minutes, we were entering Cedar Point's immense parking lots.
The roller coasters are literally visible for miles around, and are
truly impressive - and scary-looking! Some of these things go up 35
stories high, and plunge straight down at alarming speeds - and (of
course) make noises designed to scare the bejeezus out of everyone.
(I'm sure they could make a silent roller coaster, but what fun would
*that* be?)

So, for the next 8 hours, we roared, and plunged, and went upside down,
and dangled, and even stood up while on roller coasters. It was a
wonderful day, marred only by the fact that we never actually got onto
the world's fastest roller coaster, because it broke down - but not
till after we had stood I line for over an hour. The danged thing
goes from zero to 120 mph in four seconds, and then shoots you straight
up into a hammer-head turn some 400 feet in the sky, where you plunge
back to earth (with a snap-roll on the way down). The whole ride takes
less than a minute, but everyone describes it as the closest you can
get to flying with Sean D. Tucker - but, alas, something got
FUBAR'd in the computer-control system, and they never got it working
again that day.

The kids weren't too disappointed, however - we simply went and
rode two more coasters, before the park closed at 10 PM. What a day!

Flooding in Ohio

The next day, rain moved in, so we used our time to explore the area.
Lake Erie has a rich maritime tradition, and we went up in the nearby
Marblehead light house and drove out to Johnson Island (which is
connected to the mainland by a private toll-road) to visit the
Confederate Cemetery, on the site of what was once a Civil War POW
Camp.

The skies cleared that afternoon, and I wanted to fly over to
Put-In-Bay for dinner, but I was out-voted. We found many mainland
restaurants that specialized in serving Lake Perch - a delicacy that
is simply unavailable in Iowa, at any price. We were in heaven as we
dined on what was once considered a "junk fish dinner" in my
boyhood Wisconsin, but which is now selling for twice as much per-pound
as the best angus beef!

It turned out to be a good thing that we didn't fly out to the
island, as the storms redeveloped and intensified, with tornado
warnings and lots of lightning. Having recently lived through a major
tornado in Iowa City, we weren't real comfortable sitting in a motel
room - but there weren't many other options. Along with the
breathless local television reporters, we watched in awe as one major
cell after another lined up in train, all the way back to Lake Michigan
- and all aimed directly at US.

When they started showing cells that were producing golf-ball-sized
hail heading our way, I became nervous enough to head over to the
airport in search of a hangar. To my surprise, even though it was
still broad daylight, there was no one at the airport, and no
after-hours phone numbers listed. Atlas was tied down in an
ever-growing pond of water, and there was nothing I could do about it.

We went to bed that night to the sound of driving rain and thunder...
The rain continued all night long, dropping as much as TEN INCHES of
rain. Flooding was widespread, and some areas were inaccessible.

The next morning the weather was marginal VFR, but improving, so we
headed to the airport for an 8-AM launch. To my surprise, there was
no one there, we had still not been fueled, and the plane was
accessible only by wading into ankle deep water. This made
"un-tying" the swing-set chains (the worst things you can use to
tie down your airplane) no fun at all, and I was really in a foul mood
by the time the FBO girl rolled in at 7:45.

I asked that we be fueled, to which she responded that she really
"wasn't here yet", and that no one was available to fuel us yet.
I snapped back that it wouldn't be necessary to inconvenience anyone
if only they had fueled us when we arrived, as I had ordered, which
brought a non-judgmental shrug.

So, we waited as she rustled up a sleepy line-guy to fuel us. There
was no offer to tug us out of the muck, so I fired up Atlas (after
discovering that he had leaked badly under the deluge) and taxied
though the swamp, up onto the ramp, where he topped us off.

I then went inside to check weather, and the airport owner approached
me to see what the problem was - apparently he had overheard my
comments and was trying to get to the bottom of it. When I explained
my frustrations to him, he apologized for his employees, explained the
difficulties of trying to keep open a private, non-government supported
business (to which I could certainly relate) on a shoe-string budget,
and asked if there was anything he could do to make me happy. We
joked around a bit about how good help was hard to find, and all was
forgiven.

