In Gratitude
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| The Murchie Science Building at the University of Michigan-Flint on 09 April 2026. |
My years in Flint were truly formative. It was not until I departed the cloistered brick campus of UofM-Flint and entered a graduate program that I came to understand the real value of my college education there. I quickly learned that I was well trained, had experiences that many of my graduate student peers did not have, and had benefited directly from a thoughtful faculty that intervened to push me toward greater things beyond what I envisioned for myself. Knowing what I know now, if I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I would pursue the same path, though perhaps with greater gusto and confidence.
In the end, my memories of UofM-Flint are not just colored by the warm blush of nostalgia, but with genuine gratitude for an institution that served me well beyond my greatest expectations. That is why I continue to support the university and why an opportunity to interact with current students and faculty on April 8 meant so much to me.
Opportune Meteorology
| Date | Aircraft | Route of Flight | Time (hrs) | Total (hrs) |
| 08 Apr 2026 | N21481 | SDC (Sodus, NY) - FNT (Flint, MI) | 4.0 | 3123.3 |
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| Prog chart from the morning of 08 April 2026 showing high pressure dominating. |
In the previous installment of this series, I described how an avionics upgrade and routing concerns challenged plans to fly to Flint. I omitted weather as a potential barrier because that factor is always present. Despite an unsettled atmosphere that defied most forecasts as it churned over New York State during the first quarter of 2026, a consistent prediction for calm weather driven by a high pressure system gave me confidence that flying to Flint on April 8 should be possible. If flying was not possible or wise that day, it would mean a really early morning departure in the Honda. Fortunately, reality matched prediction and I was "all systems go" for a 7:00 am launch.
The Williamson-Sodus Airport is 25 miles due east of where we live, but I was shocked to leave behind the green grass of my own property to discover snow at the airport. Official spring may have begun on the North Coast, but the frosted turf outside my hangar suggested otherwise.
While the sun clawed its way above the treeline to peer over a visibly frigid landscape, I topped off the Warrior's fuel tanks to start the day's journey as so many others before it have begun.
After I departed, my friend Dan V -- who had been desperately seeking good weather for a check ride after multiple cancellations -- launched in One Delta Tango for Syracuse and returned victorious as a newly minted private pilot. Congrats, Dan!
Launching from Sodus and rising up through the canyon of trees surrounding the field, I experienced none of the usual mechanical disruptions of the air. All was calm, smooth, and serene. It was a perfect day to fly as I powered skyward. Rochester granted IFR clearance to Flint "as filed" and I climbed to 6,000 feet, chosen as a compromise between headwinds and a safe cruise altitude.
Cleveland Rocks!
Once within sight of Lake Erie, I was surprised to see that the entire east end of the Great Lake near Buffalo was still frozen over. Spring, indeed.
In case anyone wonders why scud running is a poor practice, I present this 1000+ foot tall tower as Exhibit A.
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| Presque Isle, Erie, PA. |
The route from GEE (Geneseo VOR south of Rochester) to EDMNN (GPS waypoint 5 miles north-northeast of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport) paralleled the Lake Erie shore. I enjoyed a smooth perfunctory flight along the lake without any real traffic to speak of.
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| Downtown Cleveland and the Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL). |
Two hours into the flight, I reached Cleveland's Bravo airspace. I wondered if air traffic control would vector me around it, but no changes to my filed flight plan were issued. I passed just north of Burke Lakefront Airport (KBKL), Cleveland's gem of a downtown airport that is currently the focus of a closure effort from local government. This is one of my favorite airports to visit as these kinds of downtown landing facilities are rare. Best wishes to those actively working to keep this unique facility open. Over twenty years later, reverberations from Mayor Dailey's unceremonious destruction of Chicago's Meigs Field still echo deeply in the aviation community.
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| Burke Lakefront Airport. |
From above, I discovered that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is getting an addition. A big one, apparently.
The Bear is very fond of telling her friends that "there is a boat in Cleveland that hates" me. Here lies that mythical vessel of animosity, the Steamship William G Mather.
Also along the waterfront is Huntington Bank Field, home to the Cleveland Browns. For now. In March 2026, ground was broken on a new indoor stadium for the Browns in a suburb near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. As part of the agreement with the city, the Browns will cover the costs of demolishing the current stadium. Waste not, want not?
