Meigs Fields A Flight Simulator Icon Since the inception of Flight Simulator, Meigs Field has been the airport where millions of virtual flyers have learned to fly. Can I be so bold as to say that more users have learned to fly at KCGX than any other airport in the virtual world? Over the years when visiting Chicago, I would sometimes drive over to Meigs just to see what was going on. I've been to several Meigs Field Open Houses and Fly-Ins. I've picked up flyers from its small passenger terminal. I have had picnic lunches on the Adler Planetarium lawn as I watched the planes approach from the North, fly over my head and the parking lot behind me and land on runway 18. It's an exhilarating experience. As you can tell, I've grown very fond of Meigs. As a fairly frequent flyer, I often travel from Grand Rapids through the United Airlines hub in Chicago - O'Hare. Quite often, my connector plane flies right over Meigs on the way to or from O'Hare. When I have a camera handy (almost always), I snap a photo or two of Meigs from the air so I can compare it to my Flight Simulator experience. I've accumulated quite a collection of Meigs photos. I took my most recent picture of Meigs on my way home from San Francisco in late March. This photo shows how the "island airport" (it's built on a man-made island) sits adjacent to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium in one of the most exciting parts of downtown Chicago. click to enlarge Meigs Fields from 8,000 feet taken March 23, 2003 On March 31, 2003 just a few days after I took this photo, the city of Chicago began demolition of Meigs. In the middle of the night, several bulldozers were moved onto the tarmac and several hours later they started tearing up the runway. For several years now, there has been a standing battle over the fate of Meigs. Now as its apparent demise is near, various groups: Friends of Meigs (see below), AOPA and several governmental agencies are working to reverse the demolition and keep Meigs alive. Personally, I hate to see Meigs go, but I'm not qualified to judge the pros and cons of the politics and budgets of cities, airports and parks. I do however think that Mayor Dailey and his office should have had the decency to use the "normal" political process to handle the controversy rather than the "so-called stealth" method to close the airport. Regardless of the outcome of these political fighting, we can be secure to know that we can still fly into and out of Meigs with Flight Simulator. Meigs Field - Chicago (KCGX) Latitude: N41 51.5' Longitude: W087 36.5 ATIS 127.35 UNICOM 122.95 18/36 3895' x 150' HIRL Click to enlarge  Hopefully, Meigs will remain a part of the next release of Flight Simulator ... please Microsoft. ************************************* This article was written by Arnie Lee. Please send comments and/or feeback regarding this article to Arnie via email Read other articles in FS Free Press

City Uses Storm-Troop Tactics to Trash Meigs Friends of Meigs to City: “For homeland security, closing Meigs is the riskiest thing possible” visit Friends of Meigs website March 31, 2003. Chicago, IL – The City of Chicago today used surprise and shock tactics to start demolishing Meigs Field, the world-renowned airport serving downtown, ripping up runway without notice in the dark of night under police guard. “We are in shock,” said Rachel Goodstein, president of the Friends of Meigs Field. “The City of Chicago had agreed to keep Meigs Field open until 2026,” she said, citing a December 2001 agreement between Mayor Daley and Governor Ryan. “This smacks of totalitarianism,” said Goodstein. “It is nothing but an unmitigated land grab.” The demolition came without warning, when dozens of heavy earth-movers descended on Meigs shortly after it closed at 10:00 P.M. Sunday night. The Friends of Meigs only received warning via news media inquiries. When Friends of Meigs representatives tried to visit the airport to talk to officials about the situation, they were turned away from the area by armed police. “We understand that the City is trying to use ‘homeland security’ as an excuse to destroy Meigs without notice,” said Goodstein. “Of all of the possible things they could do, that’s the worst possible for public security. If there is a security issue at an airport, you work with the users to resolve it in the least disruptive manner, you don’t destroy millions of dollars of taxpayer property.” The Friends of Meigs Field have repeatedly pointed out that—not only does Meigs Field regularly handle medevac flights and air-sea rescue operations for the lakefront and downtown high rises—it also is the facility responsible for control of all air traffic over downtown Chicago. “Meigs Field is what protects us from what the Mayor fears,” said Goodstein. “If he wants better airspace security, he should encourage MORE people to use Meigs.” Meigs Field’s control tower controls all traffic within 4 ½ miles of downtown Chicago. Also, since September 11, 2001, security has been tighter at Meigs than at any other small airport in the state. The U.S. House Subcommittee on Aviation held hearings in Washington on general aviation. The attack on Meigs Field dominated the testimony: Chairman Mica (Florida): Suggested that the action may have ramifications for Chicago's future transportation funding requests, saying "It is pretty difficult to sit up here and listen to requests for additional infrastructure when destruction like that is taking place." Ranking Member DeFazio (Oregon): Suggested that the troops of Iraqi Freedom practice repairing airports by starting on Meigs Field (Video) Representative Boswell (Iowa): The destruction of the Meigs runway is "unprecedented and, in my view, illegal." (Video) Representative Hayes (North Carolina): "Outrageous" (Video) Airplane Owners and Pilots Association president Phil Boyer presented a comprehensive presentation on Meigs, saying that never had AOPA received such an outpouring of e-mails and letters, not even after the national airspace was closed following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (AOPA presentation) Meigs damage repair cost estimates: AOPA: $300,000 to $500,000 City: (verbal estimate:) $30,000,000 (More like the cost of a whole new runway from scratch) Whom do you trust? Representative Lipinski (D, Chicago): "AOPA should not give hope that Meigs can be reopened." (Pardon us, Rep. Lipinski, for respectfully disagreeing..)  * This information was taken from the Friends of Meigs Field Assocation website Read other articles in FS Free Press