Wasting Away Again in ... Ohioville?
I was very fortunate this year to share my airplane with a varied cast of terrific friends both old and new. But every fall, I like to steal away into the sky on my own, preferably to a previously unexplored destination. With gusty winds forecast along the eastern seaboard on October 11, I let the weather prognostic chart suggest a different course. With high pressure dominating Ohio, it was a perfect opportunity for a first time visit to Put-In-Bay on Lake Erie's South Bass Island. Exotically nicknamed the "Key West of Ohio", the small island is a mix of historical site, party haven, and family friendly destination.
Leaf Peeping
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 11 Oct 2024 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - 3W2 (Put-In-Bay, OH) | 3.5 | 2923.1 |
I climbed skyward in chill autumn air moments after the sun crested the horizon. Although the day would warm to 70°F, I winterized the Warrior's fresh air vents before departure to ensure comfort at 8,000 feet on the way to Put-In-Bay.
A golden hour sunrise accentuated the landscape's warm autumnal hues. On arrival to the airport that morning, I discovered that my still camera was missing from its normal place in my flight bag. Disappointingly, this meant that I was limited to an iPhone for all photography.
While I was a bit dismayed with my limited photographic equipment, nature did not disappoint.
Off Sodus, I briefly leveled at 2,500 feet to remain visual until I received my instrument clearance from Rochester Approach. During flight planning, I determined that 8,000 feet would provide the best wind advantage of the available preferred westbound IFR cruise altitudes. Fortunately, the clearance was a simple one that morning because I was absurdly tongue tied while talking to Rochester. I flew a route of KSDC - GEE - HUDDZ - 3W2 with the additional waypoints inserted to better manage overflight of water.
West of the Geneseo VOR, I passed high above Silver Lake and the gorge in Letchworth State Park. Serpentine tendrils of mist followed the course of the Genesee River south of Letchworth.
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| Looking north to the east end of Lake Erie and Buffalo, NY. |
South of Buffalo, I tried to assist Approach by alerting them to a Citabria west of the Perry-Warsaw Airport that was trying to reach them. While the Citabria was loud and clear for me, Buffalo reported that he could not hear them at all with a disinterested tone equivalent to a verbal shrug.
Along the Concord Grape Belt
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| Lake Erie. |
I proceeded southwest along the Lake Erie shore, the atmosphere resolutely -- though smoothly -- pushing back with a moderate headwind.
After transiting the roughly 37 nautical miles of Pennsylvania shoreline on Lake Erie, I arrived over Ohio with the population density rapidly increasing along the I-90 corridor.
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| Downtown Cleveland and Burke Lakefront Airport. |
My plotted course took me about four miles offshore from the Cleveland waterfront, but at 8,000 feet, I was well within gliding distance of Burke Lakefront Airport.
Historic Haunt of the Tin Goose
Kelley's Island and the Bass Islands (South, Middle, and North) all possess airports. In the 1930s, Island Airways operated Ford Trimotors on one of the shortest airline routes ever created between what is now Erie-Ottawa International Airport, Kelley's Island, and the Bass Islands. Imagine having a Ford Trimotor as a school bus; the regularly scheduled service provided a means for island children to attend school on the mainland. Today, the Liberty Air Museum at Erie-Ottawa International Airport celebrates this history by operating a restored Ford Trimotor in the region. The Bass Islands can be found exactly halfway between the Mode C veils of Detroit and Cleveland.
My plan was to overfly Sandusky, then follow the spit of land occupied by Cedar Point ("The AMAZEment Park!") past Kelley's Island to South Bass Island. Identifying South Bass Island from a distance was simple; I could see the 352 foot tall Doric column of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial from 30 nautical miles away.
The semicircular Huron Harbor Impoundment is reputedly a haven for birds. This also makes it a haven for birdwatchers.
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| Cedar Point (center of frame), Sandusky, OH. |
I cancelled IFR about five miles northeast of HUDDZ and descended to 3,500 feet while turning direct to Put-In-Bay. Cedar Point must not have opened for the day yet because the parking lot was completely empty.
