Ah, old remember fs 4.0 chicago field its awesome. I have the megis airport add on for fsx. Mayor Delay and the chicagoland criminal politicians can roll in graves long as they want still use megis. Still, Lake Airport in Cleveland similar to old meigs. Now, gotta land in gary on the southside not as pretty lol.

ha ha brings back memories. yeah used to love doing the meigs to ohare short hops

Just flew a quick flight around the pattern at Meigs, for old times sake. The bird is Burt Rutan's ingenious twin, the Boomerang.

 

The March edition of AOPA Pilot features an article observing the nearing 10 year anniversary of when then-Mayor Daley had crews bulldoze X's into the runway at Meigs Field. Those of us who track this hobby back to its earliest day remember all too well that by default, the original versions of MSFS started us off on that runway at Meigs Field. My first flights in FS were from Meigs to Champaign Williard Field in Champaign, IL, near where I attended USAF Meteorology School at nearby Chanute AFB at Rantoul, Illinois. Williard was the base of operation for subLogic and it's founders Bruce Artwick and Stu Moment. I had the pleasure of meeting both of them in Champaign in 1990, when their Flight Assignment: ATP was blocked from the market during a series of lawsuits with Microsoft. Some may also remember that in the late 1980s subLogic brought to market various scenery sets, culminating in a pair of US scenery sets (east and west) that first added all current-at-the-time broadcast NAV aids.

 

I am unable to link to the current article in AOPA Pilot, but here is a link to an archived article on the Meigs Field destruction. Makes very interesting reading.

http://www.aopa.org/.../03-1-157x.html

 

I used to love doing circuits around that airfield - and the flights to Champaign using the VORs.

 

I was gobsmacked when I first saw the legend on the VERTICAL SIDE of the hangar at Champaign - I thought of the programming skills I'd need to do that ! (and then I found those open ended hangars in California to fly through). I thought that the programmer must have been a genius to be able to code that ! I think it said 'Avitar' or something similar.

 

So I did a lot of travelling - to a shop 30 miles away in Manchester, UK to buy the scenery disks...Klamath Falls and others. Boy, did I feel cheated when all I could find was river lines/VORs and nothing else....

 

..but I still love flying those circuits around Meigs. And when 5.1 came out - with those 'square' clouds...wow.

 

Regards

Bill

Quick question - do you pronounce it 'Megs' or 'Meegs'?

 

I've never heard it spoken...

 

Ian

do you pronounce it 'Megs' or 'Meegs'?

 

Depends on whether you're from Chicago or from Oklahoma..... An Okie eats fried aigs for breakfast.

The difference in my expectations from fs98 to the monster I now have is, from the viewpoint I had then, unscaleable.

 

I used to sit at the O'Hare terminal and watch the default ai traffic come around the corner and park beside me and then depart and other ones replace them. The main one I remember (I think) was the Pacifica DC -9 or 727, not sure.

 

Being able to see with my imagination what was not on the screen required Charles Atlas type imagination muscles, ones that I still use today.

 

My palms still sweat when rotating (to the sound of grunting) a heavy tubeliner at maximum takeoff weight with only feet to spare, hoping that the laws of physics still work!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ryJSZWKVXX4

 

Thank goodness that this is a confidential thread!

 

Kind regards,

Chicago lost two treasures...perhaps more under Mayor Dic..er Richard. Meigs Field and the old Maxwell Street market. Any lovers of the blues or those who have seen the 'Blues Brothers' know where that is. It was a cultural treasure of art, music, and great food, lost forever.

 

A little tribute pic to both.

Meigs wasn't my first flight sim experience (that honor goes to whereever psion's simulator was supposed to be set), but it was certainly my first experience of flight sim on the PC via "MS Flight Simulator 3" (also my first and close to last, experience of flight sim on Mac, thanks to the unnumbered "MS Flight Simulator".

 

I remember hearing about the plans to close & bulldoze it, and being horrified, hard to believe that was 10 years ago now.

 

:Broken Heart:

 

<goes to ressurect the field, virtually at least, in FSX>

I used to love doing circuits around that airfield - and the flights to Champaign using the VORs.

 

At what point did the radio navigation come into being? I don't recall which version it was.

I remember, when I started to fly MSFS, I thought that's NYC... I dont know why :smile: Few years later, I realized Meigs Field is actually in chicago. :lol:

 

But, yea, there was a nice corridor from Meigs to KORD, so I practiced a lot in that area, you know,after Meigs take off just turn left and you are in final for KORD.

AHHH! Just found a youtube video of an actual RL landing at Meigs. Hope some of those who visited this topic earlier return to see this....

 

At what point did the radio navigation come into being? I don't recall which version it was.

 

According to my 'Flight Simulator' manual - I bought the program in 1986 on a 5 1/4" floppy (I keep the floppy on display in front of me) - the chart showing the VORs from Chicago down to Champaign shows they were included in the original FS 1.0.

 

This particular chart was on page 122 - the reverse side of the New York chart. It took me a while to 'visualise' the VORs and their effects on the needles before I mastered it. The chart is in excellent condition considering the use it got.

 

I recall having fun flying South until the bearing matched the runway heading then turning right to line up. Scenery was a little basic, but nevertheless very convincing when I found that the VORs were pretty accurate. I always used to marvel at how MS and Bruce Artwick got all this on a PC. I still do.

 

My manual is still in excellent condition - considering the use it got at the time. I won't be parting with that or the disk anytime soon.

 

Thanks for the video - aah memories. I wonder if anyone has a RW 747 landing at Meigs - if I could manage it in FS then it must be possible...

 

Regards

Bill