Midwest and Great Lakes Autumn Adventure

Leg 5 - 10/25/2023 - Toronto, ON (CYTZ) to Detroit, MI (KDET)

Leg Stats

• Time Enroute: 1.9 hrs
• Distance (direct): 175nm
• Distance (actual): 181nm
• Fuel Used: 20.8 gal

I had been watching the weather for a couple days, and by Wednesday, it was clear that the sunny weather in Toronto would become quite cloudy and rainy for the remainder of the week, so I planned to move on with the trip. I decided that we would clear customs in Detroit at the Detroit City Airport, so I filed my eAPIS and called US Customs to arrange a time. Katherine and I worked the morning and some of the afternoon (late checkout), and then we gathered up our stuff and headed to the airport. My main goal is that I wanted to land before dark, since it figured to be pretty cloudy and rainy on the flight over, and I wanted to minimize one variable.

We packed up the airplane and they de-Tetrised the airplane and we were clear to start up. I continue to find it perplexing how such busy airports in Canada will have extensive areas of uncontrolled ramps and taxiways, and this airport was no exception. Although their is a Ground controller, realistically this is only for clearance delivery since apparently the non-movement area runs just about to the hold short line of the runway. Anyway, we got our clearance and departed on time.

Again we had great views on departure from Toronto, and then quickly we moved from scattered clouds to indefinite ceilings and mist as we headed west. Fortunately the temps aloft at our low cruising altitude of 6000 were well above freezing (and higher than forecast), so we pressed onwards into the heavy (but quite smooth) precipitation. After an hour or so of solid IMC and precipitation, we started to poke in and out of clouds, and we broke into the clear just as we crossed Lake St. Clair while being vectored for the visual.

We landed just before sunset, and were met promptly by US Customs, who were waiting for us on the ramp. They were quick and friendly, and questioned us a bit on where we were heading. ("We're not sure exactly" and an explanation of how we're doing this flying road trip is always a bit strange for them) Afterwards, we went into the FBO (which is the old airline terminal ticketing area) while I decided whether we would stay in Detroit, or press onward. I thought we might go to Ann Arbor, but despite Michigan football being idle that weekend, the hotel costs were just prohibitively high.

In the end, I decided we would just stay in Detroit for a couple evenings. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised by Detroit. We decided to stay right in downtown, and despite the reputation of the city, I found it quite clean and safe, and much of the businesses in that area were obviously newer and trendier. Of course I found some awesome pizza to try, both traditional Detroit-style and another unique type. Katherine and I also had a fun date night at an excellent Lebanese restaurant in downtown. I tried to go visit the destroyed theater in the Michigan building but I wasn't able to find someone to let me inside.

Trip Leg Navigation