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| Cedar Point. This is where I wish I had the access to the optics in my digital camera. |
I switched to Unicom on 122.8 MHz after cancelling IFR and was surprised to hear radio calls from Saginaw Browne (where Alyssa and I stopped for fuel in August), Lenawee County Airport (in Adrian, MI), and Allegan Airport (north of Kalamazoo where I did my Warrior checkout in 2004). I do not associate this part of Ohio with where I used to fly, but I was close enough to hear traffic at multiple familiar locations. Lenawee County airport was particularly busy that morning.
I passed Marblehead on Catawba Island -- which evidently used to be an island, but can no longer make such a claim -- before venturing out over Lake Erie.
As I passed Kelley's Island, wind streaks in the water out of the southwest indicated a wind of six to eight knots, exactly as forecast. Although Erie-Ottawa International has weather reporting, none of the Bass Islands do and the visual streaking on the water provided excellent information about the likely wind environment off the southern tip of South Bass Island where Put-In-Bay Airport is located.
With the Perry Memorial rising high above the isthmus connecting the two portions of South Bass Island, I homed in on it as though it was a beacon.
Closer to South Bass Island, the Put-In-Bay Airport (runways 3-21) appeared along the southeastern shore. Pilots operating to and from the airport are warned to avoid the Perry Memorial by at least 1,000 feet. However, the memorial is at least a mile from the end of the runway and once I could visualize the geometry of its placement, it was obvious that a normal pattern could be flown between the column and the airport without conflict.
I spent a few minutes reconnoitering over the Bass Islands by flying a counter-clockwise course around the grouping of small islands while carefully avoiding the nearby Canadian border.
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| Lower left: South Bass Island and Buckeye Island, Middle: Middle Bass Island, Upper right: North Bass Island. |
Like South Bass Island, Middle Bass Island (center of frame) also exists in the form of two bodies connected by a narrow land bridge.
Two public use airports bracket Middle Bass Island's isthmus, the paved Middle Bass Island Airport (3T7) and turf Middle Bass-East Point Airport (3W9), both visible in the above photo.
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| Middle Bass Island and its two airports. |
Finally, I reached North Bass Island, which is relatively remote but also features a small airport (North Bass Island Airport, 3X5, 1,800 feet long). This airport is a mere 1.4 miles from the Canadian border and I was mindful of my position as I circled the island.
I was intrigued by what appeared to be a grass crosswind runway at North Bass Island, but no such runway is listed in official publications. Must be the bootlegger's strip.
Not To Be Confused with "Puddin' Bay"
As I circled the islands, the local airspace remained devoid of any aircraft except for a few passing overhead in the flight levels.
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| South Bass Island. |
I turned toward the morning sun to fly south of South Bass Island, descend to pattern altitude, and enter the pattern for runway 21.
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| South Bass Island. |
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| Put-In-Bay Airport on South Bass Island. |
I stayed off the radio as I maneuvered at 3,500 feet because the frequency was ridiculously congested. None of the calls that I heard were for nearby airports and most were coming from Michigan.
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| Put-In-Bay Airport on South Bass Island. |
I maneuvered south and east of the island, then descended to pattern altitude and entered the pattern on a 45° entry to the downwind. I saw no other aircraft and heard no other calls for Put-In-Bay. However, a moment after I turned downwind and broadcast my position, I was answered by another Cherokee also on downwind for the same runway. The other aircraft was behind me and had me in sight. I surmised that it must have launched from Erie-Ottawa International and made straight in for the downwind leg at Put-In-Bay.
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| ForeFlight ground track showing the aerial survey and approach to Put-In-Bay. |
From the traffic pattern, I had a great view of the Perry Memorial before turning to a left base. The Cherokee behind me advised that he was going to do a 360° turn to avoid crowding me. That was appreciated, but I resolved to keep my pattern tight and land expediently.
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| Moments before turning final for runway 21 at Put-In-Bay. |
I captured a shot of the airport from the base leg before turning final while managing the Sodus-like atmospheric eddies created when the island's trees interacted with the southwesterly wind. When I touched down, Put-In-Bay became my 282nd airport.
