Why Chicago Secretly Bulldozed Its Own Airport Overnight
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มี.ค. 2022
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Video written by Adam Chase
weirdly the craziest part to me was that he did it to build a park. a evil mayor secretly destroying a park to build a private airport for the elite makes so much more sense.
it’s like an alternate version of who framed roger rabbit
Right? Doing all this to build a park for the public actually makes it pretty justified. Screw an elite private airport
Getting rid of an airport that annoyed him and replacing it with a park that would increase his own property value seems more expected though.
@@danieljensen2626 Sure, but it was a win for everyone else except the private airplane rich people. The question is why Republican governors cared so much for an airport that added little economic value to the state or city and sat on top of a hugely valuable piece of real state? Could it be it was a convenience for a dozen rich patrons? That sounds even more evil to me. I am glad they built that park.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
I love the fact that his whole nefarious goal was to build... a park. You know, the standard supervillain motivation -- public works improvement.
@changed view I didn’t miss it, I dodged it.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
Honestly yea, sure the guy totes was rly just doin it bcuz of the noise pollution that he disliked livin near but honestly his plan for it was a major good thing.
Change an eyesore on the landscape that generates noise pollution and mostly exists as a rich person's playground to go have fun while billowing tons of CO2 into the air for no reason other than bcuz they want to... into a park that is open to all residents and is situated in an area with rly scenic views and cool coastal air from the cool coastal waters to make it even more enticin of a park destination in hotter months.
As someone who hates noisy environments bcuz of a thing called auditory processing disorder and just the fact that too many or too loud of noises sends me into sensory overload and can cause me to just shutdown and cover my ears while in the fetal position... I for one wud welcome more airports being replaced with public parks.
Have you heard of Robert Moses? He is basically the Pengiun, except for parks and infrastructure.
Parks aren't free from harm. They're often used to block housing, block competition, and all sorts of NIMBYism.
Daly's primary goal was to shut down the airport to increase his property values.
The Park was there for PR cover
There was also a plane that had an emergency and landed on the grass by Meigs shortly after it got destroyed. The mayor then accused the pilot of purposely having an emergency to embarrass him and make him look bad.
That's ridiculous
@changed view SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM....sad life you have....SPAM, SPAM, SPAM…Glorious SPAM
@@hristosmourselas3939 is it really ridiculous?
Do I have to remind you of the time a TH-camr (allegedly) deliberately crashed his plane for cloud?
@@syxepop tell me does it have anything remotely to do with the topic of the closure of Meigs Field? No? Then what else is it but spam interjected into a conversation tree. Also leave the Muslim part out, I made no reference to that at all, that is your projection not mine.
@@AMD7027 - I saw the video (had to see it to DISLIKE it) and it seems they're really Muslim (not from a particular country) by the "vibe" it gives.
At least the BOT was not reading quotes from the Quran like a couple of SPAM LINKS I have seen. TO EACH ITS OWN....
(it is still NOT related to the theme at hand and still SPAM, I would denounce it even if it had Protestant or Catholic vibes, BTW)
"...Congress is basically a retirement home for obstructionists masquerading as a legislative body" ... Best HAI writing yet! 😆
The best jokes are based on truth.
@@jacobrzeszewski6527 Painful but 100% true
reality has put The Onion out of business in the jokes department
Right On Spot & they're living longer .
So damn true. And so sad that it's so damn true
The X’s on the runway are the standard method of indicating that a runway is closed and should not be used for flight operations. They need to be large in order to fill their intended purpose, which is to be seen by pilots during their approach and landing circuit. I’m a private pilot (though I haven’t flown in years)
EDIT: The Xs would normally be painted on, however as paint can be removed and a runway reopened, the mayor carved them in to permanently close the runway.
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
But closing a runway requires announcement, and the Xs are generally painted on, or crossed with plastic strips. It isnt dug out rendering the runway inoperable, especially not with no warning and aircraft still on the field.
so you 'were' a pilot ;-)
@@henk-3098 Just like I was a car driver because I'm not currently operating a motor vehicle.
You need to work on your definitions.
@changed view SPAM, no relevance at all, congrats on wasting peoples time...
Since you’re shitting on Daley, you should do an episode of how colossally bad the parking meter deal was. One of the worst deals in the history of government.
How about how Madigan finally got indicted?
