Flying over Niagara Falls & Evening in Chicago: a Close Call in the Cessna 182

2600 feet and we're at 1200 feet here, mixture full, both, got, lights are on, and green green, full thanks. We are missing a G5 though. Our G5 went out. Cornell traffic, Cessna 419AE, entering runway 36 for a left downwind departure, Cornell. Congratulations and safe trip. Thanks, have a good one yourself. Yep, ready, set, go. Uh, uh, hold on. What? Abort? Uh, abort. Don't, okay. Yes, and it rolled off. Okay. This is fun. Well, we aborted. Our speed wasn't coming alive, but we got it. It's actually been stuck before. Yeah, we got flaps in. Trimming down, a little funky. All right, all right, 2000 for 23. The area to the end, we should probably get some flight following. And let's go for maybe 3500. New Jersey, jumpers away, 1-4 below, please use caution. Cornell traffic, Cessna 419AE is going to take off 36 at Bravo in the grass, departing to the north, Cornell traffic. We really admire your plane, sir, have fun today. Thank you, you guys too. Yeah. Okay, great. All right, so... 28 right, there's going to be a little bit of a crosswind. We've literally had a crosswind landing every single landing of this trip so far, so we've really been perfecting them. And 3306, perfect. What's the field elevation? Field elevation is 592, so 600 feet. So 1600, should read on the altimeter for pattern. So 28 right, we'll have to be careful to take the right runway. Make sure it's 28 right. That's a common problem with parallel runways, is making sure you have the right or the left one. Skywest 5478, descend and maintain 7000. Descend and maintain 7000, Skywest 5478. Might clear us right over this Charlie to go direct, so that would be really nice. We would love that. We're going to have her... she has dual G5s. We're going to have the top one fixed when we get there. Hoping that they have a battery for us while we go check out Niagara Falls. Yep. That's the plan. All right, so we're five minutes out from Niagara. We're excited to see it. We're getting close. Center 419B, ECHO has an airport in sight and we'd like to start her descent. 419B, ECHO, contact Niagara Tower 118.5. 118.5, altitude at your discretion, 9BEC. Niagara Tower, 9BEC is five minutes inbound with X-ray for runway 28. Please confirm the call sign. I believe it was N19BEC, landing Niagara Falls. That's 419BEC, landing Niagara Falls. All right, N419BEC, Niagara Tower. Left base entry 28R, cleared to land, 9BEC. Gas light is welded on. Fixture, prop. And we're shooting for 1600 for 600. Dylan's doing all the work and I can just sit here. It's actually quite nice. Look at that, Niagara Falls looks gorgeous. Yeah, it does. We've got to start to slow down. We are getting there. All right, two way on the left, two red on the right. And we're good, we've got 340 feet. Full length. Runway 624, back taxi runway 24 for 9BEC. N419BEC, correct. I'm going to get you out for a full length departure on runway 24. And update on the winds, 240 at 8, the altimeter is now 3004. 3004, 9BEC. N419BEC, just a heads up before I clear you for takeoff. Restricted area is directly northwest, excuse me, west, southwest of the airport. Runway 24, full length, cleared for takeoff, fly runway heading. And again, I'll advise you when you can turn westbound and you'll be south of the restricted area. You'll be on runway heading for about 3 1⁄2 miles. You're the best, and we're cleared for runway 24, straight out departure, 9BEC, have a happy day. Yeah, you stay with me, don't leave my frequency. I'm on with you. There we go, airspeed, Niagara. It was pretty cool. 230 in 4 miles. Love the view, thank you. Continuing on for 24. We've got Niagara Falls on our right, and it is just as pretty as you'd think it would be. Gorgeous. It was, yeah, it was very nice to see the falls today. Gorgeous day after the storm passed. N419B, do you see the island at your 1230 in about 2 miles? I'm sorry, miss, was that a tally-ho? Tally-ho, yes, we've got it. Roger, N419B, as you transition past the island, it's runway heading for about another 60 seconds before you're just bound, and that'll keep you south of the restricted area. Thank you so much, sir, you have a lovely day. N9B approach, N9BE is with you, 2100 for 3500, and we're transitioning below the restricted space, N9BE. N419B, N9BE, Buffalo approach, altimeter 30065. Wow. N9BE, turn left heading 270 to avoid the restricted area. We just got cleared into Canadian airspace, Toronto. N9BE is with you, 3500. Affirmative, N9BE. N9BE. Golf