Tower or TRACON Tour?

[Kristie]

what would everyone prefer to tour.. ORD Tower or ORD TRACON?

We have someone that can set up the tour(s), it's just a matter of which one ya'll want to do or if you want to do both...

since I've only been on the Tower tour out at LAS, I have no idea what a TRACON tour would consist of or if it'd be more interesting or what not...maybe both would be worthwhile this trip?

ORD Tower would probably just be a train ride to ORD whereas with ORD TRACON, we'd probably need to rent a van or have a few of the ORD peeps drive the group out there and back to the subway as it's about 35 miles west of ORD airport.

 

[WindyCityPilot]

what would everyone prefer to tour.. ORD Tower or ORD TRACON?

We have someone that can set up the tour(s), it's just a matter of which one ya'll want to do or if you want to do both...

since I've only been on the Tower tour out at LAS, I have no idea what a TRACON tour would consist of or if it'd be more interesting or what not...maybe both would be worthwhile this trip?

ORD Tower would probably just be a train ride to ORD whereas with ORD TRACON, we'd probably need to rent a van or have a few of the ORD peeps drive the group out there and back to the subway as it's about 35 miles west of ORD airport.

If we get the TRACON tour I can drive a load. I can fit 3 or 4 people plus myself.

 

[IrishSheepdog]

I think the tower would be more accessible, not to mention interesting... they have some characters up there. You can access the tower from the main terminal building, Terminal 2. This happens to be a short walk from the last Blue Line stop.

There is always MDW too if ORD falls through.

 

[kellwolf]

When we did a DFW TRACON tour, they threw in the tower for bonus. Might be able to get the same deal with ORD.

 

[Kristie]

we can do both... it's just that the facilities are in two different locations.

 

[IrishSheepdog]

we can do both... it's just that the facilities are in two different locations.

There are actually three, if you want to do the trifecta. ORD or MDW tower, Chicago Approach in Elgin, and Chicago Center in Aurora. Then there is always the Dupage FSDO...

 

[Kristie]

we could look into booking all 3...

is there a difference between Chicago Approach and Chicago Center?

 

[avi8tor]

Chicago Approach (C90 Tracon; Elgin) handles all IFR traffic in an out of ORD and it's satellite airports, from the surface to 13,000 feet and out to a 40 mile radius of ORD. It is the control operation for the class B airspace surrounding ORD.

Chicago Center (ZAU ARTCC; Aurora) handles all IFR traffic during enroute phases of flight, and feeds traffic into terminal areas.

 

[Kristie]

Avi8tor...let's go with ORD Tower and Chicago Approach... I think mixing those two together will make a lot more sense if we do one right after the other in a day.

all i need to get set up is transportation from one to the other...

whatcha think?

 

[avi8tor]

Sounds good. I'll start making the arrangements for both tours. I will need an approximate head count for both tours, and what days you want the tours to be held.

 

[Kristie]

let's look at Saturday morning for the Tower tour (it'll be slower for them) and maybe Saturday early to mid afternoon for TRACON? I don't know if we can schedule one right after the other.. we'd have to have a specific time set for travel and all that.

that'll leave MOSI/Shedd for Friday afternoon (esp if MOSI is free) and Blues fest for Sat late afternoon/Sunday....

 

[avi8tor]

Sounds good I will start making the arrangements.

 

[desertdog71]

We should just road trip to Milwaukee and go to "The Safehouse"

 

[Kristie]

now that's a fun place!!

 

[H46Bubba]

What's the Safehouse?

 

[desertdog71]

What's the Safehouse?

We have a victim Kristie.

 

[avi8tor]

We should just road trip to Milwaukee and go to "The Safehouse"

Good Times.

 

[Kristie]

if we told you, we'd have to kill you!

the only way you can get there is by blindfold.. the only way your getting in is if you know the password.

 

[CcrlR737AMT]

Sounds good. I'll start making the arrangements for both tours. I will need an approximate head count for both tours, and what days you want the tours to be held.

What about transportation to there? Are you going to ride the CTA the tower tour(both the train and the bus)?

 

[kellwolf]

I'm a huge fan of public transportation. The green liberal in me likes it, plus it's cheap. If we can make it happen without renting cars, it makes it a lot easier for people to afford.