chicago?

J

jesse

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
16,012
Location
...
Display Name
Display name:
Jesse
Basically I'm looking for a new interesting place to fly to and impress a girl :D

Chicago sounds like it may have some potential, but I really don't know the area at all. Infact I'm not sure I've ever been to IL in my entire life.

What airport would be good, and anyone know of a somewhat decent place to eat there.. Preferably something with the "local" feel. My defination of nice place to eat is basically something of the Applebees level.

It's too bad there is no Meigs....

Thanks

Jesse
 
jangell said:
Basically I'm looking for a new interesting place to fly to and impress a girl :D

Chicago sounds like it may have some potential, but I really don't know the area at all. Infact I'm not sure I've ever been to IL in my entire life.

What airport would be good, and anyone know of a somewhat decent place to eat there.. Preferably something with the "local" feel. My defination of nice place to eat is basically something of the Applebees level.

It's too bad there is no Meigs....

Thanks

Jesse
Click to expand...

Chicago isn't a cool place to fly BECAUSE there is no Meigs. Why spend money in a place like that....

Hop the lake and go to Traverse City or Macknac Island instead, great resturants and people who don't tear up cool historic airports.

Missa
 
Last edited:
I think you'll pay a ramp fee at any FBO at Palwaukee. It's a long drive to town from there anyway.

You can land at Midway, rent a car from Millionaire for $25 or, better, get a ride to the Orange line station and take the 'L' downtown. You don't want to have to pay for parking a car in the city. It can cost nearly $20.
http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/rail/rail.html

You can do the same with landing at Schaumburg and taking the Metra train.
http://metrarail.com/Sched/md_w/mdw_wki.shtml
Take a CTA bus or a cab from Union Station. It's a walk of a mile or so to State Street. It's two to three miles to Michigan Avenue.

Downtown, you can tour the windows at Marshall Field's for the last time (soon to be Macy's). There's a German Christmas fest next to the Chicago Christmas Tree in Daley Plaza across the street. ESPN Zone, Nike Town, American Girl, Disney Store, etc on Michigan Avenue. Navy Pier has "The Polar Express" on Imax 3D and the Winter Wonderland for kids.
 
jangell said:
Basically I'm looking for a new interesting place to fly to and impress a girl :D

Chicago sounds like it may have some potential, but I really don't know the area at all. Infact I'm not sure I've ever been to IL in my entire life.

What airport would be good, and anyone know of a somewhat decent place to eat there.. Preferably something with the "local" feel. My defination of nice place to eat is basically something of the Applebees level.

It's too bad there is no Meigs....

Thanks

Jesse
Click to expand...

Come into Schaumburg Airport and go to Pilot Pete's.

If you want go somewhere else like downtown Chicago think about 3CK or 10C. 3CK is close to my house but 10C has cheaper gas and free tie downs (at least right now), it is where I am hangered at. If you come into either of those I can pick you up and deliver you to the train station that will bring you to downtown.
 
Oh wow.

I found a GREAT place to fly to this summer. I was looking on google maps and found it..apperantly its called Chambers Island.

island.JPG


It's in the green bay.

Notice the dirt runway with the beach on the north side.

Runway 2/20

Dimensions: 1200 x 40 ft. Surface: gravel, in poor condition

http://www.airnav.com/airport/30WI
Sounds like an adventure!


Now tell me that wouldn't be PERFECT.. Fly there in the summer.. Camp by your airplane or something... Watch the sunset on this island....women love that kind of stuff....

And thanks for the offer smigaldi, If I decide to go I'll try to get ahold of you :)
 
Last edited:
I've flown over that a few times. Kinda hard to see the sunset looking.........north! And you may want to check your rental agreement before going into a GRAVEL strip.
 
On the north side of the island there is a part that extends north..basically it's a "bay".. You could walk the beach up to that and watch the sun set on the west.

Microsoft has much better satalite images then google..Take a look
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=45.197172~-87.360704&style=h&lvl=14

I'm sure the "gravel" is more of a "dirt" or fine gravel. I'd obviously give the owner a phone call.

1200 feet of dirt or fine gravel is more then enough. I could put a 172 or a 150 down in there all day long.

I was also do a low level run of the runway to look at it, But judging by the fact that there was pictures of low wing pipers there. It must not be all that bad.

Or I could take a Super Cub.
 
Last edited:
Wow, that looks like fun! If you want to see the sunset just pack a back pack and hike it over to the west side and set up camp there. You don't HAVE to camp next to the airplane.

Missa
 
I would check to see what it would cost you to park an airplane at MDW for a few days, if that is how long you intend to stay. The train downtown would be probably the best and least expensive option. Lots to do downtown. Having said that I rarely ever go there.