Breakfast In Erie, Pennsylvania

With ceilings in the 2500 foot range, and visibility ranging from 5 to
8 miles, conditions were certainly marginal. Add to that flying into
the rising sun, and "virtual" IFR conditions prevailed. As the
morning progressed, and we continued to follow the shoreline eastward
toward Niagara Falls, visibility gradually improved - but the immense
amounts of rainfall combined with the heating of the day combined to
keep things ugly, and the beautiful shoreline flight I had planned was
anything but pretty. Still, we were gradually able to climb to a more
comfortable 5500 feet.

As we approached Erie, PA, a few puffy clouds began to fill in below
us. This gradually thickened into a solid layer, and the AWOS's
ahead were calling for a pretty solid overcast, so we did a 180 and
descended beneath this new ceiling. With Erie beckoning - and a
couple of hungry kids in the back seat - we amended our plan and
decided to have breakfast in Erie.

The FBO at Erie was very nice, and heartily recommended the terminal
restaurant, inauspiciously called "Greg's Place". So, while they
fueled Atlas, we hiked the short distance over to the airline terminal,
and discovered (much to our delight) an excellent little restaurant,
reminiscent of the old airline terminal restaurants of days gone by -
right down to the white table cloths!

After an excellent (and very affordable) breakfast, we wandered back to
the FBO. As expected, that 90 minute break was all it took to allow
conditions to improve, and we launched into good VFR conditions for the
remainder of our flight around the bottom of Lake Erie to Niagara
Falls, New York, where we landed amidst C-130s and KC-135s doing touch
& goes...

Niagara Falls

For those who have never seen the falls, they are really impossible to
adequately describe. The experience of seeing that much water, falling
that great a distance, making that much noise, is just not something
that language was designed to impart. Niagara Falls has been on our
list of "places to show the kids" since they were born, and we were
FINALLY here.

But first, we needed a rental car, and a place to stay. The folks at
Tech Aviation Services (the FBO) were very helpful, and recommended a
couple of hotels on the American side of the falls. We eventually
settled on a Holiday Inn (after being put on permanent "hold" by a
nicer-looking, privately owned hotel. I *hate* when that happens!),
which turned out to be a fine choice. Within walking distance of the
falls, it worked out well as a home base.

No trip to Niagara is complete without a ride on the "Maid of the
Mist" - those crazy, tug-boat-like excursion boats that drive you
right up to the foot of the waterfall. When Mary and I had last been
here, back in the 1980s, we couldn't afford the boat ride - but, to
our surprise, the prices don't seem to have changed much since then,
so we immediately got on board.

Thankfully, the day had grown warm, because we discovered that the
raincoats they hand out are woefully inadequate to the job at hand.
You are going to get WET on that boat, but it was marvelous and
awe-inspiring, nonetheless.

Afterwards, we hiked up as close to the falls as we could get, from
down below - and became even MORE soaked. In fact, even though we
never stepped in any puddles, our shoes became FILLED with water, just
from the spray running down our legs!

The kids were clamoring to "go to Canada", so we made plans to head
across the international bridge to the Canadian side of the falls. We
had stupidly forgotten to bring any identification for the kids, but
the Canadians didn't seem to care too much - although they did warn
us that we *might* get some static from their American counterparts
when we tried to return later that evening.

The Canadian side is remarkably different from the American side, just
as it was twenty years ago. In fact, the American side is much
cleaner and nicer now than it was then - but the Canadian side has
continued to improve at about the same rate, so the difference is still
sadly apparent.

Niagara Falls, NY (and its sister city, Buffalo) has depopulated to an
amazing degree since the boom time 1960s, as all the industry has
departed for cheaper labor. In fact, Buffalo has lost several hundred
thousand people, and Niagara has lost almost HALF of its population,
along with the loss of all heavy industry. The area has obviously
endured achingly bad times, while the Canadian side - which has
always relied more on tourism, rather than industry, for its job base
- has done quite well. Of course, the Canadian view of the falls is
MUCH better, which makes it a no-brainer for tourists...

