"When everything seems to be going against you, remember
that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."
that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."
-- Henry Ford
Attendance by Attrition
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| Williamson Flying Club members at the Jolly Pumpkin in Dearborn, MI. Photo by Mike K. |
Flying to Detroit was beyond the typical mission profile for a Williamson Flying Club trip. We rarely fly more than a couple of hours from Sodus, cross international borders, or stay overnight at the destination. Maybe we were overly ambitious with our plan for an overnight visit to Detroit, the amazing Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and Ford's Rouge F-150 truck production plant. Nonetheless, twelve people signed up to fly in five aircraft to do exactly that.
One planeload of three people planned to make it a day trip, but when weather forecasts showed high confidence of severe storms over Detroit for the return that evening, they were appropriately the first to drop out. When Bob called-out sick, Brad, Tom, and Alicia consolidated to a single aircraft: The Cirrus. On the morning of our departure, weather forecasts over Detroit varied depending on which model we reviewed. We dithered for a time, but eventually Ed and Stacey made alternate plans. This left six people in two aircraft able to make the trip. Fortunately, both pilots and aircraft were capable of instrument flight. While I always file IFR flight plans for trans-Canadian flights because it simplifies the border crossings, we quickly learned that we needed those IFR tickets.
Deceptively Clear
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 24 Jul 2021 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - DET (Detroit, MI) | 3.0 | 2310.7 |
We launched shortly after 7:00 am on a beautiful Upstate NY Saturday morning, picking up our instrument clearance with Rochester. Ziad and Eman flew with me aboard Warrior 481, both of them student pilots at the club. They received an immersive exposure to real world general aviation flying on this trip, though none of us realized exactly how much at the time of departure.
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| Flying just north of Buffalo. Photo by Eman. |
One advantage of having Ziad and Eman aboard is that Eman has a great eye and likes taking photos as much as I do.
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| The Niagara River where it splits around Grand Island, NY |
Without much ado, we were in Canadian airspace and pushing against a headwind at 4,000 feet.
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| Tom, Alicia, and Brad in The Cirrus. Photo by Tom. |
Brad delayed his launch in the faster Cirrus by thirty minutes, then chased us across Canada. Joining him aboard The Cirrus were Tom and Alicia. Though Tom was disappointed not to be flying his own airplane, this was a fortuitous choice given the weather we encountered.
For much of the journey across Canada, we were of the opinion that Ed had been too conservative in choosing not to join in. The weather was beautiful.
Then, some low scud began to appear.
Over time, the undercast filled in, becoming much more dense.
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| St Thomas Airport, Ontario. Photo by Alicia from The Cirrus. |
Never Again
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| ForeFlight screen shot inbound to Detroit with The Cirrus (2MS) right behind us. |
Near the border, we flew through rain and clouds, though the ride remained smooth at all times. We managed to avoid significant rain cells, but periodically observed towering cumulus through the window that corresponded to the red blotches displayed by datalink radar. At times, the clouds parted sufficiently for us to glimpse the leaden surface of Lake St Clair. I warned Ziad and Eman to prepare for some bumps in the cumulus, but was pleased to be contradicted by continued smooth air.
In two way radio communication with Selfridge Approach, it quickly became apparent that another aircraft, Seven Three Quebec, was in distress. A Rhode Island based Skyhawk en route to Airventure in Oshkosh, WI, Seven Three Quebec appeared to be low on fuel and inbound to Port Huron in the clouds with a disoriented pilot at the controls.
Selfridge Approach tried to line him up for an instrument approach, but he blew through the final approach course. The controller tried to get him to climb to a safe altitude, but the pilot kept descending too low, poking around in the murk fruitlessly hunting for a visual on the airport. It was clear that the controller felt impotent to help; Seven Three Quebec was not acting on her guidance
"I just need you to make the airport VFR for me," Seven Three Quebec broadcast nonsensically, as though the military controller at Selfridge could just miracle-up some CAVU conditions by turning a knob on her weather machine. The pilot was disconnected from the reality of his rapidly degrading situation and, for a moment, the controller was at a loss for words. Everyone in our group thought the same thing: this sounds exactly like the radio exchanges in accident case studies leading up to somebody killing themselves and their passengers in an airplane. As we bored through the clouds, rain streaking our windscreen, the broadcasts between Selfridge and the befuddled pilot were absolutely terrifying. It was a stark reminder of the seriousness of IFR flying and the importance of pilot proficiency.