It was obvious that I had arrived during the offseason. Except for a single airplane tied down on the ramp, the parking apron was empty. I taxied until I found a spot that was not reserved for another airplane and parked. Behind me, the other Cherokee (a Cherokee Six) landed and aggressively made for the main commercial hangar building. The pilot cut the engine and rolled in on momentum, assertively squaring the airplane up with the building as he coasted to a stop. Moments later, the pilot emerged and helped four women disembark. Yep - a local charter operator. The direct pattern entry, no nonsense radio calls, and assertive ramp behavior were all reminiscent of the flying style I observed from pilots operating between Charlevoix, MI and Beaver Island.
"Hey, I didn't crowd you, did I? I thought I should do that 360 to give you some space!" the young charter pilot said as soon as I was in earshot.
"No problem at all," I responded. "I just wanted to make sure that I was down and clear of the runway in time for you." The other pilot confirmed that he had come in from Erie-Ottawa International on a 7.4 nautical mile charter flight with four women whom he would fly back to the mainland at 6:00 pm.
The daily landing fee at Put-In-Bay is $15 for a single engine aircraft, more if staying the night. Street legal golf cart rentals can be had for $25/hour or $75/day. Because I planned to stay at least four hours, I went with the daily rate. During peak tourist season, advance rental reservations are recommended, but I did not expect an issue with availability in October.
My rental golf cart for the day was the smallest C-130 I had ever seen. Driving into town, I was surprised to find full sized cars everywhere, including on my back bumper. I suppose that I expected South Bass to be more like Tangier Island, where golf carts significantly outnumber conventional vehicles to an extent that all road infrastructure is scaled to the smaller vehicles. I was frequently tailgated by cars or trucks while impotently pushing ol' C-130's accelerator to the floor.
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| Great Lakes Brewing Co. |
Whereas Key West had self-proclaimed pirate Jimmy Buffett as a key figure, the Bass Islands are most closely associated with Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (August 23, 1785 - August 23, 1819). Yes, "Hazard" was his legitimately and prophetically given middle name. In 1813, Perry commanded a United States Navy fleet that engaged and routed a British fleet on Lake Erie roughly seven miles west of South Bass Island during the War of 1812. The hard-won victory led to American control of Lake Erie and opened British outposts in Canada to invasion. Prior to visiting South Bass Island, the only thing that I knew about Perry was that Cleveland's Great Lakes Brewing Company named a beer after him.
Because it guided me in to South Bass Island so capably, I resolved to make the Perry Memorial my first stop. Given my off-season arrival, I spent a portion of my flight planning time to make sure that all places I intended to visit were actually open.
There is something about Perry's statue that reminded me of foppish General Trelayne in the Star Trek original series episode, The Squire of Gothos. It must have been the mutton chops.
A stop at the visitor's center is necessary for anyone who wants to ascend the world's tallest Doric column. The National Park Service charges $10 for adults to go to the top.
The column was constructed between 1912 and 1915. It is intended to memorialize not only Perry's strategically impactful victory during 1813's Battle of Lake Erie, but also to celebrate the ensuing peace between England, Canada, and the United States that created the longest undefended border in the world.
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| A Doric eclipse. |
I watched a 15 minute movie about the Battle of Lake Erie that described how Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence (named for Perry's friend, Captain James Lawrence), was brutally pulverized by the English fleet as the USS Niagara commanded by Jesse Elliot held back from the battle. With the Lawrence too crippled to fight on, Perry had his men row him to the Niagara along with his battle flag, a paraphrase of James Lawrence's dying words: "Don't give up the ship!" When the HMS Detroit and HMS Queen Charlotte collided and became entangled, Perry opportunistically assaulted the damaged British ships with the Niagara while smaller American gunboats in the fleet also pressed the attack from other angles. Ultimately, the British surrendered. This outcome gave control of Lake Erie to the United States and facilitated later assaults on Canadian sites that ultimately brought an end to the war.
Following the battle, Perry scrawled a hasty update to General William Henry Harrison that has been widely quoted ever since: "Dear General: We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop."
In 1817, the Rush-Bagot Treaty between the United States and British North America demilitarized the border and stipulated limitations on the number of military ships from each nation allowed on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. It laid groundwork that created the longest undefended border in the world between the United States and Canada.
Yeah. It's a long way up there. With a height of 352 feet, the Doric column is 47 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty and the observation deck is 12 feet higher than Lady Liberty's torch.