Still, I found the Canadian side to be disturbingly
over-commercialized. Although they still have the wonderful park that
runs full-length along the falls, the city has allowed itself to grow
into a combination of Las Vegas and Wisconsin Dells, with space
needles, casinos, Ferris wheels, and just a generally shlocky
atmosphere. I found it mildly disturbing that some people felt the
need to ride carnival rides, or visit cheesy wax museums, as if the
awesome Niagara Falls aren't enough of an attraction...

After walking many miles, and rejecting all the icky "corporate"
restaurants, we found a remarkably authentic German restaurant called
"The Happy Wanderer", located far enough from the falls as to not
be have been bought out by Applebees/McDonalds/Marriott...yet.

Anyone who grew up in the Milwaukee, WI, area, or who had a German
grandmother (like both Mary and I did) will recognize authentic German
food - and the Happy Wanderer has it. Mary and I split a combination
platter, which offered massive quantities of spaetzel, sweet red
cabbage, sauerkraut, kassler ripchen, schnitzel, sauerbraten,
dumplings, and a zillion other delicacies - followed by (of course)
dessert! We ate, and ate, and ate - and we discovered a fabulous
new (to us) German beer (whose name I wrote down, and cannot locate,
dammit) - it was simply fantastic.

Not cheap, though. The bill was around $150, Canadian - but was
worth every penny. It was by far the best meal on the trip. (And, I
think, best of all, my kids got to hear real Canadians saying "Eh?"
at the end of every sentence, just like the stereotyped joke they'd
always heard. Our waitress was inadvertently hilarious to them, as she
had a Brooklyn-style accent with a Canadian twist, as in "How was
youse guy's dessert, eh?"! We just about died laughing, and my
kids are STILL saying "eh?" at the end of every sentence...)

Afterwards, we waddled back to the falls, to watch as they were lit
with gigantic colored spotlights. Although beautiful, I still found
them to be mildly disturbing. The whole concept struck me as no
different than Disney offering to light up the Grand Canyon with lasers
- but I guess I'm in the minority on this, as the crowds were
immense.

Then, it was time to go back to America. Paranoid after having a
couple of beers, and worried about not having any ID for our kids, I
cautiously pulled up to the customs booth. The guy looked at us,
looked at our driver's licenses, and welcomed us home -- simple as
that. It was nice to see that nothing had changed since 9/11, at least
with our Canadian brethren.

The next day dawned clear to the north, with storms lining up in train
(again!) along the Southern shore of Lake Erie. It appeared as if our
desire to fly over Canada was going to pay off in spades, so I called
Buffalo Flight Service, and got the poop on over-flying Canada.
Strangely, they weren't all that helpful, with the briefer saying
stuff like "I've never heard of any VFR pilots being charged" and
"I think you'll be in touch with ATC throughout the flight". I
found these "fuzzy" answers inadequate, so I also called the
London, Ontario version of Flight Service, and got the Canadian version
of instructions for over-flying Canada.

As opposed to their American counterparts, they were quite precise -
file a VFR flight plan with the American FSS, get your squawk from
Niagara Falls tower, talk to Buffalo FSS to activate your flight plan
ASAP after departure, and talk to Buffalo approach as you cross the
border. They will hand us off to Toronto Center, and the rest is
business as usual.

It was as easy as that, no muss, no fuss. I hadn't filed a VFR
flight plan in almost ten years, to the briefer helped me through that
- but otherwise it was quite simple. Once in the air, we climbed to
6500 feet, keeping Lake Erie off of our left wing (from where we could
clearly see the crappy weather that was pummeling the other side of the
lake), and proceeded across Ontario, toward Detroit.

There were a few verbiage differences (I.E.: They say "radar
identification" instead of "radar contact"), and "aboooot"
instead of "about" - but otherwise, there was no way to tell
Toronto Center from Chicago Center. The flight was great, and we were
able to see Lake Erie, Ontario, Huron, and St. Clair in the span of 90
minutes, which was very cool.

Flying over Selfridge AFB (ever vigilant against those threatening
Canadians!) was kinda cool, and (once we re-entered US airspace)
Detroit Approach was VERY helpful getting us through the busy Detroit
Class B airspace into Willow Run, in Yipsilanti, Michigan. In fact,
we barely deviated at all, all the way through their airspace, thanks
to some helpful altitude assignments.

