The DEATH of Meigs Field?!

[Guest]

From http://www.bba-aviation.com/flightsupport/...ations/CGX.htmlChicago Meigs (CGX)-CLOSEDAs of March 31, 2003, the City of Chicago has announced the permanent closure of Meigs Field.BUT! No news about it on cnn.com

[Guest DanWalloch]

I would just like to point out that there is a VFR cooridor that runs along the lakeshore with a ceiling of 2500' msl. It passes right over the airport, so whats stopping someone from loading up an airplane with explosives and stopping for fuel at Palwaukee or Gary (Indiana) and then flying onto downtown chicago. It only takes 15mins from either of these two airports and would burn less than 4 gallons of gas using just about any piston single. And as far as turbines go....there would be only about 50 gals out of the tanks....not a big differnce. So why did the mayor destroy Meigs......cause he's a selfish, self centered mobster that will never see office again.

[Guest skylanepilot]

I'm forever mixing up Cleveland and Cincinatti ... I did indeed mean Clevaland's Burke Lakefront airport ... I only hope Ohio will forgive me :-)

[Guest]

Mmmhhhh.....I think I have to edit the scenery.

[Guest skylanepilot]

>you have to admit it is a threat to downtown Chicago. I certainly don't agree with this assessment. People who discuss GA airplanes as potential terrorist weapons are missing a few points ...#1 - Even loaded to the gills with explosives, a 172 will just not be able to inflict much damage to anything bigger than a single family house. (see the images of a 172 hanging from a building in Tampa January 2002 ... now imagine it loaded with dynamite and taking out two windows)#2 - This seems to be the one everybody misses ... The value of any terrorist attack is not the amount of damage, but the amount of fear caused by the attack. Airline passenger jets were chosen as much for their terror effect on the flying public as for their value as weapons. How many people were terrorized when Charles Bishop flew his Cessna into a building in Tampa? Remember the Cessna that tried to crash into the White House (and took out a Magnolia tree!)? The general public doesn't fly in private planes .. what happens to a private airplane is of no consequence to the average Joe. Therefore there is no real value to using a small, private airplane as a weapon of terror!!!#3 - Terrorists choose simple methods because they are the most reliable. Knives and box-cutters to hijack a plane; suicide bombers on a bus. Loading a plane with explosives requires a private hanger to hide the plane, a way to sneak the explosives onto the airport, a way to wire the plane to detonate the explosives at just the right time, etc. All-in-all way to much opportunity for something to go wrong.Mayor Daley doesn't even believe the terror angle ... he is simply using public fear to further his own political agenda.

[Guest BC_KBOS]

Right on Martin!I am not exactly sure of the status of meigs yesterday, but how would you like to be the guy who flew into Meigs for a business meeting yesterday, only to find his plane effectively impounded overnight without due process?Or the charter guy who did same, only to be out of business today because the Mayor is using an excuse of a perceived threat to further his original plan, which was to dismantle Meigs to build a park?This won't be big news on the cable news channels because they are wall to wall war coverage right now, and unfortunately, will be for the near future. This in itself is problem as there are quite a few hum dingers being slipped on us unnanounced in the name of "Homeland Security". For example: The TSA now has the authority to have your Airman Certificate lifted on the spot if they deem you a security threat. There are no established guidelines that I can see and your only recourse is to apply for reinstatement to ...the TSA.If the FAA pulls your cert, you get notice and an opportunity to appeal to the NTSB. Not so with the new TSA mandate. Don't tick off the TSA people is all I can say.Regarding the Mayor pulling his midnight stunt in the name of Homeland Security, well, I believe it was ol' Ben Franklin who said something along the lines of "He who accepts a little loss of liberty to gain security deserves neither".I expect AOPA Pilot and Flying at the least will have the new view of Meigs on their front covers in the next issue. The Mayor has made an egregious error in judgment and I expect it will come to haunt him.BC

[Guest]