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| Downtown Cleveland from deep inside the Bravo. |
The Amazement Park
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| Cedar Point (upper left corner of frame) |
Sandusky, Ohio's Cedar Point was the go-to amusement park destination when I was a kid in southeast Michigan. It exists as a densely packed mote surrounded by Lake Erie.
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| Close up of Cedar Point. |
Home of Island Airways
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| The Bass Islands in the distance, including South Bass with Perry's Monument visible. |
West of Cedar Point, the Bass Islands came into view. The region was once home to Island Airways, known as the "world's shortest airline". From 1936 to 1986, Island Airways operated 1920s era Ford Tri-Motors on a 17 mile round robin circuit from Port Clinton to Kelleys Island, South Bass Island (Put-In-Bay, see "The Key West of Ohio"), Middle Bass Island, and North Bass Island. For five decades, Island's Tin Goose fleet served as a bridge between the islands and Port Clinton on the mainland. Who hasn’t dreamed of flying to school in a radial powered corrugated aluminum school bus?
The airline was historically based at Erie-Ottawa International Airport in Port Clinton, OH.
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| Liberty Aviation Museum at Erie-Ottawa International Airport. |
Thanks to the Liberty Aviation Museum at Erie-Ottawa International Airport, the Tin Goose is once again a familiar sight over Port Clinton in the 21st century ("Tales of the Tin Goose").
Shallow
Lake Erie is well known as the shallowest Great Lake, but its west end is particularly so. Northwestern Ohio was once covered by a vast quagmire known as the Great Black Swamp that formed in the remnants of Lake Maumee, a proglacial body of water that was a forerunner to Lake Erie.
Although the swamp ceased to exist in the 19th century, the remaining terrain is visibly low and flat along the shore of Lake Erie, suggestive of a tenuous equilibrium between water and land.
NO DOUBLE PARKING.
Multiple freighters were docked in port at the mouth of the Maumee River.
Where the Mudhens Roost
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| Toledo, OH. |
As a kid, I knew one thing about Toledo: that it was the real world home town of the fictional Corporal Klinger. As an adult, my Toledo knowledge has not expanded very much. From the air, it was evident that the city straddles the Maumee River.
It was here, just outside of Toledo, that I turned toward Flint at HUUTZ and was instructed to descend from 6,000 feet to 5,000.
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| Toledo, OH. |
Hail
Finally turning on course direct to Flint, I passed through the western periphery of the Detroit Bravo. I was less certain about the suitability of my route here and unclear on whether I was far enough away and/or low enough to deconflict with Detroit's departure corridor.
The good news about air traffic control is that, if something does not work for them, they will explicitly say so. "November Four Eight One, turn 10 degrees left, vector around the Detroit departure corridor."
This minor adjustment in my trajectory took me directly over Ann Arbor, MI. Soon enough, the familiar layout of the Ann Arbor airport appeared in my windscreen. Twelve years have passed since the last time I landed there.
With ground clutter from Ann Arbor ahead, I wondered if I would be able to locate and photograph The Big House, Michigan Stadium. With a quick scan of the ground, I immediately discovered the massive and distinctive block letter "M" on the back of the scoreboard.
The Big House nickname is no exaggeration. As of this writing, Michigan Stadium is the largest arena of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world. This perspective also shows that the field itself is well below grade. The smaller indoor arena next to Michigan Stadium is the Crisler Center.
Unlike Indiana University where I did my graduate work, the U of M campus has a soft boundary between itself and the city.
Despite some intermingling of city and university structures, some buildings are obviously more collegiate looking than others.
The Chemistry Building is to the right of this frame. Near Chemistry stands the Burton Memorial Tower, an iconic campus landmark.
This shot is dominated by the University of Michigan Law School.
I took in one final glance at Ann Arbor before leaving the city behind as I continued northbound along US-23 direct to Bishop International Airport in Flint.
Standing Tall
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| Actual ground track from Sodus to Flint as captured in ForeFlight. |
When I arrived at Bishop, all was quiet. Tower provided wind checks while I was on downwind, base, and final approach for runway 18. I decided that the controller was either super bored or that I had said something to convince him that I was an utter newbie.
Due to runway and taxiway closures, it was necessary to do a 180° turn on runway 18 after landing and backtaxi north to AvFlight. A quick glance toward the commercial terminal confirmed that I arrived at a quiet moment with only the tails of two Allegiant jets projecting skyward among the jet bridges.