And we even remembered to close our flight plan!

Willow Run, Michigan

The Willow Run plant was built during World War II to build the
4-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber. It is immense, and is
currently owned by General Motors (after stints with the Ford Motor
Company, and Chrysler.) They've got some of the biggest hangars
I've ever seen, and the plant itself just goes on and on. The
airport is still gigantic, and several businesses repair jets as large
as Boeing 707s, although most of the traffic while we were there was GA
with a smattering of military.

The plan had been to meet Jim & Tami Burns at YIP (who were flying in
from Stevens Point, WI), and go en masse to Greenfield Village and the
Henry Ford Museum. Sadly, the day we spent grounded in Ohio had used
up our built-in "weather day", and caused us to arrive too late for
us to make it to the museum with the Burns'. So, instead, we had a
nice dinner with them, explored a mall in the area, and had breakfast
with them the next morning before bidding them farewell. (They were
off to Grand Rapids next, to visit relatives.)

I will leave it to Jim to tell the tale of our hilarious run-in with
the American Airlines flight crew that wins the new "World's Dumbest"
award when it comes to hotel elevators. Suffice it to say that I won't
be booking any flights on American any time soon. :-)

We intended to do the Museum on our own, but after 8 days on the road
we were all bone-weary and simply ready to go home. When the progs
showed the weather looking marginally crappy for Sunday, we opted
instead to simply fly home Saturday, after bidding adieu to the
Burns' - and enjoyed a thoroughly routine 3-hour flight around the
bottom of Lake Michigan, back home to Iowa.

(But not until after Joe and I climbed up into the unexpectedly
accessible old Willow Run control tower for a look-see. The view was
great, and we discovered that the fire equipment - hoses, primarily
-- was last inspected in 1973, when I was Joe's age. All the alarm
boxes said "Ford Motor Company" on them - it was like stepping
back in time...)

The trip: 1736 nautical miles. We'll just have to save Greenfield
Village for a future trip!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

This is a really, REALLY long post, but it contains PIREPS on:

An incredible trip and an enjoyable read, Jay. Those were some very
memorable and unique experiences you and your children will carry with them
for life, all thanks to GA.

P.S: Check your Inn reservations. I am flying across the US from Syracuse
to Denver next Thursday and decided to make a night of it at your inn,
rather than go all the way.

Let's see, if I remember correctly, you are a microbrew fan, so hows about
I bring along a case (won't be cold by then) of one of upstate NY's better
brews. What's your taste? Pale Ale, Amber, Porter, or something else?

--
Peter

"Jay Honeck" posted the exciting message
oups.com:

This is a really, REALLY long post, ...

Hi Jay, welcome back! We really enjoyed visiting with you prior to your
trip. Glad to hear it went well.

Our return also went well - you can look for my posting for some of the
details.

Tim Long

And he was right - as we approached the
pattern, we watched in amazement as the "curtain" of water pulled
away to the East, leaving the airport in sunshine while downtown was
still getting pounded, just a mile or two away.

I have some interest in thunderstorms, as I live in the Northeast where
we don't get to see them as well as you do, and don't like flying
through them by mistake. Seems to me that if downtown, just a mile or
two away (the length of a long runway) is getting "pounded", that's too
close to a thunderstorm, clear or not. Ten to twenty miles is what I
was taught, especially considering that hail can fall that far away.

Were you really flying, landing even, "one or two" miles from the
thunderstorm in a cherokee?

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Jay Honeck" wrote
I will leave it to Jim to tell the tale of our hilarious run-in with
the American Airlines flight crew that wins the new "World's Dumbest"
award when it comes to hotel elevators. Suffice it to say that I won't
be booking any flights on American any time soon. :-)


Well, I'll give it my best shot, because the more I think of how stupid it
was, my brain simply objects and I leave something out! But, in all
fairness, I'll throw out a disclaimer for all the hard working commercial
airline flight crews out there, that maybe this crew had just gotten off of
day 8 on an 8 day trip and off the 8th hop of the day and didn't even know
what town they were in, much less which hotel, much less whether or not to
push the single elevator button.