@@RNAvirus Madigan finally got indicted?
Hallelujah!
@@cdvideodump
It was all over the news.
It seems that the career path of every Illinois politician is prison.
You don't have a name like Dick Daley and not use it to it's full potential!
I think this guy mixed up being a Cities Skylines mayor with being a real mayor.
"but look at all the green smiley faces! Clearly I done good!"
Also the only other place you're likely to find pilots being told to divert due to a mayor destroying their destination airport.
This was 2003. Back then, we pronounced it "Sim City."
Pulled a classic CPP move by invoking "eminent domain" lol.
I was obsessed with Microsoft flight sim in the 90s and aviation in general. My brother and I even started what turned into the second biggest virtual airline. It was called Meridian. Was around for a long time, i think up until like 2010. I joined the air force in 2001 and had no association after that.
@changed view 🖕🖕
@changed view 👎🏼
miscrosoft air simulator- secret usaf recruiting tool?
That's awesome. I was a virtual Captain with Meridian back in the day. Thanks for giving me a goal to achieve rather than just flying around with nowhere to go.
@@9HighFlyer9 nice that's awesome! Yeah I was obsessed with it. I'm excited that someone out there remembers it! It turned into a pretty big thing actually. But yeah a lot of time went into developing it. Looking back though, I'm actually quite proud of what we put together and what it became. I'm surprised it was around for a long as it was too.
Coming from the mayor who leased out the parking meters, the parking garages, and the skyway (a city owned tollway) so the city can't get any new money from any of that for the next 60 years, and the money from the initial leases are gone.
Our parking meters are owned by Abu Dhabi, the Skyway by Canada, and fuck if I know who owns all those parking garages I’ll never use a garage in this damn city.
At least he didn't say his D is the biggest in Chicago... at least that we know of.😄
@@skittlescat294 I bet every Chicago mayor has said this. Even Jane Byrne
60 years, I remember it being 99 years
@@timothylegg I believe the Skyway and garages were 99 year deals. I just found an article from when the deal for the meters was done, December of 2008 (couldn't remember when that was done), that was a 75 year deal, so there is 62 years left in that one specifically.
Imagine being on a flight and being told your landing was delayed because the airport was cancelled.
1:20 I can confirm as an Illinois resident not only is this statement accurate it’s well timed too with yet another IL politician getting indicted this week on 22 counts of racketeering.
Last week we also had a state senator resign to accept a federal plea deal on 40 counts of embezzlement!
Doesn't Illinois have a politician get indicted pretty much every week. LOL.
Yes Illinois is very corrupt, the funny thing is that I never even knew that Northerly Island is a park now despite passing it countless times to visit the museums in the area
The unofficial motto is, "Land where your politicians make your license plates."
Soooooo.. When you guys going to indite pritzker for something. Get that fucking crook out!
Fun fact. This was the least shady thing Daley did in office.
If a Chicago mayor one day orders a demolition crew to sneak into the park in the dead of night and carve a bunch of unsightly X shaped eyesores into it in order to build an airport there.. it will become a truly epic story.
I MUST RUN FOR MAYOR OF CHICAGO.
What park? There is no park there. The "park" was just a lie to try and generate sympathy.
@@HiddenWindshield Not sure what you are on about, but there very much is a park there.
@@CarthagoMike After some more research, it would seem that there are a few walking trails and a pavilion there. Not *nearly* what was promised by Daley, but enough of a park that I guess @Danny Pipe Wrench could carve some X's on it if they wanted.
@@dannypipewrench533 I WILL MOVE TO CHICAGO AND VOTE FOR YOU
As a young budding virtual pilot back in the day, I remember being devastated the day I saw a photo of the destroyed Meigs Field. RIP.
Given that it was destroyed on March 30, Microsoft should have kept the destroyed Meigs Field as the default (but unusable) runway as a yearly recurring April Fool's joke.
Destroying an airport without authorization and under cover of darkness, just because the crooked mayor doesn't like living next to an airport -- yeah, that sounds about right for Chicago politics.
An airport that made the city hundreds of millions of dollars that made the lakefront safer. Now I can fly right on the lakefront at 2,000' agl without talking to anyone.
I can't believe anyone is questioning this. Chicago has a sterling reputation of being above the board on everything, since long before prohibition.
@@RobertLBarnard LOL!