I realized that they were the same ones present in the AvFlight lobby eighteen years earlier when I landed at Bishop for the very first time on a flight from Kalamazoo to Le Roy with Kristy and The Bear. In that very lobby, a very tiny Little Bear used the legs of those tall chairs to pull herself into a standing position. It was the first time she had done this in front of both me and Kristy; a major developmental milestone for an FBO lobby. But it was also appropriate considering that it happened in the same town where I learned to stand on my own (metaphorically), too.
I was efficiently marshalled to parking in front of the FBO by AvFlight's ground crew. A rental car from Enterprise waited in the parking lot.
Covering the airplane as a solo act in a strong broadside wind likely provided some excellent entertainment for the AvFlight staffers watching from inside. Once indoors, I paused to contemplate my parked airplane for a moment before I recognized the tall chairs in front of the window.
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| The Bear at AvFlight-Flint, 25 May 2008. Photo by Pam. |
I realized that they were the same ones present in the AvFlight lobby eighteen years earlier when I landed at Bishop for the very first time on a flight from Kalamazoo to Le Roy with Kristy and The Bear. In that very lobby, a very tiny Little Bear used the legs of those tall chairs to pull herself into a standing position. It was the first time she had done this in front of both me and Kristy; a major developmental milestone for an FBO lobby. But it was also appropriate considering that it happened in the same town where I learned to stand on my own (metaphorically), too.
Follow the Red Brick Road
The university generously arranged for me to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Flint that stood directly across the red bricks of Saginaw Street from University Pavilion.
The Hilton occupies the former Genesee County Savings Bank building (left). When it first opened in 1920, the elegant bank was Flint's second "skyscraper". It stood vacant for two decades before a 2018 renovation transformed it into a hotel incorporating many elements of the original structure. The most striking of these was the circular bank vault door in Sauce, the hotel's first floor Italian restaurant. The hotel stands near the current Huntington Bank building that bears downtown Flint's iconic 70 year old weather ball (right).
When the weather ball is red, higher temperatures ahead.
When the weather ball is blue, lower temperature is due.
Yellow light in weather ball means there'll be no change at all.
When colors blink in agitation, there's going to be precipitation.
I love seeing beautiful old buildings rescued and given practical new lives while preserving their history, and I particularly loved seeing it happen here. It was by far the most elegant Hilton Garden Inn I had ever visited. With a friendly staff, well-appointed guest rooms, and an excellent restaurant on site, my stay in Flint was top notch. In hindsight, I am not surprised at all that the hotel was sold out while I was there.
It was also conveniently located close to downtown mainstay Churchill's Food & Spirits where I met biochemistry faculty Jess (a different Jess!) for lunch. I think she was hoping that the familiar establishment would spark some fond nostalgia for me, but I did not frequent Churchill's when I lived in Flint and could not honestly recall if I had ever been inside. Still, lunch was as excellent as one would expect from an establishment that has thrived in the same location for 46 years.
Everything in its Place
After lunch, Jess gave me a tour of the Chemistry Department. Chemistry had expanded from solely occupying the fifth floor of the Murchie Science Building (MSB) to include the fourth floor as well. I was particularly amused to step into the instrumentation lab that, despite holding modernized equipment relative to my time, still had every instrument type situated in the same spot. Elemental analysis (an ICP swapped in for the old AA), gas chromatography, electrochemistry, HPLC, diode array UV spectrophotometry, all newer instruments occupying the exact locations as their 90s predecessors.
Jess also led me through the MSB expansion opened in 2021. Coincident with that opening was a major fundraising drive called "Elements of Success" that invited donors to purchase an element for their periodic table. As one of those donors, I had never actually seen "my" element.
I scanned the display of donors, noting the variety in style expressed there. There was one, helium, given in memory of physics professor Loretta Dauwe. She was a nuclear physicist who regularly invited summer students to work with her at Fermilab near Chicago. This included Patrick, a physics major who had a thing for my girlfriend at the time. His affectation for fedoras led me to nickname him “The Pat in the Hat”, which spread quickly and seemed suitable revenge. Dr. Dauwe was the only professor I ever knew who was also a nun. There were definitely some characters running around UofM-Flint in the 90s! Other elements were donated directly by former students (I found the names of two classmates) and faculty. A few were donated anonymously, mine included.