Selfridge handed us off to Detroit Approach while Seven Three Quebec's situation was in the midst of unraveling. Fortunately, we later learned from FlightAware that Seven Three Quebec survived the day and eventually continued on to Oshkosh.
Impromptu Approach
Conditions in metropolitan Detroit were crummy. The controller was trying to get aircraft into Coleman Young Municipal Airport (KDET) via a visual approach, but the poor visibility and my lack of familiarity with local landmarks led me to dial in the localizer for the runway 15 ILS approach on my ancient number two radio, just in case I needed extra guidance to line up on the runway.
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| ForeFlight screen shot taken after Detroit vectored us around a rain cell and onto the approach. |
When I was unable to acquire the airport visually, Detroit Approach vectored me around a rain cell and onto an intercept course for the ILS approach to runway 15. I quickly loaded the ILS on the Garmin navigator (number one radio), but approach mode would not arm on the autopilot and the green course deviation needle failed to make an appearance on the HSI. As it turned out, this was user error. I had failed to toggle the localizer frequency to active, so my on-board equipment associated with the number one radio was not receiving any guidance for the approach.
After futilely punching the approach button on the autopilot mode controller a couple of times, I switched to Plan B. Fortunately, I had already backed up the approach on the number two radio, so I disengaged the autopilot and hand flew the approach by referencing the cold war era avionics still installed in my panel. It all worked like a charm. My manual tracking of the final approach course was both spot on and almost thoughtlessly automatic. For a moment, I was vaguely impressed with myself.
Even inside the final approach fix -- typically about five miles from the runway threshold -- I did not have the airport in sight until Ziad pointed out the side window. "That looks like an airport over there," he offered. He was right. But why was the airport "over there"? We were tracking the localizer flawlessly, but the air data computer showed a 35 knot crosswind at our altitude that forced a ridiculous crab angle. We were turned so far into the wind that the runway was actually hidden behind the window pillar from my perspective.
Clearly, Ziad and Eman got more of a instrument flying demonstration than any of us expected.
"Welcome to Detroit," I remarked as we touched down.
Forlorn
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| Tuskegee Airmen Memorial at Coleman Young Municipal Airport. Photographed the next morning. |
As an airport facility, Coleman Young Municipal Airport (or Detroit City Airport or, simply, City Airport) is a study in contrasts. It is positioned ideally for easy access to downtown Detroit. The facility was in the news on Memorial Day 2021 for unveiling a beautiful new monument honoring the Tuskegee Airmen. Coleman Young, namesake of the airport and the first Black mayor of Detroit, was a Tuskegee Airman and served during World War II as a bombardier and navigator. Runway 15/33 is in absolutely beautiful condition. AvFlight Detroit, the only full service FBO on site, is staffed with some wonderfully helpful and friendly people.
However, much of the field infrastructure is crumbling. Dilapidated T-hangars occupy much of the real estate and the once magnificent, WPA-era Executive Terminal has clearly seen better days. Despite a recent rehabilitation of runway 15/33, the airport is obviously being starved of funding and it shows by the weeds sprouting from cracks in many paved surfaces. News reports indicate that the owner of Ann Arbor-based AvFlight has offered to invest in the field if the city would simply grant the FBO a long term lease. Thus far, the city has refused.
Coleman Young Municipal is a struggling diamond in the rough.
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| Securing Warrior 481 for the night. Photo by Eman. |
We already knew that robust weather was expected in the evening — that was the reason Dan and his day trip passengers originally bowed out — so we bundled Warrior 481 carefully against the elements.