Just remember, if you talk about corruption that isn't at least 10 years old, you're a conspiracy theorist.
@@communismisadisease4498 bonespurs lost again!
Daley's explaination of "without the airport the city is safer" is a copout, and a horrid one at that. The airspace over Meigs Field, and by extension, downtown, was class Delta airspace. While flying through Class D you must remain in contact with the tower of that airspace and have clearance to fly through it. That Delta extended from the surface up to the Class Bravo shelf starting at 3,000 feet where the airspace of O'Hare International was (and still is). Now that the airport is gone the airspace over the area and downtown, up to 3,000 feet, is considered Class Gulf airspace. Class G airspace requires no contact with anyone to fly into. Meaning, one can take their private plane, as long as they follow visual flight rules and stay under the Bravo shelf at 3,000 feet, into downtown Chicago and, in line with Daley's statement of "keeping us safe", fly into a building, without needing to talk to a single person and without looking nefarious to anyone.
As is with the rest of the whole city... I don't get your point. What was it? That airspace above an airport is safer than when there is no airport? Are you insane? Should we build airports everywhere then... to keep us safe? I think you are still suffering from 9/11 PTSD.
@@marsovac When it comes to a large city with potentials for terrorist attacks like we saw with the events that unfolded on 9/11/2001, yes, potentially, Class Delta airspace is safer. If you enter Class Delta airspace and do not talk to ATC, you could potentially have fighter jets escorting you to the ground. But that wasn't MY point speficially. The point of my comment was ridiculing then Chicago mayor Daley's reasoning behind removal of the airport, and I quote: "I am not willing to wait for a tragedy, as some have asked me to do, to happen before making a difficult and tough decision [to close the airport]". His ridiculous reasoning for closing the airport was to potentially avert a terrorist attack against downtown. However now with the airport gone, you don't have to talk to anyone to fly around downtown and potentially strike a building. His reasoning actually makes the city less safe when you look at it from a "averting terrorist attacks" point of view.
Myself? I don't really care about the safety of a city when it comes to the classification of airspaces, and fly and enjoy flying quite regularly for work, and am going to be pursuing my private pilot's license in the spring. So no, I don't think I am suffering from "9/11 PTSD" as you so nicely put it, but thank you for your expert psycological diagnosis. I think I'll source a second opinion though, if you don't mind.
@@jguy1987 My point on the other hand is that "if class Delta airspace is safer" make class Delta airspace where it is needed, and not make airports to make class Delta airspace. You don't protect people with airports but with legislation. Arguing that having the airport was safer is dumb since it is not a causation but a correlation.
@@marsovac …but the effect of removing an airport, under current legislation, is the demotion of the airspace from class delta to class gulf, effectively, under current legislation, making it less safe, which is the opposite of what the mayor said was his reasoning to remove the airport
@@yoymate6316 No, that is what you say it is. You are effectively saying: "If we remove the road, then somebody with a bulldozer can more easily pass there and demolish a house nearby without being detected", not taking into account that the same can be done with a truck on the road by accident. But by removing the road you remove all trucks that could do that by accident. Adding one type of threat and removing other types of threats does not mean making it more dangerous, at least without data to back it up.
1:26 A Rutan Long-EZ, a Cessna 210, and a Piper PA-28. Yeah, those are some real elites right there.
The general public know so little about civil aviation and the benefits it can bring to the local community. It's pretty sad really. Like everything else these days it seems like we're going backwards.
Rutan Long-EZ: $30,000 plus the time to assemble the bloody thing
Cessna 210: $175,000
Piper PA-28: $80,000
These are rich people toys, since you have to pay for hangar space in addition to the costs of owning the plane.
@@shadowtheimpure Not if you split it four ways, which is what most people do these days.
@@peteranderson037 It's a question of what your local municipality will allow. They might have a minimum lot size and minimum requirements for new construction. For example, my local municipality has a requirement that lot sizes be no smaller than 100 feet wide and no smaller than 25 feet deep so the lot can be no less than 2500 square feet.
@@shadowtheimpure At the time Meigs was destroyed (and even nearly 20 years later) an average PA-28 was nowhere near that. You could get one for around $20k (depending on age, engine hours, equipment, etc.) when I was learning to fly and that was less than a decade ago. Airplane prices just went up a lot within the last few years, though. I would assume that was largely due to a lot of people needing to learn to fly in a relatively short time in order to fill the pilot shortages that were happening from about 3 years ago until the last few months (and, in a few parts of the industry, still are.) Even now, you an buy a PA-28 for $40k. I know a lot of people who own planes and few of them are rich.