So after spending Thursday and Friday at "The Henry Ford" (museum) and
Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI my cell phone rang announcing the Honeck's
arrival at KYIP Willow Run Airport. We'd been walking non stop since 9:30am
and by 2:30pm had seen almost everything to be seen at the Greenfield
Village, so we gladly agreed to meet them at our hotel, then find a nice sit
down restaurant for lunch and some afternoon refreshments.

Lunch and a pitcher or two later, we returned to the hotel so the kids could
change into their swimming suits then hit the pool. This is when things got
seriously scary or hilarious, depending if you know how to use an elevator
or not.

Approaching the hotel elevators just ahead of us, where two uniformed pilots
and two uniformed flight attendants. The senior looking flight attendant
hit the UP elevator call button and shortly one of the double elevators
doors opened. The flight crew enters, hits the "floor" button for their
floor, the door closes and the 8 Honeck/Burns party pushes the UP elevator
call button to call the second elevator for us.

Well, before we know it, the first elevator's doors open and we're staring
face to face with the AA flight crew. Obviously the elevator didn't "know"
that the floor button had been pushed in the first car and then respond by
sending down the second car, it simply opened the doors for the first car.
We smile, laugh, tell them we'll catch the next one, they push the floor
button, the doors close and we wait again for our elevator. No sooner than
the doors close, they open again and here are the flight crew once again!

So... the senior flight attendant gets OUT of their elevator, enters the
lobby, pushes the elevator call button on the outside of the elevator, then
gets back IN the car that she just got out of and waits a few seconds for
something to happen!... the elevator car doesn't move... the doors are
still open.... they stare at us from inside the car... we stare back from
outside the car...

.... sometimes my wife will begin a conversation with the words... "I was
thinking" and jokingly I'll respond with some remark about seeing smoke, or
turning off the smoke detector, or calling the fire department... anyway,
the smoke was rolling out of the senior flight attendants brain cells BIG
TIME.. as she announces to both the other members of the flight crew and the
Honeck/Burns clan that she'll ...

"get out and take the stairs because there's too many people in the elevator
for it to work and now that there is only 2 of them, it will work"....
Definitely not Mrs. Otis or their daughter!

ok boys and girls, welcome to flight attendent Math 101... how many were in
the flight crew? how many got off? if we all look inside the elevator
(just like she did) how many do we see? yep, 3, not 2, ok, we need to do
better next time because we'll actually have to count the passengers
someday!

So Jay and I look at each other like neither of us could believe what we
just heard or saw and I poke my head in the elevator to ask if anybody is a
pilot or if they need an approach plate... no response... not even a
chuckle, so we figured that pilots without stripes on their shoulders or
other mere mortals shouldn't know anything about these things....

We begin to pile in with the remaining flight crew of 3... but my wife being
claustrophobic quickly bails out once the count reaches 11... then the
junior flight attendant joins her in the second elevator... so now it's 4
Honecks, 3 Burns', and the 2 AA Pilots inside the elevator and we punch our
button for the 6th floor, all to the objection of.... are you ready?

The Captain. Yep, 4 stripes but no POH for an elevator so he announces that
we're not going nowhere, the elevator isn't working, there's something
screwed up and it's got something to do with the button outside.

Quick thinking Jay pours cold water all over his authority and boldly bets
him $50 that it will work. Captain American Airlines snickers and retorts
with a snide "Fifty bucks, huh?" Jay doesn't back down, "Yep, Fifty Bucks!"
and reaches for the door close button....

The door closes...

and all 9 of us are headed skyward....

their floor was the 4th, and when the doors open Captain American Airlines
exits with his ever mute co-pilot in tow.

I'm quite sure they heard us laughing all the way to our rooms. Jay didn't
collect $50 from CAA, but the laughs were worth much more. It wouldn't have
been funnier if it had been Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Corman,
and Tim Conway.

Jim

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
Still, I found the Canadian side to be disturbingly
over-commercialized. Although they still have the wonderful park that

Well, like you say, they rely on tourism, and if people create a market
for crap, Niagara Falls Ontario will fill it. They've always had an awful
lot of cheesy ugly stuff - I learned the phrase "tourist trap" on a trip
there as a young boy.