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| Me and Ziad putting on Warrior 481's pajamas. Photo by Eman. |
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| Eman and Ziad with Warrior 481 in Detroit. |
With both aircraft secure, we reconnected with Brad, Tom, and Alicia inside AvFlight. Brad revealed that flying the ILS into Detroit was his first post-certification instrument approach.
"How did it feel to have witnesses?" I teased him. Brad seemed completely blasé about the entire scenario, meaning that he was well-trained and well-prepared.
I have no idea what sort of black magic the folks at AvFlight performed to secure two rental cars for our group despite the pandemic-related shortage. All I know is that I was unable to reserve anything in the area on my own, but AvFlight procured a brand new Ford Fusion — painted in "Please Ticket Me Red” — for me at my corporate rate of $23/day. This car was my introduction to in-seat air conditioning and to say that I am a fan of that amenity would be a gross understatement. Where has this been all my life?
Tom was a little less fortunate. His rental was an enclosed roller skate upon which was affixed a Chevy badge as if to say, "See? It is a real car." From the back seat of the Spark, Alicia did her best impression of General Zod trapped in the Phantom Zone at the beginning of Superman II. But it was all good because every great adventure needs a running joke and the Spark satisfied that role with aplomb.
Tourist Empire of the Inland Seas
Coleman Young Municipal sits in an economically challenged portion of Detroit. Having led my friends here, I found myself very cognizant of our shabby surroundings. Dearborn, home to The Henry Ford, shows much better. I snorted as we drove past William Stout Middle School, named for the designer of the classic Ford Trimotor passenger aircraft of the early 1920s. We passed Ford's proving grounds, set on the site of the former Ford Airport that operated from 1924 to 1947 and is generally recognized for its many firsts: the first U.S. airport hotel, the first concrete runways, first U.S. scheduled passenger service, first contracted airmail service, first radio control for a commercial flight, and the first U.S. passenger terminal.
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| Corvette club parking and the Spark. Photo by Alicia. |
In the Henry Ford's parking lot, eagle-eyed Tom spotted a group of like-minded Chevy enthusiasts and situated the Spark with its kindred.
I described the wonderous Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in a previous post ("Tourist Empire of the Inland Seas") and will not expound on it here. The museum is best described by Henry Ford himself: "I am collecting the history of our people as written into things their hands made and used.... When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived, and that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition..."
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| Mike during dinner at the Jolly Pumpkin. |
At the main entrance, we connected with Mike, one of my closest friends from high school. When Bob bowed out just minutes after we bought everyone's tickets to the museum, I called some of my friends in southeast Michigan in search of someone available for a last minute visit to the Henry Ford. Fortunately, Mike was game and we got to catch up for the first time in over a year — a definite bonus to the trip for me.
They Fly Now?
Considering that we were a pilot group, I led everyone directly to the Heroes of the Sky exhibit.
Appropriately enough, the DC3 on display was painted in period Northwest livery as Detroit was a significant hub for the airline before ultimately being swallowed by Delta.
Due to my many years at the Air Zoo, the fact that Ford built airplanes was not news to me. It was a surprise to some of my friends, however. This particular example of the Ford Trimotor was the first aircraft to fly over the South Pole in 1929 while under the command of Admiral Byrd.
No mere participation trophy, the Air Reliability Tour Trophy was connected to the Ford-sponsored National Air Tours of 1925-1931 and was part of an effort to promote safe air travel to a dubious American public.
This Fokker Trimotor, the "Josephine Ford", was purportedly flown by Floyd Bennett and Admiral Byrd to the North Pole in 1926, though discrepancies in Byrd's navigational data raised concerns about whether he actually reached his goal. Because this expedition was financed by Edsel Ford, Anthony Fokker painted the prominent "FOKKER" badges on the aircraft to ensure that no one mistook it for the competing Ford Trimotor!