It's Chicago. They just do what they do
Literally deleting airport in 12 hours over here
@@wiiprocontroller6471 I feel bad for laughing at that.
why is Chicago so well known upon animal people
If WWIII happens I hope Putin uses Cloudgate as an ICBM target so that for a split second it will look like a rocket penetrating a Uranus crater.
Meigs Field seems like a more logical place to first spawn than Friday Harbor in FSX. Some impressive 3D city scenery when you're going for your first flight is more impressive than some tiny random airfield in the middle of a forest.
Being from Washington state I think it's cool that Friday Harbor is the default. The San Juan islands are a beautiful area, plus you aren't far from Seattle if you want some 3D city scenery.
@@Simple_City yes, but the default aircraft is pretty much a hang glider with a motorbike engine, so chances are your average noob pilot won't make it to Seattle.
It's good to know that Friday Harbo(u)r is in Washington state, I initially thought it was somewhere in Alaska 🤔
@@Simple_City I never used Friday Harbor or that stupid ultralight. In fact I put Meigs back in the game.
Yeah I always thought Microsoft's default choices were a little weird. They should've started you in the Cessna 172 or the 737-800 at like JFK or something.
So I grew up in a high rise building that used to have a really good view of this airport from our 11th story window. Consequently I actually lived right down the street from the Mayor, you knew it was his home because there was always a police car sitting out front with an officer inside 24/7. I actually enjoyed watching airplanes land and takeoff from there regularly. I knew nothing of what happened since I was only a young teen in 2003. But how it looked to me was that after 9/11 happened, I didn’t see much of anymore activity at that airport anymore. I’m surprised it was 2003 when it was made official that they were closing it down. As of today, my mother and my brother still live in that high rise. Other buildings have since obstructed the view but my brother and I recently went for a walk around that park and it was actually quite pleasant! Nature is really starting to reclaim it, nice place for a gentle bike ride or a relaxing stroll and it’s a good distance away from the city noises. Daley may have had some questionable ways of getting things done… but he got things done when he really wanted to. That’s why he stayed mayor for so long. Literally till HE decided he didn’t want to anymore.
Yep, he's a crooked jerk, but he knew how to effectively administer the city. He didn't do it in an equitable way, but he at least got stuff done.
The Illinois politician joke at 1:20 is extremely topical since the past couple of weeks a member of the state legislature was indicted on federal charges (resigned as state speaker last year) , and another pleaded guilty last and he was a state senator
*Edited for clarification and a correction
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
The resignations don't surprise me. IL has gone too woke and now the repercussions are radiating outward from the dumpster fire that is Chicago.
Sorry, let me rephrase the comment to get the point across more clearly. They resigned due to criminal charges.
@@Fun_Dips This has been a problem for decades. This is not a new thing, stop trying to sensationalize actual instiutional problems
You are mistaken. Tom Cullerton was the state senator who pled guilty. The Cullerton who was previously State Senate leader was John Cullerton. They are distant cousins.
The Cullerton family has been involved in politics since Edward Cullerton was elected to the Chicago City City Council in 1871. For a cumulative 112 years, there was at least one Cullerton on the city council.
Also, you could have noted that Daley’s own nephew, a city council member was just convicted of fraud.
This sounds like the plot of a movie, and I now absolutely need it to be.
Totally agree!
And I love your pfp!
Honestly, I don't know if there is enough source material for a movie. Maybe it could be the A plot in an episode of a show.
@@raney150 make a Short Movie
Glad to be able to say that I was a passenger landing and taking off from Miegs Field in the 1990's several times. It was a cool experience flying past the tall buildings of Chicago. No simulator required.
To be fair as a Chicagoan Northerly Island is one hell of a cool venue and the nature there is really amazing, its a wetland preserve now.
I am a pilot, and I had landed at Meigs Field many times before its destruction. It provided such convenient access to the city, literally putting you in walking distance of the Magnificent Mile. It provided spectacular views of the city on landing and take-off. It was such a gem.
There are not many people I have hoped would suffer a slow, painful death, but Mr. Daley made it onto my prestigious list.
