Advice: Flying through O’Hare Bravo VFR

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Nixus

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Nixus
Hello,

Long time lurker and fairly new poster. Newish PPL holder. Have done the Chicago skyline flight many times departing from KJOT, flying through the Midway Charlie north up the coast then turning south to retrace my tracks and heard back home.

I would like to do the styling flight and take a (non-pilot) friend along, then head to Schaumburg for a meal at Pilot Pete’s for a meal before returning to Joliet. Curious as to the best way to do this.

The easy way would be to do the same north/south flight through Midways airspace, then head VFR to Schaumburg. Also debating trying to get a transition through the O’Hare bravo. Curious on your thought on the latter option; frankly it would be neat to fly in the Bravo and near ORD. Any and all comments/advice is appreciated. Thanks all!!
 
You won’t get cleared into the B...the approach path for the east runways passes right over the top of 06C. If on west flow, then it’s the same problem, except the heavy metal is going the other way as departures.

You can follow the Eisenhower westbound from downtown low level under the B and north of the MDW C to 06C, Chicago Approach will give you flight following on 133.5 once you’re northwest of MDW’s airspace.
 
It is highly unlikely you will get a VFR clearance thorough ORD class B. Even when I go IFR, I get routed around the class B. Going through MDW class C should be doable, but they can also get very busy depending on the time of day. Best option is to go straight from JOT under the shelf.

What is a styling flight? Is there a salon on the field :)
 
As others have mentioned, clearance through the ORD Bravo airspace is a rare privilege. In the past six months, it happened twice for me (once I asked and was given; once it was offered without me asking; both VFR; both at the fringe of the Bravo sector I was in and never near the actual airport).

If you are on FF with Chicago Approach they may hand you off to KMDW tower (135.2) for a transition. The tower may offer you to fly over runway 31C if they are landing/departing runways 4/22. You may also take the "Eisenhower transition", i.e., fly to Monroe harbor, then turn west and follow I290 for a while, then direct 06C.

If you are offered to overfly KMDW over runway 31C, you'll be probably given an altitude restriction between 1200 and 2000. Level off at 1500 and enjoy the view of that amazing airport.

But don't keep your hopes up to fly to Montrose Harbor and then given an east/west transition to 06C over KORD. At that point, you'll be sent around KPWK's Delta (or through it) and around the surface sector of the Bravo, to Schaumburg.

Of course, you can fly direct from KJOT to 06C but the route is not as scenic as the lakeshore. Your best bet would be VFR from KJOT to the mouth of the Calumet River, below 1900', then up the shoreline, then Eisenhower to 06C. (Mallard Lake to the southwest of 06C is a good reference point for your 45-entry into left downwind for runway 29 -- the airport's preferred runway in calm conditions).

Here're three photos from yesterday's entrance to the Eisenhower transition as I flew back from KJVL to 06C via the shoreline.


Flight of 08DEC18 with JB in N866US 00008.png Flight of 08DEC18 with JB in N866US 00009.png Flight of 08DEC18 with JB in N866US 00010.png
 
From those photographs, it is easy to see how much closing CGX enhanced the safety of all Chicagoans.
 
SCCutler said:
From those photographs, it is easy to see how much closing CGX enhanced the safety of all Chicagoans.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Now we are flying at the level of the 66th floor of Sears instead of the 67th :)

And although the final product is actually good (ie, the public space, concert venue, and lakefront park that was created where Meigs once stood), the process of the airport's demise remains a stain in the history of the city.
 
Ravioli said:
A stain on Chicago? C'mon. An airport closure is nothing for that place.
Click to expand...

The lawless way that it happened is a stain.

Personally, I won't go out on the island. They didn't really clean it up well, do you know how much concentrated lead must be in that soil from all the avgas that was dumped on the ramp for all those years? Shouldn't be anyone out there.
 
My social commentary on Chicago is that the way that airport disappeared pales in comparison to the way the city has been run to it's current condition.
 
Good luck getting through the Bravo VFR. I've never been able to go though it even IFR.
 
Nixus said:
I would like to do the styling flight and take a (non-pilot) friend along, then head to Schaumburg for a meal at Pilot Pete’s for a meal before returning to Joliet. Curious as to the best way to do this.
Click to expand...

Do what you've always done, then just keep going until you're north of the KPWK Delta and go to 06C from there. Reverse it for the return trip. Personally, I think that doing the skyline by day on the way to dinner and again by night on the way home is one of life's great privileges.

I hope she enjoys the flight. ;)
 
It may be quicker to just go ‘around’ anyway. With flight following you often get vectors around the worst of the traffic. If just slipping through around the edges you can leave maybe a mile & 200’.

I was coming by ORD about a month ago, FF up from KY way, 9:30 at night. Even asking nicely, early, it was a no-go. I have no hard feelings about it, busy airspace. My usually M.O. is to fly low, East of KDPA. That works fine for me, when the lakefront doesn’t make sense.
 
Nixus said:
Hello,

Long time lurker and fairly new poster. Newish PPL holder. Have done the Chicago skyline flight many times departing from KJOT, flying through the Midway Charlie north up the coast then turning south to retrace my tracks and heard back home.

I would like to do the styling flight and take a (non-pilot) friend along, then head to Schaumburg for a meal at Pilot Pete’s for a meal before returning to Joliet. Curious as to the best way to do this.

The easy way would be to do the same north/south flight through Midways airspace, then head VFR to Schaumburg. Also debating trying to get a transition through the O’Hare bravo. Curious on your thought on the latter option; frankly it would be neat to fly in the Bravo and near ORD. Any and all comments/advice is appreciated. Thanks all!!
Click to expand...

Bribe a Controller. Paging @Radar Contact :)
 
VFR I haven't even tried, I go over DPA on the west side or up the Lakeshore on the east or over the top. Oddly, C90 has no problem providing radar services even if it means they have to hold ORD departures from climbing through my altitude when at 10,5. Don't know why a lower altitude THROUGH the airspace wouldn't be easier.
 
flyingron said:
VFR I haven't even tried, I go over DPA on the west side or up the Lakeshore on the east or over the top. Oddly, C90 has no problem providing radar services even if it means they have to hold ORD departures from climbing through my altitude when at 10,5. Don't know why a lower altitude THROUGH the airspace wouldn't be easier.
Click to expand...
Simple. Higher separation standards.
 
It's interesting how much more difficult it can be getting cleared through bravo in other locations. I've flown into St. Paul's Holman Field vfr multiple times, coming from the SW I almost always get cleared into bravo right over the top of MSP. They keep me at 4000', then drop you down quickly into KSTP. Awesome views, seeing the big iron coming in below you! Part of it is I don't think any of the normal approaches into MSP come from the SW, plus MSP I'm sure has a lot less traffic. I think I've only had to remain clear of bravo a handful of times either arriving or departing.
 
MarkZ said:
Simple. Higher separation standards.
Click to expand...

That is to say that there isn't any separation provided in the overlying class E. Of course, having to tell all the airliners to hold their climbs at 9000 because there's traffic at 10,500 takes effort as does dealing with an airliner who calls in to say he's had to descend counter to the ATC instructions because his TCAS gave him an RA.

If he was providing separation services, inside the class B has LESS of a standard than outside.
 
It’s easy to miss a guy at 10,500 and get all of the arrivals to 10,000 and below as well as stop a few departures at 9000. There is little incentive to add the responsibility of class B sep to the controller (actually, several controllers as they cross the airspace), double the traffic calls, increase coordination, etc....so anyone that wants can go over the top of O’Hare at 8 or 9000 feet.
 
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