Our Landing in Meigs Field, four year ago...

[ThomasH]

We saw recently in AOPA news that FAA filed at last some punitive
fines against the City of Chicago for the so unorthodox method of
damaging and closing the airport. This jared our memories, mine
and of my friend, with whom we once traveled across the continent
from California to Oshkosh.

A landing in Meigs was on our schedule. We both are glad that
we stopped there! Incoming shaky weather from the north forced
us to depart from Chicago directly the next day, and so we left
the sunny city and flew into marginal VFR around the arrival
point at OSH. While flying IFR through the wet flatlands, barely
visible through the mist and fog, we were both reminiscing the
skyline, colors, downtown and surroundings of the Windy City.

Once we landed safely at OSH, the usual fascination with this
magnificent show kicked in and we forgot about about CGX...

Later on however, this landing became clearly the most vividly
remembered event from our trip! We both remember the planing
how to cruise through Chicago's class B and how to fly to see
the most of the shoreline on our final leg toward CGX...

And who on final approach encounters 4 aircraft flying in
formation just below you! I just wish the images were of better
technical standard! Kodak's Ektachrome E200 Professional proven
to be such a disappointment to me.

There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!

I hope you will like the images:

http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx

Thomas

[Jay Beckman]

"ThomasH" > wrote in message
...

<SNIP>

> There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
> most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!
>
> I hope you will like the images:
>
> http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx
>
> Thomas

Thomas,

Great, great, great pics!!!

I'll never get to land there thanks to das "Wintycity Fuhrer" but I can do
it vicariously through your photos. Thanks for putting them on line.

Regards,

Jay Beckman
KCHD
PP-ASEL
Still nowhere to go but up!

[zatatime]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2004 22:12:49 GMT, ThomasH > wrote:

>I hope you will like the images:
>
> http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx

Those are really cool pictures!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing.

z

[Jay Honeck]

> And who on final approach encounters 4 aircraft flying in
> formation just below you! I just wish the images were of better
> technical standard! Kodak's Ektachrome E200 Professional proven
> to be such a disappointment to me.

Thank you, Thomas, for sharing those bittersweet pix with us.

I was lucky enough to fly into Meigs on three occasions. Each flight
was memorable, and ingrained forever in my memories. The time we spent
in Chicago was so enjoyable...I still catch myself daydreaming about
those wonderful flights.

We are poorer as a nation and as a people because of what Herr Daley
did that night. I still can't believe he's walking around a free man.

In any other city in America, a mayor sending bulldozers in at 3 AM to
destroy the city's airport would have resulted in impeachment and
possibly jail time.

In Chicago, it's just "bidness as usual"...

When I worked for the Chicago Tribune, I (and many of my other
out-of-town co-workers) were under the distinct impression that
Chicagoans were the dumbest group of people we had ever met. The fact
that Daley is still in office is just another shred of evidence in
support of this assertion.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Wizard of Draws]

On 11/26/04 11:13 PM, in article
. com, "Jay Honeck"
> wrote:

>
> When I worked for the Chicago Tribune, I (and many of my other
> out-of-town co-workers) were under the distinct impression that
> Chicagoans were the dumbest group of people we had ever met. The fact
> that Daley is still in office is just another shred of evidence in
> support of this assertion.
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

Jay, I work for a small-town newspaper and that seems to be the attitude of
our reporters about our town. Trust me when I say they don't have any reason
to feel superior.

How do I know? One of them was conducting a phone interview with a WWII vet
and asked so many ignorant questions of the man, I'm surprised he didn't
hang up in disgust. For example: he was a sergeant and she asked him if he
was in the navy. She didn't know what or where Pearl Harbor was when he
mentioned it.
One of them did a story on a 16 year old student taking lessons at my flight
school and his first solo. They know I am a pilot. Did they ask me to
proofread the story? Nope. But I was able to skim through it before it ran,
and catch a lot of factual errors. Even then, not everything I pointed out
was fixed.

I've learned that the only information you can trust coming out of a
newsroom is the masthead.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

[Jay Honeck]

> Jay, I work for a small-town newspaper and that seems to be the attitude
> of
> our reporters about our town. Trust me when I say they don't have any
> reason
> to feel superior.

I was never a reporter -- I worked in the circulation department. (The
newsroom was populated with some very interesting characters, but none of
them would have known an honest day's work if it had punched them in the
nose. But that's another post...)

And although small-town folk can be ignorant, they are almost never stupid.
They catch on quickly, and will only be suckered once.

Big city people, on the other hand -- especially those who willingly spend
up to 3 hours each day "commuting" -- are, almost without exception,
exceptionally stupid.

What we always found hilarious was that the locals would rail endlessly
about the horrendous traffic, yet would never vote the tollways -- the main
source of their traffic woes -- out of existence. In fact, most Chicagoans
I met supported them, refusing to see that stopping 16 lanes of traffic
every 15 miles to collect 40 cents was the root cause of their misery.

