Flatland Flying 2. Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago

Flatland Flying 2. Green Bay, Milwaukee and Chicago
For Saturday, August 8, 2026
Michael MacKuen

We shall enjoy a summer afternoon flying over Wisconsin and northern Illinois. We start at Green Bay and visit Oshkosh, Madison, and Milwaukee before landing in Chicago and finishing with a quick helicopter tour of the Windy City.

This afternoon we begin at Green Bay. This is Wisconsin’s oldest city having been settled in the early 18^th century by French fur traders. By the 1800s it became a timber city and it remains a national center for paper production, especially tissue paper production. The city is especially known for the Green Bay Packers, the NFL franchise founded in 1919 by employees of the Acme-Indian Packing Company. This is the last of the “small city” members of the league and has over the years been one of the very most successful teams. It remains a community-owned team rooted in the relatively small city. Our departure here honors long-time AVSIM RTWR team member Roman Stoviak who passed away five years ago. We start from the Green Bay-Austin Straubel [KGRB] facilities of Jet Air which hosts the twice-monthly meetings of EAA Chapter 651 – whose active members included our aviation enthusiast friend Roman. [Location: Default Scenery Parking 40, Xwind Parking 4] After takeoff, we shall take a look at the Packers’ legendary Lambeau Field (Roman’s focus of attention on Fall Sundays) and then turn south.


Oshkosh

We proceed along the Fox River, over the cities of Appleton and Oshkosh to land at Wittman Regional [KOSH]. This is the annual summertime site of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (the 2026 event ended just last week). Over the seven days, the event typically hosts something like 700,000 people. With about 10,000 airplanes, the large number of aircraft movements during fly-in week make the FAA control tower temporarily the busiest in the world. If you install the appropriate freeware scenery package, you will get a taste of what the fly-in looks like.

We fly 61nm southwest toward Madison to land at Dane County Regional [KMSN]. After a moment, we take off for a quick tour of Madison city and the University of Wisconsin. We see first the Wisconsin State Capitol. Then we circle over the campus to see UW Memorial Union and Library, Academic Buildings and Science Labs, and Residence Halls. And then Camp Randall Stadium (football) and the Kohl Center (basketball & hockey).

We head east across the rolling countryside to Waukesha County [KUES]. Then toward Milwaukee on Lake Michigan. Historically settled by German immigrants and the center of German American culture, Milwaukee was famous as the 19^th and 20^th century national leader in beer production led by the Miller, Pabst, and Schlitz breweries. It was also known for its strong labor movement and its support for American socialism.  Our first tourist sight is the Harley-Davidson headquarters and old factory and then quickly the Molson Coors corporate offices and the traditional Miller Brewery. And then the Milwaukee Brewers’ American Family Field (Brewers NL baseball). Flying east, we pass over Marquette University and the Fiserv Forum (NBA & NCAA basketball). Then down State Street through downtown to the lakefront. Turning inland over the dramatic Milwaukee Art Museum, we mark the river-side Harley-Davidson Museum before heading south to land at Milwaukee Mitchell [KMKE].

We fly along the coast of Lake Michigan passing over the former industrial cities of Racine and Kenosha. Racine, home of Johnson Wax, has the distinction of two remarkable Frank Lloyd Wright designs. On the peninsula Wind Point we see Wingspread, once the home of HF Johnson and since 1960, a busy foundation conference center. At 14,000 sq ft, this was the largest and last of Wright’s Prairie style houses. And after passing over central Racine, we encounter the Johnson Wax Headquarters – also by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Administration Building and the Research Tower were completed separately. Both are remarkable award-winning designs.

We cross the border into Illinois and land at Waukegan National [KUGN]. This is a GA airport that has received a name upgrade. Next we circle around the edges of Chicagoland, visiting the small fields Campbell (C81) and Lake in the Hills (3CK) before passing over Elgin and its riverboat Grand Victoria Casino. The city is best known for its Elgin Watch Factory which was in the mid-twentieth century the best US producer of fine watches and the largest watchmaking plant in the world. We turn east to land at Schaumburg Regional [06C]. Originally a private airfield, the operation was purchased by the local government to prevent its being sold for real estate – an unusual occurrence.

