Meigs Field, Chicago
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Meigs Field, Chicago
If any ppruners visit the Chicago area, I highly recommend a visit to Meigs Field, a GA airfield built on Lake Michigan, just 10 minutes walk from downtown.
Base leg for Rwy 18 heads straight towards the skyscrapers, giving a magnificent view of the Windy City.
The first photograph shows the view from the South.
The airfield is threatened with closure in 2002 to make way for a park (!)
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Base leg for Rwy 18 heads straight towards the skyscrapers, giving a magnificent view of the Windy City.
The first photograph shows the view from the South.
The airfield is threatened with closure in 2002 to make way for a park (!)
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On the 78th floor of the tower in the background there is a great bar. Spent the night of July 4th 1999 there reminding our American cousins who gave them their country back. Great night.
I thought Meigs had been saved from the developers by a private investor buying it?
I thought Meigs had been saved from the developers by a private investor buying it?
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Great Photos F.L.
I would have thought that MicroSoft would have bought it, they surely owe Miegs a huge debt.
If it really is closing I have to fly from it, I must start working on Mrs New Bloke tonight. I'm sure I can sell her the idea of Chicago in the spring
I would have thought that MicroSoft would have bought it, they surely owe Miegs a huge debt.
If it really is closing I have to fly from it, I must start working on Mrs New Bloke tonight. I'm sure I can sell her the idea of Chicago in the spring
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Sadly, the field is still under threat- part of Mayor Daley's plan for the area. Airfield supporters argue that there are already plenty of parks.
LowNslow - I spent a very enjoyable evening in the same bar. It's the Signature Bar on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower. Not quite as tall as the 110 floor Sears Tower(in the bottom picture) but the Sears Tower doesn't have a bar!
New Bloke - tell Mrs N-B that Michigan Avenue isn't called the "Magnificent Mile" for nothing. It's said to have amongst the best shopping in the world. Could be expensive - but at least you get to fly one of the most spectacular approaches in the world!
PS My conscience won't let me take credit for the pictures - I wasn't the photographer.
[This message has been edited by Flying Lawyer (edited 02 November 2000).]
LowNslow - I spent a very enjoyable evening in the same bar. It's the Signature Bar on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Tower. Not quite as tall as the 110 floor Sears Tower(in the bottom picture) but the Sears Tower doesn't have a bar!
New Bloke - tell Mrs N-B that Michigan Avenue isn't called the "Magnificent Mile" for nothing. It's said to have amongst the best shopping in the world. Could be expensive - but at least you get to fly one of the most spectacular approaches in the world!
PS My conscience won't let me take credit for the pictures - I wasn't the photographer.
[This message has been edited by Flying Lawyer (edited 02 November 2000).]
I went to Chicago for 16 days in September 1999 and what a FAB time I had. Got my Airmans certificate from Du Page Airport (for free from the FAA!). I did all my flying in a AA-5 from Chicago Midway. The particular aeroplane came 2nd in Oshkosh the year before for it's paint job (bright orange with black dots - just like a Cheetah).
As I recall the landing fees were very expensive (certainly for US rates anyway) at Meigs so I only went in once - after approaching in Flight Sim for all those years!! Left base to 18 is great though, straight towards all the buildings.
Students aren't allowed to fly in there though. There are a number of other accidents too caused by overshoots/undershoots into the water. I understand this has contributed towards its threatened closure.
Did you visit the John G Shedd aquarium just at the end of the runway? Quite good. As you said, Michigan Avenue is very cool too.
LOC
As I recall the landing fees were very expensive (certainly for US rates anyway) at Meigs so I only went in once - after approaching in Flight Sim for all those years!! Left base to 18 is great though, straight towards all the buildings.
Students aren't allowed to fly in there though. There are a number of other accidents too caused by overshoots/undershoots into the water. I understand this has contributed towards its threatened closure.
Did you visit the John G Shedd aquarium just at the end of the runway? Quite good. As you said, Michigan Avenue is very cool too.
LOC
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What wonderful pix!! As a Microsft FS driver for some ten years, often wondered what the real place looked like.
And with the marina so close!! Two of my passions consumated on one site. Now where can I find an airfield with a marina AND car racing circuit, then I would be COMPLETELY sated!!!
And with the marina so close!! Two of my passions consumated on one site. Now where can I find an airfield with a marina AND car racing circuit, then I would be COMPLETELY sated!!!
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I must be the only Ppruner who didn't know about Meigs Field - after being put to shame by an 8 year old long ago, I decided that MS flying wasn't for me!
Although landing fees are rare in the States, I thought the $12 fee at Meigs was worth every penny for the wonderful experience. They charge $12/24hour for parking which I thought was reasonable given the location - their overheads must be quite high.
I didn't make it to the Shedd aquarium this time - I only had a couple of free days on a working trip to BFGoodrich Avionics at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and used the time to fly over the lake to Chicago from there. Next time!
I was surprised to read about the overshoots/undershoots - the runway is 3900'long (displaced 550'on 18) and 150' wide. People usually manage to land on the black stuff surrounded by grass - I wonder why the water makes a difference?
On the subject of undershooting: Has anyone flown to Catalina Island - about 20 miles of the LA coast?
The threshold is on top of a 1500' cliff so undershooting isn't an option - unless you want to leave your mark (literally) on the cliff face. It certainly concentrates the mind!
Getting it right means you live to sample the famous Buffalo-burgers in the airport cafe. They seem to be safe - no reports of Mad Buffalo Disease yet.
Happy Flying - including MS Sim!
[This message has been edited by Flying Lawyer (edited 06 November 2000).]
Although landing fees are rare in the States, I thought the $12 fee at Meigs was worth every penny for the wonderful experience. They charge $12/24hour for parking which I thought was reasonable given the location - their overheads must be quite high.
