Pilots land planes on frozen Minneapolis lake to order burgers

Photo: @david_u

When you need a burger, you need a burger. That's what Hans Meyer, of Burnsville, and Mike Doherty, of Le Sueur, said after they landed their planes on Lake Calhoun on Monday, no doubt raising a few eyebrows among curious folks peering out of their ice fishing shacks, and passing motorists on Excelsior Boulevard.

WCCO reported that the two men secured their planes and then trapsed off across the ice for a meal at Burger Jones

"It was a beautiful winter day and we wanted to see downtown," Meyer told the Star Tribune. "It was only until we came back from lunch that we found the police weren't on board with it."

More from Minnesota Public Radio:

"If they would've picked up the phone ahead of time and called and said, 'Hey, we're thinking about flying in for a lunch at Lake Calhoun. Can we do it?' we would've said no, and they probably would've had lunch somewhere else," said Robert Goodsell, captain of the Minneapolis Park Police Department. "It would've been a very uneventful day for them."

MPR's Bob Collins, who has a private pilot's license, said the two men stand a pretty good chance of getting their licenses revoked.