circumnavigating Chicago Class B

Option #1. The Chicago lakeshore view is awesome, especially on a
clear evening. Beware the lakefront and stadium TFRs that come and
go. Approach is 20.55. You can fly the lakeshore at 2900MSL. Watch
for other sightseeing traffic as it is heavy. Drop down lower and
look up at the Hancock and Sears Tower as you fly by. If you do the
OBK VOR to the lakeshore, be careful not to clip the lower ring of the
Bravo and/or PWKs airspace.

Option #2. If you are on flightfollowing, ORD approach will probably
ask you to go around ORD, and may cancel FF if you go over. Also,
Chicago center does not usually coordinate handoffs with ORD approach,
so you may find yourself mixing it up with the Janesville arrival
traffic without flight following. Good views, but doing this makes me
nervous.

Option #3 will not happen. I've been flying in ORD area for 10 years
and have had 1 VFR ransition through the Bravo, and that was at 2am.

Alternate option. Go around ORD to the West and South. Approach is
20.55, 33.5, 19.35 respectively. What's another 15 minutes of flying?


On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 21:40:12 GMT, Neil Bratney
wrote:

Hey all,

I'm looking at flying my PA 28-161 VFR from Minneapolis to South Bend,
Indiana, in a few weeks for a Notre Dame football game (go irish!). Two
big things, of course, stand in my way: Lake Michigan and the Chicago
Class B airspace.

I've looked at the Chicago Terminal Chart, and have come up with two
possibilities:

1.) Aim for the OBK VOR, then skirt under Class Bravo at 2,900, and hug
the lakeshore all the way around to South Bend.

2.) Take 'er up to 11,500 in southcentral Wisconsin, go above the Class
B airspace. I've never been up that high before! This might let me cut
a little deeper across Lake Michigan.

3.) Accept a transition through Class B from ATC.

I'm a pretty new VFR pilot (you might remember my Duluth post) with
about 80 hrs... but am very comfortable communicating with ATC in /
around MSP Class B airspace.

I will, as always, have VFR flight following. Will ATC be expecting me
to choose one of the above options when I approach Chicagoland? How
much ATC interaction should I expect while I'm over / under their
airspace? Maybe just handoffs?

Also, Meigs Class D is still on the chart. Is it really still in
effect/operation?

Thanks a ton!

Neil Bratney
PP-ASEL