is midway airport nice? (Chicago, Rockford: house, safe area, live)

[Drover]

St. Maarten seems like a piece-of-cake approach. Nice open water right up to the airport. What astounds me is the public access right behind the runway.

[Michael3512]

yeha it seems midway is in the midst of an urban area without much room. i live in long island, as JFK is in Queens, which is inner-cityish, but is like 10 times biigger than midway, so its easy to land, i've seen an aerial view of it, and it seems pretty tiny. all i remember is that o'hare has more space around it, and im assuming is much larger.

[rgb123]

I much prefer Midway, but I also prefer Southwest...and that is where they fly out of.

The cons: just that it is farther for me since I live in the north suburbs and yeah.....the fact that it is in fact a short run way surrounded by neighborhoods!!

But...it really is awe inspiring and I kinda love it. Though, hopefully they will figure out how to elongate the runway or form a more protective barrier to the street. It was very sad what happned to the little boy in that car.

I recently took the orange line for the first time....much nicer than expected, though I have not taken it at night. The walk from the baggage claim was not that long at all, and I was lugging two shoulder bags.

I do wonder though, the impression visitors would get of Chicago if flying into midway vs. flying into Ohare....when flying into Midway you see more of the older grittier Chicago. It is very interesting to me though I dont know if is what I would want to first show off to a visitor.

[Michael3512]

Originally Posted by rgb123

I much prefer Midway, but I also prefer Southwest...and that is where they fly out of.

The cons: just that it is farther for me since I live in the north suburbs and yeah.....the fact that it is in fact a short run way surrounded by neighborhoods!!

But...it really is awe inspiring and I kinda love it. Though, hopefully they will figure out how to elongate the runway or form a more protective barrier to the street. It was very sad what happned to the little boy in that car.

I recently took the orange line for the first time....much nicer than expected, though I have not taken it at night. The walk from the baggage claim was not that long at all, and I was lugging two shoulder bags.

I do wonder though, the impression visitors would get of Chicago if flying into midway vs. flying into Ohare....when flying into Midway you see more of the older grittier Chicago. It is very interesting to me though I dont know if is what I would want to first show off to a visitor.

i agree about southwest. im flying out of long island-macarthur in long island, ny to midway and there a great airline, very punctual. and i flew into ohare all i remember is driving on an expressway with a lot of gray houses, suburban-like. it was pleasant but crowded. btw, do u have any idea what area that is? its just masses of gray-brownish houses on the way from ohare to downtown.

[Manigault]

The best feat in landing I can recall is just five miles east of Midway (down the midway!). There's a 727 resting nicely inside the museum of science and industry. This large plane landed at Meigs Field (now Northerly Island) with a former UAL pilot at the controls and was trucked down Lake Shore Drive to 57th street.

The kicker is that on such a short runway, he had one chance. In order not to run off the end of the short tarmac, he had to have less speed than he needed to get off again. So he got one pass at it. Navy pilots land on carriers with enough juice to take off again but with this guy, if he didn't make it he was going in the lake!

Now, that guy had a set of cojones!

[prairiestate]

You can't beat Southwest.

The Orange Line is fine at any time, I actually prefer it at midnight. It seems like there are a lot of rowdy suburban youth earlier in the evening. Late at night, it's more people coming home from work, probably service jobs downtown, and it's pretty quiet.

I've often wondered myself the impression that the gritty southwest side makes to visitors, though arguably it's a nice slice of the real Chicago.

As for the Northwest side coming in from O'Hare, I'm not quite sure what you mean by gray house, I know that's not the actual color, though perhaps you just mean it's rather drab. That would encompass several neighborhoods like Jefferson Park and Irving Park, aka the bungalow belt.

There's a mirror image on the southwest side, around Midway. You get the same view on the Orange Line up to about Kedzie, then it's mostly industrial.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by mike3512

i agree about southwest. im flying out of long island-macarthur in long island, ny to midway and there a great airline, very punctual. and i flew into ohare all i remember is driving on an expressway with a lot of gray houses, suburban-like. it was pleasant but crowded. btw, do u have any idea what area that is? its just masses of gray-brownish houses on the way from ohare to downtown.

You pass through several areas from O'Hare to downtown, in the following order:

-The City of Rosemont (you're technically still in the Chicago city limits but on either side of the highway right-of-way is the city of Rosemont)

-The O'Hare neighborhood

-The Norwood Park neighborhood

-The Jefferson Park neighborhood

-A tiny sliver of the Portage Park neighborhood

-The Irving Park neighborhood

-The Avondale neighborhood

-The Logan Square neighborhood

-The West Town neighborhood (in particular, the West Loop area)

-And finally, Near West Side.

The layout starts out suburban in feel up by Rosemont and O'Hare, and gets progressively more urban/dense as you get closer to downtown.

[via chicago]

Originally Posted by Manigault

The best feat in landing I can recall is just five miles east of Midway (down the midway!). There's a 727 resting nicely inside the museum of science and industry. This large plane landed at Meigs Field (now Northerly Island) with a former UAL pilot at the controls and was trucked down Lake Shore Drive to 57th street.

The kicker is that on such a short runway, he had one chance. In order not to run off the end of the short tarmac, he had to have less speed than he needed to get off again. So he got one pass at it. Navy pilots land on carriers with enough juice to take off again but with this guy, if he didn't make it he was going in the lake!

Now, that guy had a set of cojones!

YouTube - 727 Landing Meigs Field, Chicago Museum Science and Industry

[eevee]

well, when you're riding the orange line in from Midway, you do get this awesome view of the city at that turn coming into 35th/Archer. I think the ride in from Midway is nicer than staring at the highway for most of the ride from O'Hare

[prairiestate]

Don't forget about the view you get starting at Halsted. And looking south from that point always astounds me. When I was a kid, it was all vacant lots from the Stevenson to Chinatown, now it's completely filled in with new housing. Then there is the turn up between State and Wabash, another abandoned area when I was kid, now the redevelopment is starting to creep past Cermak. I always did hate the subway, it's like adding the "HE" on to the EL. You're much better off on the Orange Line.