We (those of us who sucked the big city money, but lived in lovely
Wisconsin) always figured that the tollways were a pretty good IQ test,
since any human of passing intelligence would never choose that lifestyle.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[ThomasH]

Jay Honeck wrote:
>
[...]
> What we always found hilarious was that the locals would rail endlessly
> about the horrendous traffic, yet would never vote the tollways -- the main
> source of their traffic woes -- out of existence. In fact, most Chicagoans
> I met supported them, refusing to see that stopping 16 lanes of traffic
> every 15 miles to collect 40 cents was the root cause of their misery.

They do this Florida as well. As I was at Sun'n'fun and drove
from Lakeland to Cape Canaveral, I was stopped several times
to pay a quarter or so...

That's why we fly. Nothing enjoys me more than a look of an
avalanche of white and red lights along an interstate, end on
end, when I have my piece up there!

Now serious:
I believe that the issue here is different. Not being involved
with Chicago, I found the city fascinating and people very nice.
However, my friend with whom I landed at Meigs was born in
Detroit and he shares the "anti chicagoan" sentiment here.
They seem to be quite arrogant.

The punch line that only pilots like airports. Most of the
people in Chicago might believe that a new shoreline park
is a cute idea, but this is deceiving. Just imagine how in
gods name shall all the people be able to get there???
I see one giant car jam, maybe they will add one more
toll booth...

Thomas

[Jay Honeck]

> If something in Chicago is causing voter "dumbness", it's contagious.
>
> At last report 59 million Americans were infected.

Wow, I knew the Daley Machine was powerful, but did he *really* get that
many votes?

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Rosspilot]

>
>I hope you will like the images:
>

Thomas, I did--very much. It's a sadness I feel because I never landed there.
I landed at Dupage when I went thru Chicago in 1998.

I am also incredulous that this travesty was allowed to go with so little
result to the perpetrator.


www.Rosspilot.com

[mike regish]

I think your shots are excellent. I'm kind of wondering what you think could
have been better with respect to the film you used. Do you mean just the
formation shots or all of them. I would be thrilled with the results you
got.

mike regish

"ThomasH" > wrote in message
...

> And who on final approach encounters 4 aircraft flying in
> formation just below you! I just wish the images were of better
> technical standard! Kodak's Ektachrome E200 Professional proven
> to be such a disappointment to me.
>
> There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
> most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!
>
> I hope you will like the images:
>
> http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx
>
> Thomas

[Bill Denton]

Oh, hell, yea! This is Chicago, remember? We've only got 3 million people,
but we get to vote as many times as we want to. Voted 19 times myself in the
last election (lots of cute babes at the polling places)!



"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
news:ZRkqd.477607$D%.397597@attbi_s51...
> > If something in Chicago is causing voter "dumbness", it's contagious.
> >
> > At last report 59 million Americans were infected.
>
> Wow, I knew the Daley Machine was powerful, but did he *really* get that
> many votes?
>
> ;-)
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>
>

[BUFF5200]

Wizard of Draws wrote:
> On 11/26/04 11:13 PM, in article
> . com, "Jay Honeck"
> > wrote:
>
>
>>When I worked for the Chicago Tribune, I (and many of my other
>>out-of-town co-workers) were under the distinct impression that
>>Chicagoans were the dumbest group of people we had ever met. The fact
>>that Daley is still in office is just another shred of evidence in
>>support of this assertion.

If something in Chicago is causing voter "dumbness", it's contagious.

At last report 59 million Americans were infected.

[ThomasH]

mike regish wrote:
>
> I think your shots are excellent. I'm kind of wondering what you think could
> have been better with respect to the film you used. Do you mean just the
> formation shots or all of them. I would be thrilled with the results you
> got.

The formation passed us very fast. We received no traffic alert
of any kind from the approach, or was it Meigs Tower already?

I had not time to change the lens and I shot nervously as good
I could, but they are blurred anyway.

I picked up the E200 for this shooting because this was a
brand new material back than, hailed by the press as the
"finest of ISO 200" so far. The weather was hazy, we moved
fast in the Bonanza and I opted for ISO 200 over a ISO 100
material to have more latitude toward shorter shutter times.
I ruled out ISO 400... because fo the obviously larger grain.

How wrong I was: The E200 proves to be enormously difficult
to scan with its grain aliasing effect on my scanner (Nikon
LS4000) and I really dislike the color balance of this material.
I wish I would have taken Provia 400F!

Later the E200 was criticized by many photographers for a
plethora of reasons, its beyond the scope here. Once more, the
introduction in the photo press was a simple marketing stunt...

