VFR XC to Madison, WI

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Apache123

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Hey, Steve!
In a few weekends if the weather is good I'll be flying from Chicago (KUGN -- Waukegan) to Middleton-Morey next to Madison.

For you guys in that area, what do the locals typically do? Is Madison Charlie easy to transition through from the east? I've driven through there a few times headed towards Devils Lake, and being right there under the C doesn't bother me as much as that being combined with those few 1400'AGL towers within 3ish miles of the airport.
 
Apache123 said:
In a few weekends if the weather is good I'll be flying from Chicago (KUGN -- Waukegan) to Middleton-Morey next to Madison.

For you guys in that area, what do the locals typically do? Is Madison Charlie easy to transition through from the east? I've driven through there a few times headed towards Devils Lake, and being right there under the C doesn't bother me as much as that being combined with those few 1400'AGL towers within 3ish miles of the airport.
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From the direction you're coming from, you have two options: One is to swing around to the west and avoid the charlie, which I don't recommend. The other is to talk to ATC, and the Madison controllers are very helpful and friendly.

It looks like a direct route will keep you just outside of 5 miles from the Madison airport. Madison lands and departs either north (36, 32, and sometimes 3) or south (18, 21, and sometimes 14). If you listen to their ATIS on 124.65 before you call approach, you'll know which. If they're landing and departing north, you'll probably want to be fairly high when you pass south of the airport (like, say, 4500 MSL). If they're landing and departing south, lower is probably better - maybe 3000, since there may be other planes doing a city tour below that when you pass through. If you want to see the capitol, stadium, etc. on your way to Morey, just ask Approach for a city tour and they'll let you circle downtown for a few spins.

Being from the Chicago area, you're probably fairly used to the TRACON doing their best to ignore you (though they have improved in recent years). Madison is exactly the opposite - Helpful, friendly controllers who I've *never* heard deny flight following or a transition through the Charlie to a single airplane, and I've been based in Madison for most of the time I've been flying.

Enjoy your trip! :yes:
 
I agree with Kent. The MSN controllers are great to work with. I see zero need to avoid talking to MSN.
 
I've even found the Madison folks helpful during the pre-Oshkosh crush, and that's saying a lot... They don't have to be. Nice place.
 
I've been through and even landed at Madison. It's a no brainer to deal with ATC there.
They were also very accomodating when I was racing t-storms to the airport one time.
 
I've flown into and around Madison a number of times. A Class C is pretty much just another towered airport with a little more airspace under their control. It's no big deal to use their airspace...that's why it's there! Call them up, tell 'em where you're going and they'll help you get there with little fuss.
 
denverpilot said:
I've even found the Madison folks helpful during the pre-Oshkosh crush, and that's saying a lot... They don't have to be. Nice place.
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Yup - They actually open a third position in the TRACON (on 119.15) during OSH just to help handle the volume, and they'll generally provide flight following to as many aircraft as they can handle during the show. Also, note that the NOTAM for OSH tells you not to request flight following from GRB or MKE, but has no such note for MSN. That should tell you something.

MSN controllers have won *two* Archie League awards in the last few years. That should tell you something too!

I give a lot of credit for their helpfulness to recently-retired tower chief Dan Hoke... May his philosophy keep going!
 
Sounds like I'm going to have a great flight so long as the weather works out. =D I've considered trying (for the first time) starting flight following from the ground by filing an ifr flight plan with VFR in the altitude block; we'll see how receptive the folks at Waukegan are (the guys in the tower here have all been awesome so far, very accommodating and forgiving to people who are new to the whole towered airspace thing).
 
Apache123 said:
I've considered trying (for the first time) starting flight following from the ground by filing an ifr flight plan with VFR in the altitude block; we'll see how receptive the folks at Waukegan are (the guys in the tower here have all been awesome so far, very accommodating and forgiving to people who are new to the whole towered airspace thing).
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Hmmm. You may not have much luck with that coming from Waukegan - It doesn't matter how nice the guys in the tower are, they're still subject to the whims of Chicago Approach when it comes to getting you flight following. You may be better off waiting until you're clear of Chicago TRACON airspace and giving Milwaukee Approach a call on 119.65. BTW, I found that frequency by looking at the page for Grand Geneva - That's the first airport you'll be passing near that has instrument approaches, and MKE approach on 119.65 is who you'd be talking to going into that field. You may also be put on with Rockford Approach on 121.0 for part of the time. Both Milwaukee and Rockford are usually pretty good about flight following.

In either case, you'll most likely be handed off to Madison a bit prior to Lake Koshkonong, so it'd be a good idea to listen to the weather before you get that far.
 
Yep. Chicago blows. Windy City living up to its moniker.

Madison is great. Green Bay also does a bang up job during OSH, and I know there's a GRB controller here who'll read that. ;)
 
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