Closing Meigs Field

[patthepilot]

So I just watched some videos on Meigs Field, and although I've never landed there, would have really wanted to. One of the comments in the video says "we may never know if closing Meigs will be a huge mistake or not." For all the other aviation buffs on here, now that it's been 6.5 years, what do you think-mistake to close it or not?

 

[Murdoughnut]

So I just watched some videos on Meigs Field, and although I've never landed there, would have really wanted to. One of the comments in the video says "we may never know if closing Meigs will be a huge mistake or not." For all the other aviation buffs on here, now that it's been 6.5 years, what do you think-mistake to close it or not?

I think most of us grew up to love Meigs because of the early MSFS programs. Fly hexagon, fly!

 

[tlewis95]

Huge mistake.

I have my reasons, but I have to run. Will post again later

 

[patthepilot]

Yea, I remember flying 737's on impossible runs at Meigs, and then the 172. those were the days

 

[MikeD]

I think most of us grew up to love Meigs because of the early MSFS programs. Fly hexagon, fly!

That's the thing that kind of humors me about the major hype over the closing of Meigs; most people going bonkers about it have never been there or have any connection to it. And I'm talking hype far and beyond the reasonable anger over closing a GA field for no viable reason. The anger was "Daley closed Meigs field!!!", not really a "Daley closed a GA field!". For some reason, I don't think if it was the mayor of Mesa, AZ closing Falcon Field to make it a park and development area, that there'd be half the widespread anger over and beyond that of local pilots; it'd be just the standard anger over "some other GA field" being closed due to development/encroachment/noise, etc.

 

[trafficinsight]

To me, it's not that he closed an airport, it's the method that he chose to do it.

This isn't a dictatorship and to just show up and bulldoze the place while no one's looking, to me, is just criminal, and the fact that he's still in office and not in jail is just despicable.

I , personally, think that anybody and everybody who can avoid going to Chicago and spending money there, should do so.

 

[DPApilot]

I hate demolition dick

 

[falconvalley]

I think it was a shady thing to do. Mistake? I dunno. I was there twice and glad I could fly in before it closed. It was certainly an overflow airport but with precise limits on expansion. He intended to close it. He just underestimated how difficult it would be. When he realized that it would be difficult, he chose the low route. Not someone who I'd consider to be very cool in my book.

 

[MikeD]

To me, it's not that he closed an airport, it's the method that he chose to do it.

This isn't a dictatorship and to just show up and bulldoze the place while no one's looking, to me, is just criminal, and the fact that he's still in office and not in jail is just despicable.

I , personally, think that anybody and everybody who can avoid going to Chicago and spending money there, should do so.

I agree, and that's reasonable.

The unreasonable anger over it come from having just talked to more than a few pilots/people where the conversation goes somewhat like this (minor variations):

Them: "I can't believe they closed Meigs Field!!!"

Me: "You mean how they closed it?"

Them: "What do you mean how they closed it? No, I mean that they closed Meigs!! I LOVED that place!!! Man I'm going to miss it! Never going to see it again......"

Me: "Ever been in there?"

Them: "Well, no; but it was the primary airport on MSFS, and is where I "learned to fly". You know, it was my home airport...."

Me: "Oh brother....."

 

[patthepilot]

Falcon-I'm heading up to MKE tonight. Anything good to see in that town?

 

[Murdoughnut]

Landing at Meigs was probably a lot like watching lesbian sex. Not nearly as exciting in real life as it was on the computer.

 

[falconvalley]

Falcon-I'm heading up to MKE tonight. Anything good to see in that town?

Depends on what you want to do. Most of the stuff going on right now would be downtown. Bar hopping. If you're into art, there's an art museum close to the lake downtown. I believe David Copperfield is going to be here tomorrow. Of course, you could always hit San Dong on Layton for some Chinese food and eat it at the observation area east of Signature. I do that too much...

 

[MQAAord]

Meigs was a great place to fly into to do business downtown.

He did NOT have to destroy it the way he did. Sneaking in a crew in the middle of the night, covering security cameras... he should have gone through the proper channels and "faced the system" to shut it down.

I spent 10 years in Chicago, this issue is very near & dear to me.

Effing Daley. (As you can tell by my picture )

 

[matt152]

Meigs was a great place to fly into to do business downtown.

He did NOT have to destroy it the way he did. Sneaking in a crew in the middle of the night, covering security cameras... he should have gone through the proper channels and "faced the system" to shut it down.

I spent 10 years in Chicago, this issue is very near & dear to me.

Effing Daley. (As you can tell by my picture )

:yeahthat: Arrive at your airport and see this. There are still aircraft on the field:

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

At least the scumbag did his research on the proper markings for a closed runway.

 

[CFIT99]

I , personally, think that anybody and everybody who can avoid going to Chicago and spending money there, should do so.

wow...really, based on this comment you haven no idea what your talking about...

(if it wasn't meant to be malicious...then please forget the above comment)

 

[MQAAord]

:yeahthat: Arrive at your airport and see this. There are still aircraft on the field:

Yup, there were airplane on the field, who's owners/pilots had NO idea what was going on. Airport employees showed up to work, not knowing what had happened.

The pilots had to get approval from the FAA to depart via the taxiway. You can bet that those people inconvenienced in that way will probably not be too keen on bringing their business back to Chicago any time soon.

Great Lakes even once served Meigs with airline service to SGF on their 1900s. It was a gem of an airport, destroyed by a jackass. A real metropolitan treasure, that served business, was neat to fly into, and just a real cool part of a great city.

I love Chicago, but I hate Daley.

 

[derg]

That picture is still hard to look at.

Physically tearing up the runway like that after the closure was a big veiny middle-finger at aviation.

 

[ProudPilot]

Ok Mike, do we need to get into a "real aviator" discussion? I'd probably say at least 30% of the people here are in aviation because of MSFS or SimLogic FS. It's a great tool, and many people learned how to fly a proper approach path or shoot an ILS on MSFS before even going to their local airport. Where else can you practice the ILS at KORD 15 times in a row for $0.00?

Ok, so I never did it 15 times in a row, but I did it 3x in a row at least 5x. (I've got a few thousand hours logged in flightsim).

I agree, and that's reasonable.

The unreasonable anger over it come from having just talked to more than a few pilots/people where the conversation goes somewhat like this (minor variations):

Them: "I can't believe they closed Meigs Field!!!"

Me: "You mean how they closed it?"

Them: "What do you mean how they closed it? No, I mean that they closed Meigs!! I LOVED that place!!! Man I'm going to miss it! Never going to see it again......"

Me: "Ever been in there?"

Them: "Well, no; but it was the primary airport on MSFS, and is where I "learned to fly". You know, it was my home airport...."

Me: "Oh brother....."

 

[MarkE]

I grew up in the west burbs of Chicago, close to DPA where I discovered a love for aviation at 10 years old. Didn't learn to fly until my late 30s out here in L.A. and the one flight I always wanted to do was from DPA to CGX. Of course it's personal and disappointing that I'll never get to do that.

The outrage for me comes in the way it was done under the guise of security, which it's closing in effect made the airspace less secure. Daily wanted that land for a long time and he finally got it in an underhanded way. He will forever be King Jackass in my book for that.