What happened to Megis Field?

[jrpilot]

What ever happened to Megis Field in Chicago?...It used to be the airport which all Microsoft Flight Simulator games began at...I saw a few photos of it around 4 months ago and all it is is a strip of grass?...Anyone from Chicago know what happened?

[Ben_M_K]

Yes...Well, kind of. The city tore it down. I also know that the AOPA(Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assosiation) sued the mayor big bucks for doing so.

Maybe someone else can give some more info than me.

[Hagar]

Read all about it. http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-1-157x.html

I'm sure Kevin (the Dread Pirate) can fill in the details.

[C]

Very sad story. Mayor Daley came off my Christmas card list a while back now...



Charlie

ps, sorry Doug

[Craig.]

While i dont like the way it was handled. I think some folks went waaay over the top in their responses. Lets face it some guy from france or New Zealand is hardly going to be effected enough by it to give the reponses i saw. Hell i doubt most people would have ever gone there.

[Nexus]

I'm with Craig on this one.
People went bananas when the mayor of Chicago announced the plans...but hey I really don't care. The airport was a waste of space, and I'm positive the land can be used for a better purpose.  8)

I'm sure some posters will flame me over this one  ;D

[ozzy72]

It was more how Mayor Daley did it than what he did that caused outrage in the flying community. I mean JCBs in the middle of the night smacks of dodgy-dealings...

[Craig.]

like i said, i didnt agree with the way it happend

[beefhole]

Yeah, reading about it it sounds like a dispicable act. The fact that no notice was given is not only wrong and in violation of FAA rules, but is downright dangerous. And when asked about the aircraft stranded there, the only answer pilots get is "it's your problem"? Hey, backstab one or two people in the back, that's politics.  This dude stabbed EVERYBODY in the back. Unbelievable.

[Hagar]

ps, sorry Doug

No need to apologise. Note that I made no comment.

Meigs meant very little to me but this could easily happen to Shoreham or any other local airfield. I know how that would make me feel. Many private fields in the UK operate under severe restrictions now & it would only take a few complaints to close them permanently. . There was a rumour going round at the 2004 show that future Biggin Hill displays could be at risk due to housing developments - & so it goes on.

This site does not seem to have been updated for a while. http://www.airfields.org.uk/news/index.htm

[C]

Rochester was another one that comes to mind, although it was interesting (particularly in todays NIMBY soceity) that local public opinion won the debate, and the airfield has been reprieved (for now at least) from being another boring science park (industrial estate...)

Charlie

[Eskimo]

Read all about it. http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-1-157x.html

Looking at those pictures, it seems that the planes would be ble to depart via the taxiway, it's as long and nearly as wide as the runway and has no damage to it at all.

[Craig.]

they did use the taxiway, but they wernt happy about it.

[chomp_rock]

I remember when it first happened some of my friends at the airport got 8X10" pictures of mayor Daley (don't ask me where ) and put them on the wall for dart targets. The pictures are still up but have 1,000s of holes in them.

[legoalex2000]

yeah, i never liked Mayor Daley after that. the oly thing worse than tearing down a simulation staple in reality is it happening on my birthday, March 31

Me and My uncle now have hangar space at palwaukee