Heading toward Chicago itself, we have somehow received permission to execute a low pass over O’Hare [KORD] before turning southeast to land at Chicago Midway [KMDW]. This was Chicago’s first major airport (and in the 1950s it was the nation’s busiest). The widespread adoption of transport jets necessitated a move of major airline operations to O’Hare in 1962. Midway continued its activity with regional airliners and regained its momentum in the 1980s when it attracted Southwest Airlines. Early this century, the airport received a major rebuild with a new terminal layout. Despite its limited size, Midway has become the essential second airport for Chicago and now serves 20 million passengers a year. After landing, we taxi to the Atlantic FBO on the southern edge of the square airport perimeter.

We now switch to helicopters to complete our tour. (Helicopters might be best but low-and-slow fixed wing aircraft will be fine.) We first fly to Meigs Field [KCGX] for a quick stop. On the way, we see the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Rate Field (White Sox AL baseball). And then we finish with a longer northern circuit before returning to Meigs Field. Here we get an aerial look at Shedd Aquarium, Grant Park, Lake Point Tower, Navy Pier, the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park Zoo, Belmont Harbor, Wrigley Field (Cubs NL baseball), Lincoln Park (trendy neighborhood), Cabrini Green, (former failed housing project), Michigan Avenue (the “Mag Mile” shopping), Tribune Tower, Wrigley Building, the Chicago River, Wolf Point, Union Station, the Willis Tower, (former Sears Tower and 1973-1998 world’s tallest building), the Loop (the central business district), the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History, and Soldier Field (Bears NFL football). We have dinner reservations at Topolobampo.

Documentation
The flightplan can be found here.

Aircraft
This Saturday is designed as a sightseeing tour for modestly fast GA aircraft that can cruise at about 150-160kts. Many aircraft may be suitable for this mission. I’ll choose the Black Square Commander 114 (in the stock N177AQ). As ever, please fly what you like.

Scenery
All of the airports are in the simulator. A few could benefit from a scenery addon. Recommended are the following. Thanks to the talented authors.

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh [KOSH].  tabletopANDROID
  This requires totof- aircraft library v4. Totof33120
Dane County [KMSN].  dulce1021
Waukesha County [KUES].  Windhover
Milwaukee Mitchell [KMKE]. IniBuilds Freeware
Waukegan National [KUGN].  pilotguy121a
Campbell [C81].  dantesmante
Lake in The Hills [3CK].  immenotyou
Schaumburg Regional [06C].  pilotguy121a
Chicago Midway [KMDW].  Adnan Arif (kingnothing75)

O’Hare [KORD] and Meigs Field [KCGX] are hand-crafted Microsoft-Asobo airports.
Good payware possibilities include Green Bay [KGRB] by Xwind and Chicago Midway [KMDW] by Drzewiecki Design. Also very good is Oshkosh Whitman [KOSH] by UK2000 though it does not represent the atmosphere of EAA AirVenture. (There are also payware renditions of O’Hare. But note that we merely fly-by the airport in this event.) The detailed Chicago Landmarks by Drzewiecki Design is very good – but it can interfere with the default Meigs Field. Workarounds are available, but may take some effort.

Temporarily, you can get the freeware package here. The package may also include freeware creations that are difficult to find. (Please check for duplicates of previously installed packages.) (If you don’t already have it, you can get totof- aircraft library v4 separately.)

Time and Weather
For takeoff on Saturday, set the simulator at 2:00pm local for August 8, 2026. We typically prefer real weather.

Multiplayer Particulars
Date and time: Saturday, August 8, 2026. 1800 UTC (2000CEST, 1400EDT, 1100PDT)
Where: RTWR Multiplayer Discord Channel
Microsoft Flight Simulator Multiplayer: South-East Asia server.

If you want to help others enjoy the multiplayer experience, don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer spreadsheet (linked here). Your courtesy will save others a lot of time and effort. Thanks!