During my time as a student at UofM-Flint, I participated for 3.5 years in a Chemistry Department sponsored co-op program at AC Rochester in the Ceramic and Electronic Engineering Department focused on developmental automotive exhaust catalysts. I mostly handled precious metals platinum and palladium, but both of those were already taken when I made my donation. So I selected rhodium instead. In reality, I never handled rhodium, it was considered far too valuable for use in the early (i.e., fundamentally failure prone) development programs that I supported.
I was further moved to see that my element was directly below that of my former advisor Dr. Cope, who founded the UofM-Flint Environmental Chemistry program. I was particularly saddened to learn over lunch that Dr. Cope passed away in 2023 after a battle with Parkinson's. I was always very fond of him.
Conversations with Matt (analytical chemistry) and Jess (organic/green chemistry, my original contact in the department) ensued throughout the afternoon in the time before my talk. My presentation was well attended by students who asked genuinely excellent questions and faculty feedback was positive. That night, Jess (organic Jess) and five students accompanied me to dinner at Sauce. I watched how the students bantered among themselves, blending humor and technical knowledge in a way so reminiscent of my own nerdy college friend group that it felt like stepping back in time.
Thanks to UofM-Flint for hosting me in what was a genuinely rewarding experience and to Jess, Jess, and Matt for their time.
April 9: Familiar Steps
After breakfast at Sauce the next morning, I ventured out in the rain to explore parts of campus beyond the upper floors of Murchie. Naturally, after I took all of the gloomy campus photos that follow, the cloud cover vanished and was replaced by blue sky and sunshine. Clouds still find ways to torment pilots even when those pilots are not piloting.
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| Outside the University Pavilion. |
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| French Hall (left) and Murchie Science Building (right). |
Although campus has grown significantly since my time there, portions of it have not changed at all. I could have taken this same photograph back in 1994. Well, almost. French Hall was not named French Hall back then, but was instead known by the unglamorous acronym CROB for classroom/office building. I suppose science majors no longer refer to humanities students as "crobbies".
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| Theater (or "theatre", left) and French Hall (right). |
I met my future in-laws right at this very spot in 1990.
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| Murchie Science Building expansion. |
The Murchie expansion boldly deviated from the brick motif used throughout most of campus.
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| Murchie expansion (left), University Center (center), Recreation Center (right). |
"Hey, your ride's here!"
Once upon a time, there were couches in this hallway of the University Center. As Dr. Cope once explained in class, "When Chris and his friends got here, they took over those couches and held them for four years." He was not exaggerating. We were a diverse group of different majors, no one had classes at the same time, and there were always a few of us around to hold the territory.
The University Center or "U-Cen" was the center of on-campus social activity. I was surprised to see it so empty on the day of my visit.
Another scene that I could have extracted directly from memory, looking out at the Murchie building from U-Cen.
As pictured here, most of the buildings are interconnected on their third floors by "habitrails" to eliminate outdoor time during inclement weather.
In my time, the University Pavilion was a new add to the university. It was previously a failed downtown Flint project called the Water Street Pavilion. Taking over the pavilion meant that the university immediately gained a parking garage, space for an enlarged bookstore (where I took an opportunity to purchase some overpriced Michigan swag), administrative offices, and an extensive food court. In the 90s, some of the space on the first floor was underutilized and, to my surprise, that was still the case in 2026.
You Really Can't Go Home Again
Because UofM-Flint was a commuter school in our day, my roommate Jason and I shared an apartment in an 1870s vintage house on Avon Street in the East Village. The ancient windows were crusty with layers of old paint and hemorrhaged heat, but hot water baseboard heating was included in our $330/month rent and we just cranked it up to overcome the outflow. The house was a perfect ten minute walk from campus, just across I-475 and down Kearsley Street a couple of blocks. I walked the familiar route, surprised by a neighborhood seemingly stuck in time. It appeared utterly unchanged, neither improved nor degraded, just maintained in stasis from the 1990s.
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| Our house would have been on the right side of this driveway. |
Except for our house.
It, and the neighbor's house were both gone. All that remained was the driveway that once ran between the homes. Sleuthing on Google Earth revealed that my former house disappeared sometime between October 2022 and May 2023. The neighbor's house disappeared from satellite imagery much earlier, sometime prior to 2006.
It was hard not to feel a little empty as I stood on the edge of the property unable to detect evidence of even a foundation’s outline. While this discovery ended my visit to UofM-Flint on a bittersweet note, I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to revisit my roots and reflect on what happened both then and since.
