Kay2, there is an active discussion in the aviation forums on the subject of crossing Lake Michigan, and the consensus among experienced pilots seems to be that any time/distance saving is not worth the risk in a single-engine airplane.

Yes,Bob.
My husband is a very cautious pilot. That's why we did the Chicago rather than the Lake Michigan route both times. But I still wanted the life jackets in case ATC vectored us over the lake.

Since then he also considered flying down to join me at a meeting in the Keys which would also require the vests, but the weather didn't agree.

He says the place he has flown that he won't do again is over the large swamp in South Georgia. He lost radio contact and it is awfully big and dark there.

Kay2, tell your husband that the magic word is "unable." You don't have to accept vectors over water. Does he have a copy of my book "Say Again, Please"?

How many books have you written, Bob?

Four, plus two CD-ROM programs, April. You can Google my name, or better yet go to Borders or Barnes&Noble and check their computer catalog.

Christmas is not that far away.

Sorry, April....it's easier to Google me if you know my name...

Bob Gardner

My husband is a well trained fixed and rotary wing pilot and CFI. I'm not a pilot and still have trouble believing airplanes can really fly, so I'm not interfering with him and ATC. I'm just enjoying the ride, taking along my life jacket, radio, maps and charts, emergency landing procedures, GPS, cooler,....

Now if he would just buy that jet so we could get to places like Oshkosh faster!

Thanks, Bob. I found them thru Google. If only I'd known about them a few years ago. :-|