August 29, 2025Aug 29 Earlier this week, I had to make a couple of (road) trips from the Southwestern Suburbs of Chicago to its Northeastern Suburbs, across a distance of about 50 miles, taking me 1 hr 15 mins of travel time (see shot #3 below for the Roadway Route map from nearby 1C5/Clow International Airport to the town of Evanston, Illinois). In my recent memory, I have not travelled any ~1,000-mile trips...🙂...so, these miniscule road trips, seem to cause me as much excitement (and seem as much of a challenge) ...🙂..., these days, as one of those extra-long roadway trips of the past (not counting the even more miniscule ~ (2-3) mile trips to the grocery stores on a daily basis). I took I-55 Interstate Highway North, from near my neighborhood, heading in a northeasterly direction (as I-55 angles in this part of Chicago), straight to the Lake Michigan coastline, with I-55 passing just south of the Chicago downtown. Interestingly, I-55 originates in Chicago and runs south, for ~1,000 miles, all the way to New Orleans (btw, a road trip that I had completed with ease...in my relatively younger days...🙂...). This week, however, I drove north on I-55 to the point where it meets (and ends in) the Lake Shore Drive (which is part of U.S. Route 41). The Lake Shore Drive, as the name suggests, hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline, running north-south, past the Chicago Skyline, and ends just north of the Chicago Downtown, nearabout Evanston, my destination (while U.S. Route 41 continues north towards Michigan). So, I drove about 50 miles, after catching I-55 near my neighborhood, travelling straight to the Lake shore, then picking up the Lake Shore Drive, heading straight up north, along the Lake, to the northernmost end point of Lake Shore Drive, near the town of Evanston, Illinois. For this flight, however, once I reached overhead of Evanston, I have turned west (i.e., inland) to finally land on Chicago O'Hare International Airport (KORD) - See my EFB MAP Route. On my route on I-55, I passed over KMDW (Midway) airport (see one screenshot) and then flew past the Chicago Downtown Skyline (with PG off). It was an interesting experience today, viewing from overhead, the same passage as I'd just accomplished earlier this week, but on the roads. Regarding the aircraft of my choice, I've selected this (Reims-Cessna) F406 Caravan II, a turboprop twin, rendered in the SIM by Microsoft/iniBuilds. I'd actually acquired this a/c from MSFS2024 Marketplace a while ago, along with the Microsoft/Carenado C404 Titan and the Microsoft/Carenado C408 Sky Courier. However, this C406 Caravan was sitting in melancholy...de-streamed in My Library due to my sheer negligence of it...🙂...It is a nice a/c to fly albeit with somewhat primitive avionics suite (imagine e.g., the vertical speed control wheel below the pedestal...🙂...see one pedestal shot). The airframe of the F406 might remind you of the Cessna C404 Titan, on which it's based, but, instead of the piston power of the C404, the F406 is equipped with the (elite) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A series (turboprop) powerplants. Moreover, there is also resemblance of this fuselage to that of the good old (turboprop) utility a/c C208 Caravan, but, unlike the C208, the F406 is twin-engined, specifically developed to meet the stricter European (commercial) IFR regulations which often require multi-engine aircraft. Thanks for viewing this collection of images from my flight today in the comfort and convenience of the F406 Caravan, that tracked the near identical route as the one I'd taken earlier on the ground...in a motor vehicle...accompanied by the (non-stop) hustle and bustle of Chicago traffic... 🙂... Thanks for viewing...!
August 29, 2025Aug 29 Ah, Chicagoland. Easy to get lost, I would imagine, if you're driving and even more so if you're flying. I visited my aunt and uncle in Glen Ellyn (I believe it was 🙂) many, many years ago and doubt if I could ever find my way back. 🙂
August 29, 2025Aug 29 I live in Elgin and work in Schaumburg. Ugh, the traffic is unrelenting. Cheers, Pete Pete Solov - Lake in the Hills 3CK and Schaumburg Regional 06CProud AOPA Member - PPL 2001Real World Piper Cherokee Pilot
August 30, 2025Aug 30 Author Folks (Chicagoans and visitors...🙂...): Thanks for the responses. 14 hours ago, badaboom said: Splendid Series Appreciated the kind words...! KPWK airport ...🙂...I probably whizzed past your neighborhood...🙂...Actually, I almost thought of landing in KPWK, it being closest to my RW destination of Evanston, but the more familiar O'Hare beckoned me away...🙂... 8 hours ago, John F said: Ah, Chicagoland. Easy to get lost, I would imagine, if you're driving and even more so if you're flying. I visited my aunt and uncle in Glen Ellyn (I believe it was 🙂) many, many years ago and doubt if I could ever find my way back. 🙂 Thank you, John. Sorry, Glen Ellyn seems to have disappeared when I shrunk the map in my shot #3...🙂...It's actually located in between Wheaton and Lombard on that image... 9 hours ago, PilotPete99 said: I live in Elgin and work in Schaumburg. Ugh, the traffic is unrelenting. Cheers, Pete Thanks for the comment, Pete. Tough traffic indeed on your daily passage...
August 30, 2025Aug 30 Beautiful set of shots, i particularly like the pictures of flying over cities and marinas.. Well done ! cheers 😉 08.2024 new PC is online : ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard, AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG 3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2 - now Windows11 Prof. 25H2 Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff, Winwing CDU Panels.
August 31, 2025Aug 31 Author On 8/30/2025 at 12:51 AM, pmplayer said: Beautiful set of shots, i particularly like the pictures of flying over cities and marinas.. Well done ! cheers 😉 Thanks for the comment, pmplayer. Appreciated...! Yes, those (Chicago) cityscape locales look fine here, but are captured with PG Off...🙂...I did dare to turn PG on for a minute while passing over there but did NOT like what I saw...🙂...I think it's probably an Xbox thing. I've had rarely acceptable graphic rendition with PG on (they appear melted and apocalyptical...🙂...). And, of course, here, I know exactly how many of those skyscrapers look like in RW...🙂... (passed right by them earlier this week) ...they do NOT look like what is shown in my images. Oh well, still, better than melted ... I recall though that you've had good success in (MSFS2020) around major city areas with PG on. Cheers...!
August 31, 2025Aug 31 Author On 8/30/2025 at 12:51 AM, pmplayer said: Beautiful set of shots, i particularly like the pictures of flying over cities and marinas.. Well done ! cheers 😉 Thanks for the comment, pmplayer. Appreciated...! Yes, those (Chicago) cityscape locales look fine here, but are captured with PG Off...🙂...I did dare to turn PG on for a minute while passing over there but did NOT like what I saw...🙂...I think it's probably an Xbox thing. I've had rarely acceptable graphic rendition with PG on (they appear melted and apocalyptical...🙂...). And, of course, here, I know exactly how many of those skyscrapers look like in RW...🙂... (passed right by them earlier this week) ...they do NOT look like what is shown in my images. Oh well, still, better than melted ... I recall though that you've had good success in (MSFS2020) around major city areas with PG on. Cheers...!
Create an account or sign in to comment