Commuting to school in a Saratoga

NoHeat

Final Approach
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Story here:

http://www.npr.org/2017/02/08/514126506/the-wings-on-the-bus-go-wait-what

Excerpts:

It's nearly 7:30 a.m. when a small, five-passenger Piper Saratoga plane takes off from the mainland in Port Clinton, Ohio. ...

The school on Middle Bass closed in 1982. So Max and four other students go to Put-in-Bay School, located on South Bass Island. Their school bus will be this Piper plane.​

Here's the sectional chart showing the airports:
http://vfrmap.com/?type=vfrc&lat=41.516&lon=-82.869&zoom=10

plane3-3_custom-83dde4dbe4ef464cbeeeb3f6a6a4643a83b79492-s700-c85.jpg
 
Cool deal. Seems like an insane amount of liability lying on the school's back, but I'd assume some type of release would be required.
 
When I lived on the beach on Oahu's North Shore in 1969, my next door neighbor, his wife, daughter and son-in-law commuted from Dillingham to Hickam Field in his C172. More impressive to me was his Breezy which he flew up the beach at palm tree level.
 
Lolz, those poorly bread kids are probably eating straight garbage, fattie foods and sugar all day long, training long and hard for that stroke or MI before they hit 40, but it's that dang airplane which requires that liability release o_O
 
That is one short azz hop.
 
The runway at Middle Bass 3T7 is 1875ft. At a DA of 3000 and 3400lb ground roll in a 32-300 is somewhere around 1500ft. They are probably flying with minimal fuel to make it work.
 
That beats my high school commute! I did it in a 1948 Chevy that initially had a different colored fender on every corner.:)

Seriously though, yeah if anything happens someone will be hanging out to dry.
 
Had my bachelor part in Put-In-Bay. One of my favorite little places! At least they are not landing on the runway/golf course/lama grounds of Rattle Snake Island!!
 
It's a neat sotry, but you would think travel by boat would be of slightly less insurance risk, and probably just as fast considering pre-flight time (assuming there's a convenient port on at each end). Hell, my ski boat will run 50mph, so the ride would be less than 5 minutes. Obviously with open water, I'd rather have something a bit more robust than an inland ski boat.
 
It's a neat sotry, but you would think travel by boat would be of slightly less insurance risk, and probably just as fast considering pre-flight time (assuming there's a convenient port on at each end). Hell, my ski boat will run 50mph, so the ride would be less than 5 minutes. Obviously with open water, I'd rather have something a bit more robust than an inland ski boat.
I was thinking the same thing.
 
It's a neat sotry, but you would think travel by boat would be of slightly less insurance risk, and probably just as fast considering pre-flight time (assuming there's a convenient port on at each end). Hell, my ski boat will run 50mph, so the ride would be less than 5 minutes. Obviously with open water, I'd rather have something a bit more robust than an inland ski boat.

Hard to do in the winter when the lake freezes over. You could use a snow machine then, but you'd need a 3rd option in fall / spring when it's partially frozen, slushy and breaking up . . . Probably easier to arrange a plane all year.
 
Years ago in New Mexico I used to fly kids to school in a C-340. Every Sunday evening out to the school and bring them back every Friday afternoon, all on the tax payer dime.
 
When I lived in Blaine WA, dad was stationed at an AC&W radar site in Birch Bay, kids from Pt Roberts had to travel thru Canada to get to and from the schools in Blaine. This was Jr & Sr high, don't know if elementary kids had to also. Pt Roberts is sorta a peninsula just dipping below the Canadian border but part of the US.

upload_2017-2-9_10-25-21.png
 
When I lived in Blaine WA, dad was stationed at an AC&W radar site in Birch Bay, kids from Pt Roberts had to travel thru Canada to get to and from the schools in Blaine. This was Jr & Sr high, don't know if elementary kids had to also. Pt Roberts is sorta a peninsula just dipping below the Canadian border but part of the US.

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The 'northwest angle' of Minnesota is another US 'exclave' with a couple of school children. The school bus pulls up to an automated border patrol checkpoint, gives the names of the students to CBP, drives them 50 miles through canada and re-enters the US at Warroad.
 
What do they do when the weather prohibits flying?

The article says that at least one family has a rental on South Bass. I imagine they are cheap to come by in the off season.
 
The 'northwest angle' of Minnesota is another US 'exclave' with a couple of school children. The school bus pulls up to an automated border patrol checkpoint, gives the names of the students to CBP, drives them 50 miles through canada and re-enters the US at Warroad.

Man probably at least an hour each way. I don't know how long the ride was to and from Pt Roberts but looks to be at least an hour from the map. Long day for those kids.
 
It's a neat sotry, but you would think travel by boat would be of slightly less insurance risk, and probably just as fast considering pre-flight time (assuming there's a convenient port on at each end). Hell, my ski boat will run 50mph, so the ride would be less than 5 minutes. Obviously with open water, I'd rather have something a bit more robust than an inland ski boat.

That's what I thought. It's a short ferry ride from Put-In-Bay to Middle Bass Island. BTDT. On the other hand, the airport is quite short, VFR only, and on the opposite side of the island from both the ferry dock and where most of the people live.
 
$100 per student per day?? Did I read that correctly?? $1000 to make two 3 mile round trips per day should be pretty profitable for somebody! :eek::D
 
I love those islands, hit up all of them on my way to Michigan last April in my Diamond.
 
My CFI class was at an airport about 1 hour drive but a 15 minute flight. So I flew in every day for a week. Every day I flew the ILS. Then one day it was IFR and I flew it on a clearnance and landed with minimums of 200' reported (and that is what they were). Lowest approach I ever did in IMC. Needless to say, the other students and instructor, as well as myself, were a bit amazed. I was thrilled to actually get to do an approach that low.
 
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