I didn't make it to the Shedd aquarium this time - I only had a couple of free days on a working trip to BFGoodrich Avionics at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and used the time to fly over the lake to Chicago from there. Next time!
I was surprised to read about the overshoots/undershoots - the runway is 3900'long (displaced 550'on 18) and 150' wide. People usually manage to land on the black stuff surrounded by grass - I wonder why the water makes a difference?
On the subject of undershooting: Has anyone flown to Catalina Island - about 20 miles of the LA coast?
The threshold is on top of a 1500' cliff so undershooting isn't an option - unless you want to leave your mark (literally) on the cliff face. It certainly concentrates the mind!
Getting it right means you live to sample the famous Buffalo-burgers in the airport cafe. They seem to be safe - no reports of Mad Buffalo Disease yet.
Happy Flying - including MS Sim!
[This message has been edited by Flying Lawyer (edited 06 November 2000).]
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I was looking at the Flyer site and one of their links on the home page is to a webcam on the roof of the control tower.....and its the type you can control from your keyboard. Surprised no one else mentioned it. Talking of MS FS2000, I havent used mine for ages, I simply cannot do a visual circuit with such a restricted view. Try the landing on a carrier adventure. I can hit the deck by approaching downwind with the carrier insight all the time but I have never managed to get it right coming in over the stern.
Mike W
Mike W
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Haven't flown into Meigs but hope I get a chance to. Talking of wacky undershoots, anyone tried Weybourn on the north Norfolk coast? Visual perspective of glidepath complicated by a grassy knoll in the undershoot. I got my first approach to the place well wrong and went around early. Landed off the next one and yammed on the brakes as it felt like I was about to pop off the cliff at the upwind end (in fact I stopped short enough). Departing Weybourn is a blast: you launch off a lip and out over the sea. Probably as close as I will get to a Carrier departure.
There's another yee-haw ski-jump departure at Farmer Southall's excellently maintained strip a few miles west at Burnham Thorpe (site of Nelson's dad's pad). England expects that every man shall do his duty and get airborne before it starts to go downhill.
A mate of mine tells me that all this is nothing compared to landing at St Bart's in the French Caribbean, where there's some humongous mountain in the undershoot and you have to be specially checked out by a local instructor to tackle the mad steep descent to the threshold. Anyone tried it?
[This message has been edited by FNG (edited 07 November 2000).]
There's another yee-haw ski-jump departure at Farmer Southall's excellently maintained strip a few miles west at Burnham Thorpe (site of Nelson's dad's pad). England expects that every man shall do his duty and get airborne before it starts to go downhill.
A mate of mine tells me that all this is nothing compared to landing at St Bart's in the French Caribbean, where there's some humongous mountain in the undershoot and you have to be specially checked out by a local instructor to tackle the mad steep descent to the threshold. Anyone tried it?
[This message has been edited by FNG (edited 07 November 2000).]
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Superb picture, well done!
Managed to get a B737-400 in there last night with No1 Engine failure.........Naturally on FS2000. Having seen your pictures, you begin to realise just how good FS 2000 is. At least you have exprienced the real thing!!!!
Managed to get a B737-400 in there last night with No1 Engine failure.........Naturally on FS2000. Having seen your pictures, you begin to realise just how good FS 2000 is. At least you have exprienced the real thing!!!!
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Captain Numpty
Do you really think FS200 is good? Twenty odd years ago I used to use MS FS to test so called `compatables` for, guess what? Compatability. It was said that if it would run FS then it was compatable and would run anything.
Almost exactly a year ago I bought this 500 Meg P3 with 128 Megs of memory. I didn`t need a spec that high for what I really wanted to use the computer for but I thought I would enjoy FS after 20+ years of development. Bull****!!! The instrument panels look good, I grant you, but the stupid thing still lets you `fly` with your wheels on the ground, the scenery still moves in jerks, the program still crashes or hangs up for no aparrent reason and ,all in all, I wish I hadn`t bothered. W98 is also a disappointment. I started using DOS and the machine did as it was told and if it went wrong, you could work out why. Early Windows was pretty good as I remember and the problems got fixed. 98, as far as I am concerned is Cr@p. It seems to make up its own mind as to what I want to do and is forever throwing up windows in ways and at times when I don`t want them. Trying to find the stupid box to untick to stop the damned thing doing something I don`t want takes forever and I can never remember the route when it crops up again. It should be illegal to send out this software without a 13 year old kid in the bundle.
I must be getting old.
Mike W
Do you really think FS200 is good? Twenty odd years ago I used to use MS FS to test so called `compatables` for, guess what? Compatability. It was said that if it would run FS then it was compatable and would run anything.
Almost exactly a year ago I bought this 500 Meg P3 with 128 Megs of memory. I didn`t need a spec that high for what I really wanted to use the computer for but I thought I would enjoy FS after 20+ years of development. Bull****!!! The instrument panels look good, I grant you, but the stupid thing still lets you `fly` with your wheels on the ground, the scenery still moves in jerks, the program still crashes or hangs up for no aparrent reason and ,all in all, I wish I hadn`t bothered. W98 is also a disappointment. I started using DOS and the machine did as it was told and if it went wrong, you could work out why. Early Windows was pretty good as I remember and the problems got fixed. 98, as far as I am concerned is Cr@p. It seems to make up its own mind as to what I want to do and is forever throwing up windows in ways and at times when I don`t want them. Trying to find the stupid box to untick to stop the damned thing doing something I don`t want takes forever and I can never remember the route when it crops up again. It should be illegal to send out this software without a 13 year old kid in the bundle.
I must be getting old.
Mike W