Thomas

>
> mike regish
>
> "ThomasH" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > And who on final approach encounters 4 aircraft flying in
> > formation just below you! I just wish the images were of better
> > technical standard! Kodak's Ektachrome E200 Professional proven
> > to be such a disappointment to me.
> >
> > There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
> > most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!
> >
> > I hope you will like the images:
> >
> > http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx
> >
> > Thomas

[Robert Heise]

ThomasH > wrote in message >...
>
> There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
> most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!
>
> I hope you will like the images:
>
> http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx
>
> Thomas

Thanks Thomas for the great pictures.

I live only 40 miles to the west of Meigs and unfortunately only took
advantage of landing there a handful of times. At one time,
touch-n-goes there didn't cost anything.

However the real loss is that safety flying up the lakefront has been
severely compromised. I was able to use the Meigs tower to tell me
about all the other traffic that moved up and down the lakefront
trying to stay out of the way of ORD and MDW. Now, I prefer not to
even take that chance.

It too amazes me that Daley has done what he has down with no
impunity. You started your email by mentioning the fines proposed by
the FAA against the city. I hope that these are made a reality so
Daley can realize his actions have consequences.

Thanks again for bringing back good memories...

[Jose]

Having never landed at Meigs, might I ask what was so special about
this particular field?

Jose
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Rosspilot]

>
>Having never landed at Meigs, might I ask what was so special about
>this particular field?


Also having never landed there, I believe it has to do with the incredible view
of the Chicago Skyline, and the lakefront.


www.Rosspilot.com

[Jay Honeck]

>>Having never landed at Meigs, might I ask what was so special about
>>this particular field?
>
>
> Also having never landed there, I believe it has to do with the incredible
> view
> of the Chicago Skyline, and the lakefront.

It was those things, and more.

The approach was absolutely gorgeous and unique, with an over-water approach
to landing not something most of us do every day. The skyline looming over
your shoulder was something to behold -- there's just something weirdly cool
about flying *lower* that people sitting in their offices!

And, finally, what made Meigs an icon was the fact that it was the start-up
airport on every version of Flight Simulator, going all the way back to the
Artisoft days. I know many pilots (myself included) whose very first
"flight" experience took place at Meigs Field.

In fact, when I finally landed there, it felt very, VERY familiar, having
"landed" there hundreds of times in cyberspace!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[ThomasH]

Robert Heise wrote:
>
> ThomasH > wrote in message >...
> >
> > There is, or rather: There was only only Meigs, probably the
> > most unique airport in the US, if not in the entire world!!
> >
> > I hope you will like the images:
> >
> > http://www.pbase.com/thh/2000_07_24_cgx
> >
> > Thomas
>
> Thanks Thomas for the great pictures.
>
> I live only 40 miles to the west of Meigs and unfortunately only took
> advantage of landing there a handful of times. At one time,
> touch-n-goes there didn't cost anything.
>
> However the real loss is that safety flying up the lakefront has been
> severely compromised. I was able to use the Meigs tower to tell me
> about all the other traffic that moved up and down the lakefront
> trying to stay out of the way of ORD and MDW. Now, I prefer not to
> even take that chance.

I do understand that some airports die as the surroundings change.
For example San Francisco has had a waterfront airport: Thsi was the
Crissy Field in Presidio. Once upon a time, some people took off for
Hawaii from this field! Crissy Field was in several books of records!

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/history/crissy/crissyaf.htm

Once the Golden Gate bridge was build, landing and takeoff from
there became too hazardous. Last aircraft took off from this
airport in 1974!The runway was a part of a city for many years.
People used to walk and ride by bike from Marina to the Golden
Gate, the entire vicinity was kind of neglected. Way back SFO
sectional stopped indicate a closed airport there. Recent project
removed the runway completely and restored the bay land as a nature
preserve:

http://www.crissyfield.org/center/


Of course we have now the same safety dilemma which makes you
to avoid the lakefront flights: No safe place to go down. The
Bay is damn cold and usually very windy. The best bet around
Golden Gate is to head north toward Sausalito and Tiburon and
to ditch in the 1-2 foot shallow Richardson Bay. On the other
side of the city there is still the closed Alameda AFS with
good runways.


>
> It too amazes me that Daley has done what he has down with no
> impunity. You started your email by mentioning the fines proposed by
> the FAA against the city. I hope that these are made a reality so
> Daley can realize his actions have consequences.
>
> Thanks again for bringing back good memories...

You are welcome, we brought back our memories as well!

Thomas

[[email protected]]

Jose wrote:
> Having never landed at Meigs, might I ask what was so special about
> this particular field?
>
> Jose
> --
> Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
> for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Jose]

quoted me (asking what was special about Meigs)
and didn't write anything.

Or what was written didn't come through.

Say again?

Jose
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Tlewis95]

IT was right on the Chicago lakefront with an over water approach. ONly like 3
nm from the Sears Tower. Very close to all other Chicago activitys too, ill
miss it.