(again!) along the Southern shore of Lake Erie. It appeared as if our
desire to fly over Canada was going to pay off in spades, so I called
Buffalo Flight Service, and got the poop on over-flying Canada.
Strangely, they weren't all that helpful, with the briefer saying
stuff like "I've never heard of any VFR pilots being charged" and
"I think you'll be in touch with ATC throughout the flight". I
found these "fuzzy" answers inadequate, so I also called the
London, Ontario version of Flight Service, and got the Canadian version
of instructions for over-flying Canada.

You know, ever since I've gotten my license, I've found Canadian Flight
Service *way* more helpful than Buffalo AFSS. At the time, I thought
maybe it was innate difference between US and Canada - but as I travelled
more I found that other US AFSSes were also friendly and helpful. I think
it's just Buffalo that sucks. And it's not even all of the briefers at
Buffalo - just some of them.

The trip: 1736 nautical miles. We'll just have to save Greenfield
Village for a future trip!

Great trip, thanks for sharing.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
It's a house of cards, supported not on the backs of turtles but on bull****.
Making the bull**** gooier makes the house of cards less likely to collapse,
but is not necessarily an improvement. -- Alan J Rosenthal

P.S: Check your Inn reservations. I am flying across the US from Syracuse
to Denver next Thursday and decided to make a night of it at your inn,
rather than go all the way.

Let's see, if I remember correctly, you are a microbrew fan, so hows about
I bring along a case (won't be cold by then) of one of upstate NY's better
brews. What's your taste? Pale Ale, Amber, Porter, or something else?

Peter, we're amber folks all the way. Darker, if necessary, is always
better than lighter.

Unfortunately, I'm going to be doing my annual motorcycle camping trip
with my daughter on Wednesday and Thursday. Summer is so short that
we've (literally!) got only three un-planned days on the calendar from
now until school starts, and I can't let her down (even though the LAST
thing I should be doing is leaving town right away).

Mary is scheduled to be off, too, but she'll be in town. Is there any
chance of pushing it back till Friday or Saturday? Maybe you'll hit
some humongous "Ohio-style" storms, and get delayed a day!

Barring mechanical problems, I should be back in town Friday PM.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Hi Jay, welcome back! We really enjoyed visiting with you prior to your
trip. Glad to hear it went well.

Our return also went well - you can look for my posting for some of the
details.

Tim, it was great to meet you, too! I only wish I had more time to do
lunch with you guys, but I was trying to work two weeks ahead...and
failing!

I hope our paths cross again, soon...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I have some interest in thunderstorms, as I live in the Northeast where
we don't get to see them as well as you do, and don't like flying
through them by mistake. Seems to me that if downtown, just a mile or
two away (the length of a long runway) is getting "pounded", that's too
close to a thunderstorm, clear or not. Ten to twenty miles is what I
was taught, especially considering that hail can fall that far away.

Were you really flying, landing even, "one or two" miles from the
thunderstorm in a cherokee?

I don't think so. After reviewing the photos (which I'll get 'round to
posting, one of these days) I'd say it was more like five or six miles
away.

This is still pretty close, probably too close for a building,
advancing line of storms. However, this was a retreating, isolated
cell, and there was virtually no wind when we touched down.

This kind of storm happens frequently in the Midwest at this time of
year. We call them "popcorn" storms, cuz they pop up and move in a
very disorganized fashion, and are usually not associated with any
frontal boundaries. This makes them hard to predict but easy to spot,
in a clear blue sky, and because they are small they are pretty easy to
fly around.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I'm quite sure they heard us laughing all the way to our rooms. Jay didn't
collect $50 from CAA, but the laughs were worth much more. It wouldn't have
been funnier if it had been Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, Harvey Corman,
and Tim Conway.

Well done, Jim -- I couldn't have told the story any better.

It was almost like someone had sucked all the oxygen out of that
elevator car. Or maybe they had spent too much time at altitude? I've
rarely seen (or heard) less explicable words or actions come out of
*anyone* -- let alone a highly-trained, professional air crew.

Hilarious...and scary!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"