Postcards

Michigan's Mackinac Island is a unique pilot getaway

Fly back in time. Michigan's Mackinac Island stands as a monument to the nation's grand Victorian past. Then, elegant steamships brought corseted and top-hatted gentry to this humped limestone refuge between the northern tips of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The steamships are gone, but the island retains its quintessential Victorian flavor — high tea, lawn croquet, lush gardens, and Queen Anne "cottages" the size of small department stores. Horse-drawn carriages predominate, as the island bans most motor vehicles, with one notable exception — airplanes.

Flying to Mackinac (pronounced Macinaw) Island Airport (MCD) is relatively quick and painless from almost anywhere in the midwest, mid-South, or Mid-Atlantic (see " Getting There," p. 72). But once you are there, the pain begins: Forget the $100 hamburger; this place costs real money.

Decent hotel rooms range from $200 to $600 per night during the summer season. Consequently, more than a million visitors a year opt to day-trip, arriving by ferry boat from Mackinac City or St. Ignace. The locals wryly refer to them as "fudgies" for their fondness of the numerous fudge shops that crowd Main Street. Pilots are "flying fudgies." For fudgie and flying fudgie alike, the island is fraught with perils and delights.

Perils

First the obvious one: weather. "In a land where unusual weather is commonplace, Mackinac weather has a habit of surprising even the natives," writes William Ratigan, author of Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals. Pilots should get briefing updates en route. Now on to the less obvious pitfalls.

Mackinac Island's chief industry is the wedding. Invading armies of tuxedos and peach chiffon storm the island between June and August. The island's superb Web site ( www.mackinac.com) has a large section devoted to wedding planning.

For the confirmed bachelor on a date, there is no more terrifying place on earth. He is in the kill zone.

Weddings may be the island's chief industry, but they are not the primary source of power. Man does not rule Mackinac; horses do. More than 300 enormous draft horses pull 75 open-air "cabs" and flatbed delivery vehicles about the island each day. Horses have absolute right of way over bicyclists, pedestrians, and small dogs. They also create work for dozens of street cleaners each year. When crossing the street, look both ways, then watch your step.

This is especially true during mid-July. The island, like most other resorts, has its bawdy period. Pamplona, Spain, has the Running of the Bulls, and New Orleans has Mardi Gras. Mackinac Island has Race Week, during which the island is the destination for yachts competing in races from Chicago and Port Huron.

Delights

Other than Race Week, the pace on this tiny island is slow and relaxed. The island is only three miles long and two miles wide. Of its 2,400 acres, only 400 are privately held. The rest is a state park, and it is magnificent. There is more than 150 miles of shoreline, inland roads, and trails — a mountain biker's dream and a hiker's paradise. Because of cool lake breezes, the thermometer rarely climbs above 80 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. Millions of years of erosion have created dramatic bluffs and stunning formations with raw names like Arch Rock, Devil's Kitchen, and Skull Cave. On a sunny day there is arguably no deeper blue north of the Caribbean than that in the Mackinac sky and in waters surrounding the island.

Even the most hyperactive will not exhaust all other available activities: golf; tennis; sailing; scuba, including shipwreck diving; horseback riding; rock hounding; bird-watching; and water-skiing. A plethora of festivals during the season celebrate everything from lilacs to jazz.

The man-made crucible of the island is Fort Mackinac. Although the island itself had been settled more than 100 years earlier, the fort was built by the British in 1780 to 1781 to protect the harbor and the shipping lanes. Today the fort is an entertaining living testament to a long-gone era. Visitors enjoy narrated tours complete with cannon fire, soldiers in period dress, military music, and even a mock court-martial.

Those with more eclectic tastes will appreciate Butterfly House, one of the country's only butterfly aviaries, or my personal favorite, The Beaumont Memorial. The latter is dedicated to the work of Dr. William Beaumont, the first American physician to personally observe the workings of the human stomach, thanks to a patient's unhealed gunshot wound. Not a place to visit before lunch.

Beyond the architecture, natural wonders, and rich history, the best thing about Mackinac Island is its bucolic rhythm. Put the speed brakes on life, pull up an Adirondack chair, and watch the boats and the birds. Close your eyes and fly into the past.

Getting There

On any given summer weekend the island's year-round paved, 3,500-by-75-foot landing strip hosts everything from Stearman biplanes to Falcon 50 jets. (Departures of the latter make for exciting viewing and some spirited wagering.) There is an AWOS (128.325 MHz or by telephone 906/847-3778), computerized weather, engine heater plug-ins, and ample telephones inside the heated terminal. After-hours arrivals can access the terminal by entering the combination 5-32-1 on the door lock and then call a horse-drawn cab on the red courtesy telephone. Summer visitors should bring their own tiedowns. Landing fees range from $9 to $25, and there is an additional and equal daily charge for overnight parking. Summer hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; winter, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The pilot-controlled lighting is on 122.8; the CTAF is 122.7. The instrument approach (VOR/DME/GPS) off nearby Pellston VOR has virtual VFR minimums. The east-west runway is bracketed by tall trees. Strong northerly or southerly flows can create some isolated low-level wind shear. Approaching from the southwest, be mindful of the Mackinac Bridge, whose towers extend 510 feet above the water. Pilots overflying Lake Michigan are encouraged to use the Lake Reporting Service available from flight service. Remember: Even in August the icy waters of the northern Great Lakes can induce hypothermia in minutes. Make sure that you have the right equipment.

There is no fuel on the island, but cheap avgas is available a quick takeoff-and-landing away (4.5 nm) at St. Ignace (Great Lakes Aviation, 906/643-7327). St. Ignace stops pumping fuel at local sunset during the summer, 5 p.m. during the remainder of the year. There is a mechanic on duty. St. Ignace and the island share a CTAF, as their patterns virtually overlap. Pellston pumps avgas and jet fuel year-round until 10 p.m. To request a carriage ride into town, pilots of inbound aircraft should contact Mackinac Island unicom at least 10 minutes prior to landing. Winter arrivals (November 1 to May 1) before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. must call the cab company directly before 3 p.m. at 906/847-3301. The fare into town is $5 per person, with a $10 minimum.

For more information, call the Mackinac Island Airport, 906/847-3231, or the Mackinac Island Chamber of Commerce, 906/847-6418. While the island's main season is May through October, many establishments do reopen between Christmas and the New Year. — MAH

Mark Huber, AOPA 1158402, is a marketing executive who has accumulated 1,100 flight hours during the five years in which he has exercised his private pilot privileges in single-engine land aircraft.