Local Delicacy
Food at the Plum Market Kitchen inside the museum was truly fantastic and clearly a far cry from what passed as museum cafeteria "food" in my youth. Perhaps my favorite part of lunch was treating myself to a Detroit classic: Faygo Rock & Rye. So good. I even persuaded Alicia to pick one up and one sip was enough to convince her that Detroit truly had some wonderful things to offer the world.
World's Biggest Wiener
Not surprisingly, the museum has much more to offer than airplanes. It also displays what is undoubtedly the most important automotive innovation this side of the cup holder:
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!
There is an entire exhibit on race cars that would probably have been more interesting to me if the race cars flew. Nonetheless, I was intrigued by this speedster constructed from a WWII-era P-38 Lightning fuel drop tank. Waste not want not, I suppose.
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| Photo by Alicia. |
There was an entire exhibit devoted to technology that protects race car drivers from injury when the inevitable accident occurs. An important component of that technology was this giant child's seat. It was the perfect perch for a giant child. I felt very safe in this seat.
I was amused to see the first steel-bodied Blue Bird school bus built in 1927. After a critical look, it was evident that school bus luxury has not advanced much since.
This concept car was called the "Warrior". Really? With a squeeze-bulb aaaahhh-ooooogah horn? In this case, I am glad that I bought the Warrior II instead.
This 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royale made me think of Cruella Deville. I am not certain why that was the case, but I blame the release of 2021's least essential prequel. Famously more expensive than anything from competing Dusenberg or Rolls Royce, only six of these were made, likely because that's the number of people living in the world at the time that could afford one.
We saw a genuine Kalamazoo-built Checker Cab.
Anyone wondering why it took Tesla's arrival on the scene to finally make electric cars cool need look no further than this 1980 all-electric Commuta-Car. It looks like a bumper car that escaped the carnival.
Cheap hamburgers and big cars, the American dream on display.
I think this three-dimensional equivalent to an exploded-view diagram of a Model T is brilliant. With the complexity of a modern automobile, I suspect that constructing a similar exhibit for my Honda CRV would be virtually impossible.
Whoa, Big Fella!
One of my earliest childhood memories was standing before this colossus of a locomotive, the 1940s era "Allegheny" built by the Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, OH and designed to carry heavy loads over steep grades in the mountains.
Developing 7,500 horsepower at 40 miles per hour, the Allegheny is considered one of the most powerful steam locomotives ever built.
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| Phot by Alicia. |
Due to all his Cherokee time, Tom knows exactly how to read a “steam” gauge!
Muppet Mania
Muppets have been a consistent presence in my life. From Sesame Street to The Muppet Movie to Yoda to watching old episodes of the Muppet Show with The Bear. The visiting Jim Henson exhibit satisfied an itch that I was unaware needed scratching.
Right! Because his head is round and green! Got it.
I suspect that there is a narrow age window of people walking this planet who deeply appreciate "The Dark Crystal". I count myself among them, though I also recognize that viewing it as an adult might shatter my fond childhood memories.
Aughra. A truly glorious Muppet. I would love to see her locked in combat with Yoda.
"It's a Major Award!"
Clearly, the Henry Ford is an impressive institution with an amazing collection of interesting, significant, and relevant objects. Certainly, there is more to the museum than can be described in a simple blog post. Some items in the collection are a bit ghoulish, such as the limousine and the chair in which John F Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were respectively assassinated. Nonetheless, it is hard to argue against their relevance.
The Rouge
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| Eman, Brad, Alicia, and me waiting for the bus to the Rouge. Photo by Eman. |
At 3:00, we were scheduled to tour The Rouge, Ford's monument to twentieth century manufacturing might. As conceived, raw materials arrived by ship and finished automobiles rolled out of the other end of the facility in an impressive, early example of vertical integration. The modern Rouge facility builds Ford F-150 trucks and we toured the production line. While the actual tour was fascinating, no photography was permitted. The tour came complete with a booming, multimedia, tour de force of Ford propaganda that was not only impressive, but left me with an inexplicable urge to buy a Ford F-150. The experience was rounded out by a video on the life and times of Henry Ford that boasted of his innovations and also surprisingly showed that he was kind of a bastard as well.
