My plane has been AOG and might get fixed Friday making osh possible. Direct flight would take me over Lakes Erie and I think Michigan. 68 and 52miles over water. My read of the regs is this does not require anything . I suspect a life jacket and altitude would be good. I’ve heard water flights are smoother. Is this true?
You aren't required to do anything by virtue of the fact that you're over water, at least not for Part 91 recreational flying. Also, regarding your "68 and 52 miles over water", the thing that's important isn't how much time your flight path is over water, what matters is how far the closest point of land gets, and the glide ratio of your plane.
The life jacket just means they'll find your body eventually. With temps as they are now you'll last a while, but the lake is an awfully big place to find a human bobbing up and down in the waves after your plane sinks.
Over water *can be* smoother... Over the shorelines, things are usually getting stirred up.
What would you do keri-kosh?
What are you flying?
Generally speaking, I'd climb out to the northeast of KERI to gain some altitude, then once I could maintain glide back to the US side of Lake Erie I'd turn north towards Long Point on the Canada side. That's basically 22nm across, so you need to be able to glide at least 11nm. In my Mooney at 11.2:1, I would need to be at 6800 feet. In an average GA bird at 9:1, minimum altitude would be 8000, and in ye olde 182 at least 10,100... All assuming you're going straight across to Long Point and won't be more than 11nm from the nearest land.
From there, you can go direct to Big Sable Point just north of KLDM. You'll cross over the southern part of Lake Huron, but no worries as you won't be more than about 5 miles offshore so most reasonable cruising altitudes will give you glide range to shore. If you want to be extra sure, just fly right over Sarnia/Port Huron and you probably won't even add a mile to the trip.
From Big Sable over Lake Michigan to the point just north of Two Rivers (NE of KMTW) is 44nm. This time, the Mooney would need 12,500 feet, the average GA plane 15,500, and the 182 19,600 to remain in glide range to shore.
FWIW, I have crossed without glide range the entire time, but I *always* do it IFR so I'm talking to someone and I'm on their scope, I always go as high as I can (13/14K without O2), and late July would be about the earliest part of the year I'd do it (Lake Michigan is coldest in April and warmest in October). In the Mooney, I have factory O2 and have gone as high as 17,000 which lets me cross a little farther south. I've never crossed down by Milwaukee in a piston single as it's about 70nm across and even the Mooney would need to be at 19,600 at the center of the lake to glide to one side or the other. Even in a pressurized turbine single with a 14:1 glide I always had to ask for 16,000 at LYSTR.
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