- Martin
It’s great for pilots but terrible for residence
@@JL_Lux I would argue that Meigs was better than most airports in this regard since the approach and departure was over water, not over residential areas. Today I fly to Midway instead, and takes me low over people's houses and backyards instead of over water.
There was a small airport in Holland Michigan that only small planes could fly in and out of, it never caused any trouble, there were never noise complaints and I think it was pretty cool to see airshows very often and so close to home. About a year ago one of Holland Michigan's billionaires paid city council off and convinced them the tiny municipal airport was causing lots of issues, it was swiftly destroyed; I really hate people in power sometimes.
Imagine actually believing that two Chicago politicians aren't related. 🤷♂️
Actually they are father and son.
@@richardwasserman r/woosh
Literally says in the video on screen “they’re very much related”
I love how they kept the tradition of using fictional characters as mayors of Chicago
1:00 “of Richard J. Daley”
*screen says “Richard L. Daley”*
Sometimes I think he does this on purpose.
Fun fact. The park is still not open. You can sneak it. I'm not sure what happened. But the walk way that let you walk along side of the lake some how collaped or they destroyed. But it's a very beautiful park. Well if it wasn't for they destroyed path. Which now makes it sketchy to walk on.
The park is definitely open. No sneaking in necessary, and the broken path segment is blocked off, it really sounds like you’ve never actually been there.
@@SenorBigDong69 Is that what I'm seeing that's different between the Maps view and the "Street View" in Google? I'm trying to figure out what's up with the giant lake and the strip of concrete in the middle (that looks a lot like a piece of Runway foundation, given its orientation), but it only shows up on the Map, and in Street View it's a wide open field with completely relocated paths that don't match up with the satellite view at all.
@@c182SkylaneRG most of the street view is 11 years old, if you go on street view in the smaller car park on the west side of the island and look to the east, you'll notice a big hill then when you go to the street view on the old paths everything is flat. They must have landscaped the place and the satellite images are what it looks like now, and the old street view on the paths are redundant
@@SenorBigDong69 @Senor Bigdong I definitely been there and live in Chicago LMFAO. I use to go there all the time on my bike. But it's been about a year since I went and there was a gate (small and easy to go around) Saying it was closed off. And was disappointed when I saw the damage. The path on the opposite of the lagoon was open.
But maybe I wasn't paying attention and only saw the sign on the right near the lake since there are 2 entrances to the path. Maybe they fixed that portion since last I went.
Tell me again how have I never been there? 🤣
@@zendog8888 First, you really shouldn’t comment about the current status of a place you haven’t been to in a year. Second, the park never closed during all of Covid the past two years. Third, it now sounds like you don’t understand where the borders or the park are. And Fourth, you snuck past the gate telling you one segment of the trails was damaged, and you have the audacity to complain about it being sketchy.
I see you’ve clearly been there now, my mistake that I just didn’t assume you were clueless.
I was once dispatched to pick up a patient-passenger from a holiday med-evac. Whilst en route to the small airport we got a call to drive to another airport because the small airport filed for bankruptcy whilst planes were on their way to them.
Sounds kind of similar to a story my Mom told me not about an airport going bankrupt but an airline. A friend of hers went to an airport to catch a Braniff airlines flight only to find out the airline folded that morning and basically left him (and many other people) stranded
Oof lol
@@whaduzitmatr rip flight
Reminds me of when I showed up to see a movie and the theater was out of business. They had their schedule for the day posted online like usual. Granted it was one of those small, like 4 screen joints but still. What did they just wake up one morning and realize they were bankrupt ?
My attempt to get in to bowling was Kafka shit. One time the old pro shop guy made fun of my ball for being obsolete and that it would mess up the polisher and the floors. The next time I went to that alley there was a paper taped to the door saying it was under receivership and a locksmith was changing the locks.
Meigs was not the default airport in FS2004 (FS9)... It had Seattle-Tacoma Intl. as the starting airport.
Also hello everyone watching the corrections video ;)
Yeah, I was thinking that at the screen as he was saying it. :) FS2004 still had Meigs as an airport option, but it wasn't the default, anymore.
Right. The turd narrator couldn't even get the old adage, _"It is easier to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission."_ right.
having my state called out for corruption brings me masochistic joy :D
There's a reason it's called the Windy City
@@BirbBoiYT and it ain't the weather.
