Someone's comment about how seldom we read about any incident at Midway seems accurate. As to another person's comment that Midway is safe, maybe so, if all wind reports are accurate, it is dry and both pilots brief each other on the vital need to avoid any floating or bursts of throttle while in the flare-and they never make a serious error in judging which flair technique to use. I've told FOs in our 60's vintage twin-turbofan machines that if there is ever any doubt about stopping ability at Midway (and no option to circle in VMC to 22R...), i.e. winds, heavy plane, water or snow etc on the landing runway, then we are going around and/or diverting next door to O'Hare etc. If there is any similar question at DCA or LGA, you have much longer runways nearby at airports which definitely qualify as safe airports. The inside of Midway's terminal now has a nice selection of places to eat and find chocolate coffee etc, but what a hazardous, cramped, dump of an airport which is waiting for you outside.
There is the additional hazard of so many runways and almost identical parallel taxiways to cross, when certain runways are in use. You must constantly turn your head because of so many almost identical stretches of concrete. At that airport, you often must either stop your taxi, in order to safely do most checklists, or wait until in the hold-short area. Make sure the Captain tells you about his "plan" before you taxi out of Midway, Boston, etc.
In my opinion, there is no excuse for heavy transport operations into any of these three airports, (and we all know that the US, among other countries, has been in the "jet-age" for decades) under any and all weather conditions with the present physical limitations, except by rationalizing by using a "Third World" mentality, knowing that there has always been money available to lengthen at least one runway at any of these, but political expediency and convenience is sometimes much more important than "normal" safety in the good old USA. If you don't believe me, read about what Chicago Mayor Richard Daley JR did in the middle of the night to permanently shutdown/destroy Meigs Field by downtown Chicago. As for questionable info given to pilots at another very small airport, one major airline decided, due to unreliable reports on runway de-icing treatment resulting in an incident, to avoid Traverse City, Michigan in the winter, or at least not use "mainline" equipment.
Not long ago at SAT/San Antonio, on a STAR for runway 12R, we figured out that the tailwinds reported on the ATIS did not sound right. When we asked the tower controller about it, they said that something was wrong with the equipment and then immediately were vectored southeast, in order to now land on runway 30L. Wind reports can be in error anywhere, with our new-fangled high tech equipment used by the tower controllers.
