The pilot in the left seat of the Piper Arrow was a 33,000-hour ATP; his right-seat companion had a private ticket and less than 200 hours. The two took off from Racine, Wisconsin, on a midsummer afternoon and headed northward, just off the western shore of Lake Michigan. There were scattered clouds at 3,400 feet and an overcast layer at 4,000; the surface wind was 300 degrees at 13 knots.
The flight passed at 1,500 feet under the outer shelf of Milwaukee Class C — Milwaukee is 12 nm north of Racine — and entered the inner ring, in contact with approach control, 5 miles south of Milwaukee’s Mitchell International.
