March 18: Fly Day Sunday was a “Blue Sky Day” which meant it’s a great time to go diving, jumping or flying. Since the local DZ’s are still down for another month, no dive buddies to zip up the dry suit (back zipper you know), so that left getting get in some engine time.

So the first thing you do before flying is look outside and do a visual weather look-see. If that looks promising, then it’s time to check in with DUATS.

Ok, I know, what is DUATS you ask? That stands for Direct User Access Terminal Service and is a weather information and flight plan processing service contracted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for use by United States civil pilots. You can use the phone or internet for access to a FAA database to obtain weather and aeronautical information and to file, amend, and cancel domestic IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) and VFR (Visual Flight Rules) flight plans.

After I check to see if the weather is good where you are at, you have to see what going on at the places you want to go. To do that you look at NOTAM’s (Notice to Airmen) which are information notices filed to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the safety of the flight. It’s nice to know things like is the airport runways open, are its lights working if you plan on arriving after dark, do any hazards exist you might want to know about before you need to land. That does include things like watch for deer on the runway especially in the evenings, hazards such as air shows, parachute jumps, kite flying, lasers, rocket launches, etc.  Thats not a joke in reference to lasers or rockets by the way!

And the then we check Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR) which are geographically-limited, short-term, airspace restriction which often encompass major sporting events, natural disaster areas, air shows, space launches, and Presidential movements (which can be a moving target). You absolutely do not want to bust, meaning enter, a presidential TFR. That is unless you want an up close and personnel opportunity to see a fully armed fighter aircraft (s) blowing jet exhaust, or worse, your way.

So with all the administrative hoops jumped thru got the bird out of the nest, checked her over and the only thing I needed to do was feed her. Now she’s is STC’d for auto gas but I feed her that that last week and I prefers she have a higher octane mix. So since I had a bit over an hour’s flight time available I did a short hop over to C20 (Andrews Airpark) in Berrien Springs to take advantage of their self-service fuel facilities and tanked up.

Left Andrews and flew around Berrien Springs checking out the water level in the river, Lake Chapin and the dam, then west over to Bridgman, then Baroda to check out Singer & Hess Lake , flew parallel to Cleveland Ave toward Stevensville and looked  over the changes to the sports field and Lakeshore HS ball & football fields, took pictures of the Ice Garden ( I call the ice palace) , back over lake Michigan for a short shore tour and to see how dirty the river plume was today and then landing at the Benton Harbor airport.

(New word definition: STC: a supplemental type certificate is a national aviation authority-approved major modification or repair to an existing type certified aircraft, engine or propeller.)

Chapin lake is a very nice 600-acre reservoir but unfortunately the closest public access to Chapin Lake is in Buchanan, at least miles upstream from the dam. The Berrien Springs Boat Club has a prime launch site next to the dam’s west end, but it’s available to members only.  The lakes visible Stonehenge equivalent is the row of concrete supports spanning the lake remnants of a bridge that was built in 1905 and shutdown in 1934 for an interurban train that linked all parts south to Berrien Springs. The river was dammed in 1908 to  create Lake Chapin and to produce electricity.

Shamrock Park launch site lower left of picture.  You can float from there down the river about nine miles to the Jasper Dairy Road access and about 25 miles to Lake Michigan.

Cleveland & Glenlord Intersection: Ice Garden now completed and fully operating.