Mackinac Island

Oldav8tor

Oldav8tor

Filing Flight Plan
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Tim Juhl
In the Straits of Mackinac between Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas lies Mackinac Island. Frequently voted one of the nation's best travel destinations, the island is rich in history and fun things to experience. Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island so it's like stepping back in time over a century. The airport is in the center of the island and one of the most fun things to do is to ride the horse-drawn taxi to town, passing the Grand Hotel and numerous other "cottages" dating back to the 1800's. Numerous restaurants, shops and historical sites await. A beautiful island in one of the most beautiful areas on Earth. Definitely worth a trip.IA.jpgMI.jpg
 
My friend went there this summer. I’m very interested in visiting sometime. Looks very neat!
 
When flying around up there check out beaver island. Not far by air. Motorized vehicles are allowed but it’s significantly less tourist trappy. I didn’t by mean that as a slam to Mackinaw- it is beautiful, but I find Beaver Island magical. Lots of interesting history some related to Mackinaw. But culture wise it’s like a time travel back to Mayberry. There’s not a franchise on the island all local biz, two airports even.

Certainly both are worth a visit, both very different but some of the most beautiful parts of Michigan.
 
Oldav8tor said:
Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island so it's like stepping back in time over a century. The airport is in the center of the island...
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If motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island, I guess only gliders are allowed to land? Do they have a big ol' system of pulleys to allow the horses to get the gliders back up to flyin' speed when it's time to go home, or do they just push them off into the ocean and let them float away?
 
Jim_R said:
If motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island, I guess only gliders are allowed to land? Do they have a big ol' system of pulleys to allow the horses to get the gliders back up to flyin' speed when it's time to go home, or do they just push them off into the ocean and let them float away?
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Don't be silly. It's a lake not an ocean. Without the buoyancy of saltwater the horses would sink. ;)
 
RE: Motorized vehicles - The island has motorized fire trucks and emergency vehicles tucked away from normal view. I think they also have some lawn mowers for the golf course. You'll also see golf carts on the golf course, just not on the streets. One of the recent controversies regards when and where electric bikes should be allowed. Motorized aircraft are indeed allowed, you just have to pull the mixture and glide in....kidding! - the airport is in the center of the island away from the popular areas. It's downhill to town so if you choose to walk in, you may still want to take a taxi back. Fuel is not available so plan a stop at St. Ignace or Cheboygan. I've spent time on Beaver Island - it was once home to a Mormon Kingdom which is an interesting story in itself. It is not very developed and transportation can be a problem unless prior arrangements are made.
 
Huckster79 said:
When flying around up there check out beaver island. Not far by air. Motorized vehicles are allowed but it’s significantly less tourist trappy. I didn’t by mean that as a slam to Mackinaw- it is beautiful, but I find Beaver Island magical. Lots of interesting history some related to Mackinaw. But culture wise it’s like a time travel back to Mayberry. There’s not a franchise on the island all local biz, two airports even.

Certainly both are worth a visit, both very different but some of the most beautiful parts of Michigan.
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Going to go boodling? ;)
 
We had our family vacation (grown kids, grand children) at Mackinac last June. Highly recommend it. We stayed in an Air B&B on the "mainland" and just took the Ferry over each day. Bike trails, horse drawn wagon tours, historic fort with reenactors (and cannon firing ), High Tea and the Grand Hotel, and more fudge, ice cream, coffee, and food shops you could possibly imagine.
 
Jim_R said:
If motorized vehicles are not allowed on the island, I guess only gliders are allowed to land? Do they have a big ol' system of pulleys to allow the horses to get the gliders back up to flyin' speed when it's time to go home, or do they just push them off into the ocean and let them float away?
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that sees the irony in an island that doesn't have motorized vehicles (which is part of its charm) having an airport.
 
Huckster79 said:
When flying around up there check out beaver island. Not far by air. Motorized vehicles are allowed but it’s significantly less tourist trappy. I didn’t by mean that as a slam to Mackinaw- it is beautiful, but I find Beaver Island magical.
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Love the Beaver Islands archipelago. I've made several videos about the area.

 
My wife and I fly up there quite often. It takes us about 1:45 to fly from KTEW. We have a couple folding bikes that fit in the back of my RV 9A. It is a fun place to go, ride bikes, have lunch, and then fly back. We stayed at the Grand a couple times and it was nice but we prefer the day trips. It turns out you can get tired of fudge. I think we will try Beaver Island. I have heard good things about it.

Here is a video of our take off from KMCD.
 

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Oldav8tor said:
Motorized aircraft are indeed allowed
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MCD gets its fair share of jet traffic too! Around the Mac race (if you don't like frat parties, i'd avoid that week), I've seen 6-10 jet operations per day!

Also, this is one of my fav videos (wasn't me but @Dave Theisen flies falcons i think?):
 
kaiser said:
MCD gets its fair share of jet traffic too! Around the Mac race (if you don't like frat parties, i'd avoid that week), I've seen 6-10 jet operations per day!

Also, this is one of my fav videos (wasn't me but @Dave Theisen flies falcons i think?):
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Ooof
 
I just rewatched it - two interesting things to note -
#1, you actually see a truck on the road as they are on short final!
#2, total available runway from threshold to A2 is 2360'.
 
Roller said:
Going to go boodling? ;)
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We Boodled last summer with our 92 year old cousin! He jumped in and out of the truck bed as if it were little ado, and the other part of boodling he had no problem with either! :) what a great way to burn a day :)
 
Thinking about an extended weekend trip this summer. Does anyone have any resort pireps on the island ?
 
It's fairly expensive. My son is a manager for one of the hotels with a lake view.
 
Kitch said:
Thinking about an extended weekend trip this summer. Does anyone have any resort pireps on the island ?
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Most are decent. One of my fav is Metivier. Word on the street is same day bookings at the Grand can be had at a cost comparable to others on the island (I.e. $300 vs $1000 if you book in advance)

Avoid Mac week if you don’t like frat parties
 
One time I went to Mackinac I was in my ol 47 Cessna 140, it was the first nice weekend of the summer, every millionaire for states around had ruined their corp pilots weekend. The ramp was packed with corp type aircraft. As I’m taxiing up a kid from m the terminal comes on the radio and asks if I can park in the grass, I reply absolutely.

Seconds later another kids voice comes on the radio but sounding urgent, “Cessna 1859V are you sure you can park in the grass?” I assured him all was fine with an eye roll to my son.

We get out and head inside and this kid comes running up to me and says with all sincerity in the world, “Man, sir I looked out and seen you were a taildragger and I just wanted to make sure you were okay to park there, I wouldn’t want you to damage your plane”

I smiled and told him; that there airplane was built to be flown out of cow pastures. If I had my way I’d take off, land, taxi and park on grass any day :)
 
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Granted, we were tourists, but we noticed how many "tourists" were just oblivious. Multiple times while riding bikes around you'd come up to a group of 6 or more that were side by side across the entire road. Literally there would be the polite "excuse us" (plenty loud to be heard), that was followed by the still polite but now Louder "excuse us, bikes coming through." Rarely did this work and it ended up we'd get right up behind them and have to resort to "EXCUSE US, BIKES COMING THROUGH SO CAN YOU NOT BLOCK THE ROAD." Every time we'd then get the 'you are so rude' look as we rode by. :)
 
kaiser said:
Oh you should just come.then you can buy me a drink and drop me off at Oshkosh!
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Looks like I officially have too many trips and not enough time to accomplish them in one summer.... This working crap gets in the way of all the fun stuff... Might be OSH instead of the island
 
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