C09, Morris is southwest of Chicago and has a resturant on the field.
06C, Shaumburg, is just west of Chicago, as has been previously mentioned, you can get the train into the city. There is a restaurant on the field as well.
PWK, Palwaukee, is close to Chicago, but AFAIK, no easy access to rail to Chicago. There is, however a 94th Aero Squadron restaurant on the field.
http://search.centerstage.net/patronreviews/pr.cfm?ID=18&start=11&which=place

There are several restaurants of the "Applebee's" style within a mile or two of MDW. Giordano's http://www.giordanos.com/ is a popular Pizza place at the SE corner of the field, there is a Friday's http://www.tgifridays.com/ about 3/4 mile south. I think there is a "cable car looking" shuttle bus that will take you down there.
 
jangell said:
On the north side of the island there is a part that extends north..basically it's a "bay".. You could walk the beach up to that and watch the sun set on the west.

Microsoft has much better satalite images then google..Take a look
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=45.197172~-87.360704&style=h&lvl=14

I'm sure the "gravel" is more of a "dirt" or fine gravel. I'd obviously give the owner a phone call.

1200 feet of dirt or fine gravel is more then enough. I could put a 172 or a 150 down in there all day long.

I was also do a low level run of the runway to look at it, But judging by the fact that there was pictures of low wing pipers there. It must not be all that bad.

Or I could take a Super Cub.
Click to expand...

And you could probably get the C150/172 into ground effect for a take off with 2 people that you'd like to remember all life long before the water if temp, wind, weight, & technique etc. were good enough...
 
Last edited:
Well. Looks like chicago is out for awhile.

I lost $475 to the indians last night

(not me. I don't gamble.. but had to save a family members @#@ and pay their house payment)
 
jangell said:
I found a GREAT place to fly to this summer. I was looking on google maps and found it..apperantly its called Chambers Island.
Click to expand...

Jesse,

Note that Chambers Island is private - They may not let you land there. In addition, rentals that allow landings on non-paved runways are quite rare, check where you rent first.

However, all is not lost - Another one in the area I want to make a camping trip to is KISQ, Schoolcraft County in the UP. I've driven past it several times. The stars up there are stunning! (So are the bugs during the summer - Might want to make it a spring/fall trip.) They do allow camping on the field, and it's just a short walk from the beach.

If you really want to do the island thing, aka the "gotta be a pilot to get here" type of thing, you could also try Madeline Island, 4R5.

Enjoy your trip, and be sure to write it up! :yes:
 
mackinac island is pretty cool too. call for a taxi, and it walks right up!
 
flyingcheesehead said:
However, all is not lost - Another one in the area I want to make a camping trip to is KISQ, Schoolcraft County in the UP. I've driven past it several times. The stars up there are stunning! (So are the bugs during the summer - Might want to make it a spring/fall trip.) They do allow camping on the field, and it's just a short walk from the beach.

If you really want to do the island thing, aka the "gotta be a pilot to get here" type of thing, you could also try Madeline Island, 4R5.

Enjoy your trip, and be sure to write it up! :yes:
Click to expand...

I refueled at ISQ on the return from my trip to Mackinac Island in March - the one where it was still WINTER up there when it wasn't when I left. I got stranded due to lake effect snow over Lake Superior.

ISQ has a typical FBO. Like you said it's right on that Lake Michigan Tour road. I did that around the lake trip after Oshkosh one year.
 
Last edited:
flyingcheesehead said:
Jesse,

Note that Chambers Island is private - They may not let you land there. In addition, rentals that allow landings on non-paved runways are quite rare, check where you rent first.

However, all is not lost - Another one in the area I want to make a camping trip to is KISQ, Schoolcraft County in the UP. I've driven past it several times. The stars up there are stunning! (So are the bugs during the summer - Might want to make it a spring/fall trip.) They do allow camping on the field, and it's just a short walk from the beach.

If you really want to do the island thing, aka the "gotta be a pilot to get here" type of thing, you could also try Madeline Island, 4R5.

Enjoy your trip, and be sure to write it up! :yes:
Click to expand...

ISQ is pretty nice, I think the operators (husband/wife team IIRC) were friends of my folks, but I don't remember much of interest to a non-pilot. Madeline Is, OTOH has a lot to offer, at least in the summer time. If you can fit the pieces of a couple bicycles in the plane it's an easy ride into the town and harbor where you'll find a lot of touristy shops, some fair resturants, a museum, and a ferry to the mainland. The airport is generally unmanned.
 
Both of the FBO's I rent from allow landings on non-paved runways. The one is located at an airport that does not have a paved runway.

The other allows landings on non-paved with an endorsement from one of their CFI's which I received during my primary training.

Thanks for all the information guys.. Maybe in a few months i'll get to give one of these places a shot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top