Pretty Interesting story in the latest edition of "Reader's Digest" on Michael Trapp who has engine problems & crashes his private 1966 era aircraft into Lake Huron (Saginaw Bay area) back in July 2011. No formal rescue organization finds him but a couple on vacation in a charter boat see him in the water and he is rescued after being in the water 18 hours without a life vest!!!
Also see:
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/01/going_in_the_drink_pilot_who_c.html (http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/01/going_in_the_drink_pilot_who_c.html)
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/10/huron_county_sheriff_says_down.html (http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/10/huron_county_sheriff_says_down.html)
Wow is all I can say :clap:
RM
I grew up in Michigan and spent my formative CAP years there, and to this day I'm surprised that CAP doesn't do some kind of "sundown patrol" on any part of the Great Lakes. Don't be fooled: the Great Lakes are not exactly "small" by any stretch of the imagination.
Yes, you can see both sides of Lake Michigan from altitude, but I'm here to tell you that you can *definitely* be out of sight of land on Huron, Michigan and Superior on the surface. At that point, you're in the same pickle you might be if you're in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast in the Atlantic. Sure, you might drift close to land after a fashion, but the lakes are *cold*....