The pilot of a cross country VFR C-172 requested vectors around a chicago area tfr. Upon determining...

Narrative:

Contacted chicago TRACON for VFR flight following. Chicago TRACON provided radar vectors through the chicago surrounding airspace because I wanted to remain clear of an active tfr. While approaching the chicago area it became apparent that the vectors provided would track over open water beyond power off gliding distance from the shores of lake michigan. The controller was polite and professional and re-routed me. Prior to the flight I obtained a standard flight weather briefing. The briefer reviewed my planned course and said it would avoid the flight restricted zones. I would recommend that chicago TRACON not vector single engine aircraft over the water. The tfr for chicago is 30 NM wide. A C172 cannot glide that far in the event of an engine failure. I received no advance notice that I would be vectored over open water. TRACON should make the pilot in command aware of their intended vector route in advance so as to provide the pilot enough time in advance to request alternate routing sooner.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The Pilot of a cross country VFR C-172 requested vectors around a Chicago area TFR. Upon determining the vectors would extend over Lake Michigan at a distance from which she would be unable to reach land if the engine failed the pilot requested and received alternative vectors remaining over land.

Narrative: Contacted Chicago TRACON for VFR flight following. Chicago TRACON provided radar vectors through the Chicago surrounding airspace because I wanted to remain clear of an active TFR. While approaching the Chicago area it became apparent that the vectors provided would track over open water beyond power off gliding distance from the shores of Lake Michigan. The controller was polite and professional and re-routed me. Prior to the flight I obtained a standard flight weather briefing. The briefer reviewed my planned course and said it would avoid the flight restricted zones. I would recommend that Chicago TRACON not vector single engine aircraft over the water. The TFR for Chicago is 30 NM wide. A C172 cannot glide that far in the event of an engine failure. I received no advance notice that I would be vectored over open water. TRACON should make the pilot in command aware of their intended vector route in advance so as to provide the pilot enough time in advance to request alternate routing sooner.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	917917
Time
Date	201010
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ORD.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 87 Flight Crew Total 262 Flight Crew Type 240
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

The pilot of a cross country VFR C-172 requested vectors around a chicago area tfr. Upon determining the vectors would extend over lake michigan at a distance from which she would be unable to reach land if the engine failed the pilot requested and received alternative vectors remaining over land.