Walls of the rotunda in the base of the Memorial are inscribed with the names of all who perished during the Battle of Lake Erie.
Remains of three American and three British officers who died in the battle are interred beneath the floor of the Memorial.
An elevator ride brings visitors to the Perry Memorial's observation deck. It gives a commanding view of Put-In-Bay and the surrounding islands. From here, it is easy to see downtown Put-In-Bay as well as the harbor that Commodore Perry departed at 7:00 am on the morning of September 10, 1813 in pursuit of both the British fleet and the destiny of a nation.
To the south, the Put-In-Bay Airport is visible near the far end of the island.
The northern end of South Bass Island is mostly residential with a few small nature preserves scattered throughout.
Winds aloft tore at the observation deck with unexpected vigor. No wonder I got bounced around so much on final approach this morning, I thought.
With one final look at Put-In-Bay's refuge harbor, my stomach rumbled and I left the observation deck in search of lunch.
An elevator is used to carry visitors to the top of the Memorial.
The elevator stops above the column's rotunda and a set of steps brings visitors back to ground level.
Refuge Harbor
I left my "C-130" parked at the Perry Memorial and walked into Put-In-Bay in search of lunch.
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| The large building in the distance is the Boardwalk where I enjoyed an excellent lunch. |
I had never seen such an elegant swan dive depicted on a warning sign before. Just look at the splay of those fingers!
To LobstSIR, with Love
I ate lunch at the well-reviewed Upper Deck restaurant at the Boardwalk. (After that awful tourist trap experience outside Vatican City in April, I almost always do a spot check on restaurant reviews while travelling.)
I never expected to see Port Huron and Bulgaria referenced in the same context.
I accepted an outside seat on the north side of the restaurant where I was protected from the wind. I had a wonderful view of the marina and the Perry Memorial. The waitress informed me this was their last weekend of the season and that some menu items were unavailable. She only brought this up because I ordered the one thing that they were stocked out on. Instead, I had a tasty crab cake sandwich and a bowl of lobster bisque endowed with generous chunks of lobster that was truly worth the hype.
As I waited for my food, I planned the flight home. Gusty winds were expected that evening in Sodus with low level windshear settling in after 8:00 pm. Considering the gusting, I decided to return home prior to sunset at 6:30 pm -- if I had to deal with squirrely winds, I preferred to do it while the trees surrounding the airport were still visible. Tailwinds would make for a quick trip. I planned to get fuel from Norwalk-Huron County Airport (5A1) just a 14 minute flight southeast from Put-In-Bay and filed a 4:00 pm instrument flight plan from Norwalk to Sodus.
Seafood restaurants can be serious business. But they don't have to be.
Midwestern Margaritaville
It was obvious that the bar scene was hardly running full tilt at noon on an October weekday. Even debauchery keeps to a reasonable schedule.
Ah, the "Key West of Ohio"...I get it now!
Put-In-Bay really leans into the "Key West of Ohio" vibe with this row of fake plastic palm trees.
Deer Eye-Land
After lunch and a brief stroll through town, I returned to C-130 and drove to the northeastern terminus of Ohio State Route 357 where I found a small, but scenic nature preserve.
To my mind, the best part of the walk were the beach portions that were not officially part of the trail.
A tree covered islet stood just offshore with the unfortunate name of "Buckeye Island". (Unfortunately from the perspective of this University of Michigan alum.) As a college student, I had a co-op job at General Motors where I worked for an Ohio State educated ceramic engineer. He had an actual buckeye encased within a block of polycarbonate on his desk. When I asked him about it, he responded that he had become tired of Michiganders constantly asking him, "What the hell is a buckeye, anyway?"
Lake Erie water levels must have been low. Most on-line photos that I found showed this land bridge to Buckeye Island under the waves.
Seagulls had laid claim to the exposed land bridge.
You know that you're in the Midwest when you find a Menard's bucket.
"Hey, Where's Perry?"
Always a fan of caves, I decided to take the $12 tour of so-called Perry's Cave. (We'll get to the Perry connection later.) To be clear, this is not a large cave and it is by no means anything as spectacular as Luray Caverns.