Yankee Yankee. Golf Yankee Yankee, N9BE. N9BE, are you radar identified? We are direct at the moment, N9BE. So we are flying around the north shore of Lake Erie right now. I haven't been back to Michigan in like five years, my dad was born in Michigan, so it's great to be here. While we are going to be able to expedite our lake to Chicago, we do have some incoming weather, so this will be nice to get in before that. There are some good drops here in Canada. We've been going anywhere between 130 and 160 knots. Woo! So we're about 39 minutes from the Canadian border of Canada and Michigan. We're going to do a cute little fuel stop, this Dwagiac? Dwagic? Dwag? Dwagi? Dwagiac? 419A, radar contact 25 miles east of Selfridge. I understand your destination is Gary, Indiana. What altitude do you plan to maintain en route? 3,000. We'd like 3,000 if possible. 419A, assuming your VFR altitude at your discretion, you have traffic 10 o'clock, 3 miles northbound. Altitude indicates 3,400. We'll be looking for that traffic. Thanks, 9BE. So we are transitioning back into U.S. airspace, and our controller, we went out of frequency. We could hear them, but they couldn't hear us, so we called in to the nearest approach, and now we're on our way into Michigan. 8 nautical miles until we're back in the United States of that cat. Woop woop! And we are going to be flying through the Detroit-Bravo airspace and straight over Ann Arbor, Michigan. It's been really cool to fly around the lakes, I have to say. I've only seen them from the ground when I was growing up. All right, 3, 2, 1, we are back in the U.S. Woo! Heading at Selfridge, we just called. We are clear for that, we stay at 3,000, we're clear of the Bravo. And we've got Ann Arbor just up here to the left. 9BE, you're requesting 45, is that correct? 3,000, 9BE. We've got about an hour and a half to Chicago, and we're going to stop for fuel at that one airport that we cannot name. Doing good, just having fun and flying along. 2AG, 419BE is 13 miles east, inbound for runway 27, 2AG. So we went with 2AG. We went with 2AG. That's who we went with. There's an asphalt runway and a grass runway. And the grass was very tempting, but a storm just came through, so we're going to land on the asphalt. The grass is good. Roger, traffic, what's your active today? Talking to us. We're taking 27 for 9ABE. Well, let's just first start off with a great crosswind landing. Yes. She did a good job, and then someone who didn't work the radios decided they were landing on top of us, so we had to taxi back to the end of the runway and get off for them to land. I've never been so upset with another pilot. That was just the most dangerous thing I've ever seen. They were on the runway, and they were landing, and they were on radios. It was, yeah. There's no taxiways, by the way. Like, you have to back taxi to get back to the terminal. The incident continued. We just left from Dowaziak, and the Piper Malibu that landed almost on top of us actually came back and parked behind us for fuel. It was these two guys, and they claimed that their radio was completely turned down and that they couldn't see us on the runway. Their story didn't really line up, but they did have a good joke for us. They did have a good joke. Should I tell them the joke? Yeah, yeah. Caitlin, tell them the joke. All right. So apparently his pastor told them this yesterday. There's three guys, and they need to cross a stream. And so the first guy gets on his knees, and he says, God, give me the strength to get across this stream. So he gets this burst of energy and all this strength, and it takes him three hours, and he's exhausted by the time he gets across the stream. And then the second guy goes, Dear God, give me the strength and the tools to get across this stream. So along comes a canoe and one paddle, and so he spends a few hours getting across the stream. And then the third guy sits on his knees and he begs God. He says, God, give me the strength, the tools, and the intelligence to get across this stream. And so poof, he turns into a woman, and he hikes up five minutes and crosses a bridge. So that was a pretty good joke. It was an appropriate joke. I think that was his way of saying sorry. But yeah, always stay vigilant, guys. Eyes outside. You don't know whose radio is turned down. Onward to Chicago. Gary Tower, Niner Bravo Echo, four miles for one-two. Niner Bravo Echo, roger, left downwind, report left base for my one-two. We'll report left base for one-two, Niner Bravo Echo.