@Hernando Malinche Not from the Google Maps image I just saw. Thing's got more asphalt on it now than it did as an airport! And the "grassy" end looks kinda like a swamp...
It is also pretty close to Grant Park and Millennium Park. On top of that you have to go past an NFL stadium, a museum, planetarium, and an aquarium. Also there is an ampitheater in part of it.
I feel like I should point out here that they carved those big X's into the runway *because that is how you mark an out-of-service Runway*.
Right but it’s usually with paint or a big light up X not carved into the runway itself lol
Name one other instance where the runway was destroyed, leaving multiple airplanes stranded, to accomplish the goal of marking it as out-of-service. The X’s are to be marked in an easily removed fashion, for example with paint, not in a destructive fashion like digging up the concrete.
OR that was just the pretext used to destroy the runway and make it unusable, thus furthering the personal goals of a corrupt mayor.
For the Love of Christ people. Everything you people are saying matters not a whit to what I said. They picked that particular Method Of Destruction because it looks like out-of-service markings. That is all I said.
@@baylinkdashyt And all I said was you're right and its usually with paint. -Sincerely, you people
Why was the video about North Korea unlisted (0:45)? What made people mad?
I don't know, I guess north Korea is a controversial conversation starter
I love how the excuse of "for safety" completely falls apart because removing the airport meant the tower was gone making downtown Chicago uncontrolled airspace.
I remember him making the case on the news that it was for the security of downtown.
The security of his park 😂
th-cam.com/video/tT9DXJtwcOw/w-d-xo.html .
Yeah he claimed he didn't want a 9/11 in Chicago and Meigs Field was allegedly a threat because a terrorist could take off from there and crash into a building
@@GRANOLA77 Because relocating all those airplanes to Midway and adding approximately 90 seconds to the flight time TOTALLY made the city safer from that type of attack...
@@c182SkylaneRG
Yeah I wasn't supporting his decision simply stating Daley's justification. I was alive at the time and remember this well. And I've lived in Chicago my whole life
I was living in Chicago when Daly pulled this stunt. His late-wife was one of the driving forces behind turning Meigs Field into a park. Daly did claim that this was in response to 9-11, but the FAA and HSA had already ruled that the airport could stay open. Business leaders in in downtown Chicago were furious since they could no longer fly in and out of Chicago mere blocks from their offices. When the Capone crime family faded away, the Daly family picked up where they left off. Hell, when I lived there we had two ex-governors in prison at the same time. Chicago is an awesome town tainted by the unbridled greed and corruption of its civic leaders.
When a Chicago mayor demonstrates his corruptness, why do Chicagoans happily reelect him?
If the level of corruption is "tear down airport to make park" rather than "tear down park to make airport/condo/publicly funded stadium" then they can be as corrupt as they want
@@adamcoe This is one of/the 'good' examples of their use of corruption. A bit like how corrupt police _may_ forge documents to get a criminal off the street, the _may_ also beat an innocent to death and cover it up. One act of corruption does not undo or cover up another.
@adamcoe
so it's not corrupt or illegal as long as you say so. Got it.
This is so ridiculous, I can’t help but kind of admire the guy, although he probably shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near city finances, given how he went through with something like this.
Trust him over most. Atleast he used the funds to improve the city and didn't let ritch twats tell him no. Just got it done
@@trentr9762 yeah, except that airport was incredibly important to the aviation community, was mostly used by small plane owners and was one of the few free runways near Chicago. To be replaced with what? A park named after the mayor that built it, on an isolated strip of land which wasn’t even finished. Parks designed like this are a net negative for the city, it wasn’t philanthropic public works improvement, it was raising the property value of their home while “sticking it to the man”.
And who, exactly, owned those small planes?
Given how expensive planes are, I sincerely doubt most of those owners were regular people.
@@Mrcake0103 Barnstormers. Used airplanes there, all day long, for less than the price of a used car.
@@Mrcake0103 Does it matter? You shouldn't just, y'know, destroy an airport without telling anyone.
I was in college in Chicago the night that this happened. People were NOT happy.
My grandma has always been livid about this.
Did she have a private plane? Why did she care?
@@JL_Lux I've never been able to understand that, actually. She's kind of a neurotic mess.
Fun fact: this airport is also featured in Need for Speed: Pro Street (where it is simply named ”Chicago Airfield”).