The Bass Islands are home to numerous small limestone caves, but only two are available for public tours, including this one. Active stalactite formation was evident, which is a good thing because the original owners of the cave decades previous harvested the stalactites and stalagmites to turn a quick profit with souvenir seekers, which is absolutely infuriating. I was dripped on multiple times by the growing soda straw stalactites, a phenomenon called "cave kisses" by our tour guide. All that I can say is that the cave kisses left visible calcium carbonate residue on my glasses that I carried all the way home to New York with me.
Though I am no geologist, I found myself biting my tongue whenever the tour guide -- who otherwise did a fine job -- referred to the ceiling-bound mineral formations as "stalagtites".
Our guide explained that the cave formed as a void in what was previously a solid bed of limestone. Features on the floor and ceiling matched perfectly, adding plausible support to the split that had occurred. But when I asked about the forces that caused floor and ceiling to separate, our tour guide confessed that she was stronger in history than geology.
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| Surface ripples reveal an otherwise invisible subterranean lake. |
The lower portion of the cave is an underground lake with water that is so remarkably clear that it is deceptively deep. Filtered through limestone and lacking natural light that would otherwise encourage microbial growth, the water is absolutely pristine. This cave is the only one in the region known to have an underground lake.
As the story goes, Commodore Perry's men struggled with illness brought on by drinking tainted Lake Erie water. Recognizing the problem, Perry directed his men to find a clean source of potable water. Native Americans brought Perry's sailors to a cave with clean water and, over time, the men's health improved significantly. Although the story was recorded in the logs of the ship's physician, the lifesaving underground lake was not specifically identified. However, given that "Perry's Cave" is the only one known to possess a subterranean lake, it is inferred that it was the very cave that played an important supporting role in the War of 1812.
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| Golf cart selfie! |
South Bass Light
South Bass Island's lighthouse was first lit on July 10, 1897. It provided guidance to ships navigating Lake Erie's "South Passage" that ran between the Bass Islands and Catawba Island. According to signage on the site, 3,252 vessels passed through the South Passage at night during a three month time period in 1866, data surely gathered to garner support for lighthouse construction at the site.
The lighthouse sits on a small bluff overlooking Lake Erie. Catawba Island can be seen in the distance.
Homeward Bound
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 11 Oct 2024 | N21481 | 3W2 (Put-In-Bay, OH) - 5A1 (Norwalk, OH) - SDC (Sodus, NY) | 2.5 | 2925.6 |
I returned to the Put-In-Bay Airport shortly after 3:00 pm and chatted more with the charter pilot I met that morning. He asked where I flew in from and when I told him, he was surprised. "That's a long way!" I shrugged. I only expected a 2.25 hour flight home. However, much of his daily flying involved short hops back and forth to the mainland as well as aerial sightseeing over the Erie Islands. Compared to that, I had come a long way.
I asked him about the other island airports. "Kelley's Island is a more laid back version of Put-In-Bay. There's not much at the others, but North Bass Island is great if you're looking to practice your short field skills." It was exactly what I expected him to say. I would have explored the airports just for the sake of doing so, but I was still concerned about the wind at home and wanted to return before dark.
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| The Cherokee Six from earlier that morning at Put-In-Bay Airport. |
I launched from Put-In-Bay for Norwalk, OH at 3:07 pm and climbed to 3,000 feet for the short flight to Norwalk where the fuel was priced at $5.49/gal.
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| A quarry in Marblehead. |
If the parking lot was any indication, Cedar Point was doing some excellent late season business.
For something called the Pipe Creek Wilderness Area, this lopsided hexagon-ish peninsula looked remarkably artificial.
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| Lake Erie shore in Sandusky, OH |
Norwalk's Electrifying Airport
I chose Norwalk-Huron County Airport (51A, airport #283) as a fuel stop because it was a reasonable looking facility with the least expensive fuel in the area ($5.49/gal). I was initially flummoxed by the drag strip extending southward from the east end of runway 28 and flew downwind with a big offset from the runway to avoid flying over massive bleachers packed with hot rod enthusiasts. Between crowds at Cedar Point and the Summit Motorsports Park, I wondered if anyone in Ohio actually worked on Fridays! (He says while playing hooky from work on a Friday.) Because the north end of the dragstrip and the east end of runway 28 were so close together, I wondered if the drag strip was a former runway, but could not find any evidence of that being the case.