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| Tom, Mike, Alicia, Eman, me, and Brad at the Henry Ford. Photo by Eman. |
We finished a great day at the Henry Ford and set our sights on dinner.
But first, we had to wring more joy from the Chevy Spark through mockery.
The Jolly Pumpkin
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| High school pals, Mike and me. Photo by Brad. |
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| WFC in the D: Eman, me, Tom, Alicia, Brad, and Ziad. Photo by Mike. |
At Mike's suggestion, we attempted dinner at Ford's Garage. The wait was over an hour for a group of our size. Next, Mike called a newly-opened brewpub, the Jolly Pumpkin (a Michigan-based chain). No waiting. We hustled over and had a great meal. One of the principle advantages of staying overnight on a flying trip: beer. A good night's sleep satisfies that 8 hour "bottle to throttle" rule handily.
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| This ForeFlight screenshot during the storm contained abbreviations I had never seen before. |
That night, Alicia's patience was tried by inadequately supervised children at the hotel while Brad and I watched some ferocious weather move through the area with bated breath, thinking of the airplanes sitting outside at Coleman Young Municipal. I also had the experience of visiting a Meijer with a bunch of New Yorkers while begging them to stop saying that, "It's just like a Super Walmart."
Virtual IMC
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 25 Jul 2021 | N21481 | DET (Detroit, MI) - SDC (Sodus, NY) | 2.5 | 2313.2 |
Although our hotel promised a complimentary morning meal, I took issue with their fundamental definition of breakfast. The offerings included coffee, prepackaged Danishes, and — for some reason —frozen bean and cheese burritos. The wrapped burritos were piled in a bowl full of melted ice (i.e., lukewarm water) and were already soft. I blanched in contemplating how many freeze/thaw cycles they had experienced. Anyone hoping to hydrate without drinking coffee or consume some protein with their breakfast was simply out of luck. (The thermally-cycled burritos were a non-starter for me.)
Both airplanes survived the previous evening's storm well, though I removed a lot of water from Warrior 481's right fuel tank. It was similar to what we observed after the deluge in Knoxville. After returning home, I replaced the gasket seal on the right fuel cap. There was much sumping and retesting before obtaining a monophasic fluid suitable for flight.
Coleman Young Municipal was IFR when we arrived, but the low clouds were actively breaking up by the time we departed. Skynet over at the FAA assigned me and Brad the same untenable full route clearance that took us across Lake Erie. However, City Tower changed that to a direct route home over land without being asked.
Aloft, scattered light from the rising sun destroyed forward visibility, turning the air optically opaque. Though reporting stations indicated good VFR visibility, that was not the case looking sunward along our route of flight.
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| Ziad, Eman, and me. Photo by Ziad. |
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| Photo by Eman. |
From the front seat of Warrior 481, Ziad and I solved all of the world's problems during the trek home. Actually, no, we were just talking about flying, a situationally-appropriate topic.
Someone at the St Thomas Airport in Canada is collecting Dash-8s. Oooo! A matched set.
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| Photo by Eman. |
Over Canada, Eman caught me taking photos. People always want to know why my aerial photographs are so clear. Thanks to Eman, the secret is now out. One nice thing about having an autopilot is that now I can steady the camera with both hands. No more lazy one-handed snaps.
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| Greater Rochester / Frederick Douglass International Airport. Photo by Eman. |
Debrief
Overall, it was a very successful club outing. I define successful as a combination of fun and expanding pilots’ envelopes. Everyone enjoyed the museum and appreciated how making the trip an overnight slowed things down to a more enjoyable pace. Alicia, Tom, Eman, and Ziad all received firsthand experience on the benefits of an instrument rating. Brad got to do his first instrument approach "in the wild". We demonstrated how simple a flight through Canadian airspace actually is. I logged 1.5 hours of IMC time on the 5.5 hour round trip, though the definition of what truly constituted "IMC" was a bit subjective owing to the haze and angle of sun. Best of all, I got to spend some overdue time with Mike.
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