How busy is Midway now?

[Huckster79]

How busy is Chicago Midway these days?

looking at a truck for my son and it’s close to midway- 3 hour drive vs a much shorter hop... plus it’s flying

I fly a lot for a tin can captain- 160hrs in last 12 months but most of its chasing burgers or long cross countries to the mountains- so I’m no daily radio pro but nor do I have a phobia...

just curious of how busy and complex instructions to get in and out wud be typical on a Sunday afternoon?

 

[Jim K]

We went up a couple weeks ago for an instrument xc. The instrument procedure was busy just because it's complicated, but traffic wasn't bad. Would've been simple vfr. Probably saw as many piston singles as southwest 737s.

This chart only goes out 16hrs, but it's interesting data and gives an idea of when it's busy and when it's dead: www.fly.faa.gov/aadc

If I recall correctly, landing fee was just a few bucks, Atlantic got $40 for using their ramp, waivable with purchase of 10gal of gas at $7.50ish. They actually charged me $0.50/gal less than they advertised, so it saved a couple dollars vs paying the fee and buying gas at home.

 

[CJones]

MDW isn't too difficult to get in/out of VFR or IFR - even with 'normal' traffic levels. IIRC, there is a 'river VFR route' that they may put you on to get you to a base/final for one a couple of the runways. The route is depicted on the terminal chart, but even that isn't much of a 'route' - nothing even remotely as complex as the NYC corridors. It's nothing like ORD or ATL where the big iron is stacked up behind each other as far as you can see the landing lights coming down the ILS.

The first time I flew in there (172), I tried to sound cool and talk as fast as I thought I should to keep up and the controller actually said "I couldn't understand what you said. You're talking too fast. Slow down and try again."