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| Warrior 481 at Norwalk-Huron County Airport. |
Norwalk-Huron County Airport reminded me a lot of Le Roy, a modest field that had obviously received a great deal of care and attention in recent years. Everything was very tidy, from the fuel farm to the terminal building.
Even the credit card terminal for the fuel farm had its own little shelter.
As I waited for any water to settle out of the fuel (there was none that I could detect), I talked with Michael from the Airport Authority. He welcomed my positive comments about the field and shared some of the familiar challenges of trying to manage a small airport. These included flooding of the newly carpeted terminal building, chasing deer and kids on four-wheelers off the runway (there is no fence), and the electrification of the ground that occurs whenever the runway lights are activated after a rain storm. (The latter explained why the runway lights were NOTAMed out of service.) He and his fellow members of the Airport Authority were obviously working hard to revive the airport and I wish them well. With a drag strip next door, at least complaints about airplane noise seem unlikely.
Seeing that 4:00 pm and the departure time for my filed instrument plan were rapidly approaching, I excused myself from the conversation. Minutes later, I picked up my instrument clearance from Cleveland Approach in the air and flew the reverse of that morning's route home. The biggest difference was that I had a tailwind so that the flight from Norwalk to Sodus required a mere 2.1 hours.
“Right Direct Pink Floyd”
You know you’re flying near Cleveland when Approach turns an aircraft “right direct Pink Floyd” (PFLYD). I passed back through Cleveland's Class Bravo airspace with Burke Lakefront Airport and the city waterfront off my starboard wing. Growing up, it seemed like Cleveland was often the recipient of snide comments. I was too young to understand or care why. As a pilot, I have enjoyed many trips to Burke Lakefront and the Cleveland waterfront and only have a positive impression of the city. It seems that Lakefront is often the target of closure efforts from the community. I hope it survives them because it is such a unique facility in terms of setting and downtown access. I can say without exaggeration that, without Burke Lakefront, I would have never visited any of Cleveland's shoreline attractions. It is an excellent -- though clearly underappreciated -- ambassador for Cleveland.
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| Fairport Harbor, OH |
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| Harbor in Ashtabula, OH. |
As I flew along Lake Erie with the nose pointed toward New York, I contemplated the day six years prior when Warrior 481 burned fuel at an excessive rate nearing 19 gallons per hour (normal is closer to 8 gallons per hour) and how I was slow to recognize it due to biases imparted while training. A decision to make a precautionary landing averted a poor ending to the day.
Abeam Erie, PA I was impressed by the size of Presque Isle Bay. This was was home base for Commodore Perry's fleet before it ventured west in an effort to engage the British from Put-In-Bay. Six of Perry's nine ships were built there. Presque Isle takes its name from the French word for peninsula that literally translates to "almost an island" and true to that definition, it is not actually an island.
I was struck by the sandy, serrated western edge of Presque Isle. This steak knife edge results from placement of 58 individual breakwaters by the Army Corps of Engineers along the shoreline that slow wave progression and enhance sand deposition. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, this spit of land formed roughly three miles west of its current position and migrated eastward over time from the action of wind and waves.
On the eastern end of the bay is a single entrance to the protected water within, though the bay itself is large enough that wind streaks were visible on its surface. I think this would be a fun area to explore from the ground.
Closer to home, I did something I had never done before. I answered emails while airborne to help manage the crisis du jour at work. This was the low point of an otherwise liberating day away from the office.
Closer to home, I paid more attention to the wind. Sodus reported calm conditions, but Rochester and Canandaigua both indicated surface winds in the teens gusting into the mid 20-knot range. I was certain that the AWOS at Sodus was lying because it has a long history of doing so. In the descent, the air remained smooth, even though my flight data computer calculated a wind velocity of 50 knots out of the northwest when I crossed through 5,000 feet. With wind speeds in the mid twenty knot range at pattern altitude, I expected a rough ride on final approach, particularly as I neared treetop height, but it was not to be. Nature treated me very gently and I alighted softly on the runway in smooth air.
Reflection