>you have to admit it is a threat to downtown Chicago. Ever >since the first version of FS we've known that it only takes >about 30 seconds to take off on Rwy 36 and crash into the >Sears tower. I don't see anyway to eliminate that >possibility. Some sicko could load their plane with >explosives, stop at Meigs for fuel and 30 seconds be on >their way to Mecca (or hell, more likely).Gee, it only takes a few minutes more from the following airports: Waukegan, Palwaukee, O'Hare, Midway, Schaumburg, Naper, Clow, Boilingbrook, Brookeridge, Lewis, Lemont, Lansing, Lake in the Hills, Aurora, Dupage, Joliet, Howell-New Lenox, Merriville, Campbell, Landings, Poplar Grove, McHenry, etc. Should we close all those airports too? Heck, what's to stop a terrorists from taking off from an airport in Wisconsin, Iowa, or Indiana, and flying to Chicago? Should we close all the airports in those states too? Come on, who are you kidding?Closing Meigs does nothing to prevent a plane from taking off from another airport and flying into a downtown building.

[Guest DNelson]

A Mack truck, or for that matter a Ryder rental truck, can hold many more pounds of explosives than an aircraft capable of a gross weight takeoff from Meigs. I guess Daley better bulldoze the entire Chicago loop, just to be safe.Dan

[Guest]

Speaking of SubLogic fans, everyone remember the first Meigs field! Green with white lines that you couldnt tell where the heck you were! You had to use the print screen button to bring up the overhead view to move around the airport.We could just edit the scenery with the newley dug trenches. Short field landings on the taxiway only! :-)Sad to see it go. Its has been the default airport ever since I can remeber.J. BirchCFI,CFII,MEIMobile, ALwww.clearedasfiled.com

[Guest]

>This has got to be the worst hate crime in aviation history. >Why the heck would you destroy millions in annual income and >the only logical acess to chicago's downtown / eastside. The >point of that airport was to save passengers the hour it >takes to get from O'hare or Midway. The mayor is a real A$$ >and should be locked up. Does anyone know if there are any >jets or turboprops stuck there. Chuck Forcey, the owner of Laz-Z-Boy has his Merlin III twin turbo there. Normally it is kept at KGYY, but he'd left it there while in downtown Chicago on business over the weekend.He's not a very happy man at the moment... We're not sure yet if he'll be able to use the taxiway for a T/O, or whether it will have to hauled on on a lowboy... :(

[Guest BrianC]

Yes, please penalize the good, hard working people of Chicago. That will help.

http://brianc.vip.warped.com/kpwk_sig.gif

[Guest DanWalloch]

I would like to add another thing to this Huge Problem we have here. Meigs's Tower was the controlling agency for the airspace extending 5 miles from miegs up to 3100 feet. Now with the airport closed and the tower too, this airspace is uncontrolled and returned to class E. You don't have to talk to anyone now, so all the high rise buildings are even more open to attacks.......the Mayor closed the airport for "security" issues, he just created a serious security problem.

[Guest]

I agree. Penalize the good, hard working people of Chicago for not voting that rat out of office before this happened... Its not like they all didn't know exactly what he wanted and was aiming for. Maybe doing exactly that will help if thats what it takes to get the rat out of office. And yes, I'm formerly from Chicago.Take care,Elrond---Not enough bandwidth to display this signature! Don't reformat hard drive? (Y/N)

[Guest]

I agree Dan, he has made security worse. In the event that the main streets and highways into town from KORD or Midway were impeded after a catastrophic event, it would be logical to bring medical aid, Federal officials, medivac helicopters, etc to Meigs which is downtown already. God forbid there would ever be a terrorist attack at Soldier Field adjacent to Meigs, as the airport would have made a logical staging area for flying in specialized equipment as well as effecting critical evacuation of injured to, say, Milwaukee trauma centers once Chicago area hospitals were full. Did the idiot mayor think of this?John M.

[Guest]

Problem is, his only "thinking" was done under the guise of revenge!Seeing as he has wanted a park there for quite a few years. Even after 9/11 he agreed to keep Meigs open till 2006, IF the Ohare Expansion was pushed thru congress. Well, guess was happened lately? The bill to expand O'Hare was blocked by (Illinois)Senator Peter Fitzgerald. So like a spoiled brat, Daley now decided the deal was OFF and he would bulldoze Meigs before anyone could wake up a judge to stop him!