[My (virtual) flight endeavor today is marred by the sadness of today's 787 disaster and as an avid and frequent (SIM) flyer of my namesake 787 a/c, I am particularly affected by the substantial (and unthinkable) loss of lives. This event puts things in the perspective for us here when we tend to (sometimes) get carried away by our hobby (our virtual world is not (will never be) anywhere close to the RW in terms of stark realities and fateful consequences. Hope, the Root Causes of the accident are found soon...]

This post, here, today, was triggered by a curious coincidence that happened to me this past weekend (No, I did not travel from Chicago's South Side to Rome, in case you're wondering...🙂...). The summer in town is now in full swing (though at times it felt like it will take its own sweet time to materialize). Currently, it's already near mid-June, and barely two and half months later, I wouldn't be surprised to sense that first chill of fall (and dew drops on the grass) ...Oh well...time to enjoy the warmth (outdoors) as long as it lasts around here...

On a bright and sunny day this past week, I resumed my weekend (early) morning ritual of taking the 30 minutes of freeway to the Lake Michigan shoreline, and then enjoying a scenic drive, overlooking the Great Lake, past the Chicago skyline, on Lake Shore Drive (U.S. Route 41); my drive, usually terminating on the South Side at the Chicago Science Museum Campus (and that immaculate (UAL) Boeing 727-100 exhibit indoors...). From that point on Lake Shore Drive, the U.S. Route 41 would go on for another ~1,200 miles all the way to Miami, Florida.

However, in my outing on this occasion, I missed the correct turn-off from Lake Shore Drive and ended up roaming some of the interior neighborhoods (for a bit longer than I would have liked to, aka: I was lost...), as the trusty Garmin voice (reassuringly) tried to put me back on track. The Garmin MAP showed the (South) suburb neighborhood, I was in, as "Bronzeville". The name rang a bell for me since I'd recently read a bit of early childhood history of the current Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, who hails from the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, with his birthplace being "Bronzeville", the neighborhood where I was apparently lost...🙂... while driving my way south on Lake Shore Drive.

So, today, in my virtual world, I conjured up a trip originating from the South Side of Chicago...all the way to Rome...following the (historic) trail of the (supposed) Papal route...🙂...Initially, I thought of departing from KORD/O'Hare, but that didn't fully meet my criteria of being the "South Side of Chicago". O'Hare is actually located on the Northwest side of Chicago. Then KMDW/Midway Airport came to my mind, which, located about 8 miles further southwest from the Pope's birthplace, met my criteria of being in the South Side of Chicago. History is replete with ironic twists and here is one. The notorious American gangster Al Capone (of 1920s and 1930s) once also lived in the South Side of Chicago in the neighborhood of Park Manor, about 8 miles from the current location of Midway Airport. If you wish to know more about this bit of Chicago's South Side (Prohibition era) history; if you haven't, you may view the 1987 film, The Untouchables, also starring (Sir) Sean Connery, of the first James Bond (Dr. No) fame...🙂...

So, the "Bronzeville" and "Park Manor" neighborhoods of Chicago's South Side, only 3 miles apart from each other, and both (coincidentally) about 8 miles east of KMDW/Midway airport are marked down in history, associated with two significant personalities...at the opposite ends of human spectrum...one deserving the highest of merit and the other of demerit...

Anyway, decades ago, there was a period of my life, when I would often fly out from KMDW Airport taking the SWA 737 NGs (mostly the -700s). Those were the days (probably so even now), the (low-cost-carrier) SWA 737s from Midway were the choice of travel for the economically minded including the college student population travelling from and to Chicago, with backpacks for luggage. I would envy them, as it's always nice to travel by air with just a backpack...🙂...In fact, there was one (and only one) occasion when I'd myself travelled "long-haul" with just a backpack...no check-in luggage and no (other) cabin luggage (who needs those "unforgiving" (metallic) baggage "sizers" that Airlines use to check that your cabin luggage does not exceed their dimensions criteria...Lufthansa, I recall, was a stickler for it...🙂...) ...So, no fighting for space in the overhead bins, as my backpack got easily tucked under the front seat. And, on arrival at the (big) destination airport, I got to entirely bypass the luggage-claim carousels and zoom through the customs. Of course, this mode of travel severely limited what I could carry with myself...Oh well...

I have never driven the direct distance between the two (main) airports of Chicagoland (KMDW and KORD), nor have I flown it in my virtual world. So, my first flight today was from KMDW/Midway Airport in Chicago's South Side, in the MSFS/Asobo (Daher) TBM 930 (in the Kenmore Air colors of Kenmore, Washington). The extremely short (direct) flight distance is just about 15 miles (see MFD and EFB Maps). I've lifted off northward from Runway 31C/KMDW and landed on ILS Runway 04R/KORD. This flight is captured in my first 7 images below.

Then, for Chicago to Rome, I have deployed the MSFS/Asobo 747-8I (Pax), in the (classic) Alitalia livery (part of an MSFS2024 native repaint pack for the 747, I picked up in the Marketplace). Please note that the Italian National Airline, Alitalia, ceased operations a few years ago, in 2021, been taken over by ITA Airways. In 2015, it had introduced a new (modern-minded) livery, eliminating the classic green cheatline that ran along the fuselage of its a/c, for much of its history. This is the livery of my images below.

The (RW) Chicago/KORD to Rome/LIRF flight is 4,900 miles long, lasting about 9 hours. However, unfortunately, today, I could not simulate the complete flight, in spite of my best intentions. My attempts to recruit some Co-Pilot duties, from my Xbox Warrior-Games playing Teen, for the cruise phase of flight, met with (abject) rejection...Too boring and nothing to do...I was told...🙂...So, my (long-haul) portion of the pictures, below, show a lift-off from Runway 10L/KORD, climb to (FL350) cruise under LNAV/VNAV guidance (shot #s 8-15), and then a final approach and touchdown into ILS Runway 16R/LIRF (last 5 images).

For a bit of challenge, I've manually entered the route waypoints of the SimBrief Flight Plan directly on the EFB interface (see EFB) and then transferred the Route from the EFB into the FMC/Avionics of the 747-8. Hope you enjoy this collection of images from my 2 (B2B) flights today, one for just 15 miles in the TBM 930, and the other (symbolically) standing in for nearly 5,000 miles from Chicago to Rome...in the iconic colors of historic Alitalia (airline)...as I'm also thinking a bit more about the birthplace and childhood days of Pope Leo XIV...

Thanks for viewing...!

Nice captured, thanks for sharing !

cheers 😉

Thanks for the comment, pmplayer...! I recall you'd also flown the (old) Alitalia colors with one of your aircraft, a short while ago...

Cheers...!

Beautiful shots! 🙂 

23 hours ago, Alaska738 said:

Beautiful shots! 🙂 

Much appreciated the feedback note, Will...

Cheers...!