...and it's among the best tracks in that game! Makes me wish Indycar raced there for real...
I know dozens of people with small planes and most of them are not rich elite. You can buy a light aircraft for $30-40K which is less than many new cars.
True, but most small plane owners in the Chicago area used the other dozen airfields that were a lot less expensive. Only a few corporations actually used it.
@@CortexNewsService those corporations bring business to the cesspool called Chicago
Yeah but how much is storing, maintaining, and fuelling it? It is a rich person toy.
Meigs Field was a beautiful airport and was a loss to the city of Chicago. Small planes could land and take off from the beautiful lakefront. Now you have some ugly park with weeds growing everywhere that no one hardly uses.
Right. It wasn't until I just read a comment that I realized that the park was finished because every time I go by it in a boat it just looks like an abandoned lot.
@@adamkendall997 Chicago has assloads of these "parks".
1:21 As an Illinoisan, this is 100% true, I mean there's a reason we have former governors in federal prison.
demolish the park and set up a prison specifically for illinois politicians.
I was once taking an on-line quiz about airport markings. One of the questions asked what do yellow Xs at the ends of a runway mean, while showing a picture of the destroyed runway at Meigs. The correct answer, of course, was "the runway is closed."
One of the distractors was "Mayor Daley is an asshole."
That's the answer I picked even though I knew it was not the answer they had specified as being correct.
(EDIT: Changed the short and economical word "wrong" to the more verbose "not the answer..." because some people insist on misinterpreting it as my defending Hizzonna's actions. Frankly, he was as much of a crook as his dad was but without the charisma and panache, and I'm speaking as a former Chicago Democrat.)
I think anyone that knows anything about aviation would do the same!
exactly, Mayor Daley was correct, thank you.
@@jdlmmf
The answer “Mayer Daley is an asshole” is correct*
It’s videos like this that make me wish that TH-cam blew up earlier than it did… in 2011 (my 5th grade year), our school took a field trip to Shedd Aquarium, which just so happens to be RIGHT NEXT to the crime scene
I don’t know how I found this channel, but I absolutely live the historic information it delivers, the one liners, and b roll.
Flight Simulator was the first game I had for computer. My dad actually played it way more than I did. He would fly across the country and world in a Cessna.
XD
I like this, being able to do something you've maybe always wanted but virtually
i played msfs from fs98 to fsx which was impossible to run back then, i just remember trying to take off in a 747 from meigs and ending up in the water
I have so many memories from 1983 on my commodore-64 taking off from Meig's Field and exploring (a very blocky) Chicago and yet I found I knew the whole geography of the city back then just from that. Then there were updates to FS and it continued. It's a treasure not just to Chicago but some of us that were never in Chicago and yet knew it only because of Meigs.
I bet that mayor was great at playing Cities Skylines. Really boosted the local property value/ happiness by deleting a air port in one night and follow it up with a park once revenue rebounded.
If you were flying the SR71, you crashed well before you left the runway, let alone making it to Lake Michigan.
Were there planes in the sim that needed longer runways than a small airport, meaning you skipped the takeoff part and went straight from the runway to the water?
@@Br3ttM Airliners, 747 especially.
@@Br3ttM They landed an actual 727 at Meigs, it did not leave by air.
I _actually_ found this channel because of MSFS. I watched so many aviation videos that the YT algorithm gave me your videos as a recommendation (though none of the aviation ones at first, because it probably wanted me to cool off). Your first video I watched was the Australian Typos one, ig.
To be fair...I remember walking down Lake Shore Drive and seeing the unsightly airport thinking "Why is there not a park there?"
You're not kidding about Meigs field being the long-standing default airport.
I remember that from when I had Sub-Logic Flight Simulator on the Apple 2. That is, before it was sold to Microsoft.
Far from only being used by a few rich people, I'd read that Meigs Field was actually the busiest single-runway airport in the entire US. It would take a variety of use cases to make that happen, methinks.
Lindbergh Field in San Diego may have a rebuttal to that.
I used to fly into Meigs field back in the mid to late 1990's quite often. I recall the landings being a little treacherous due to the cross winds inherent with the direction of the runway. But there was no better way to get to Chicago and having a car waiting for you on the tarmac and being so close to so many business and family attractions.
The last time I flew into Meigs was an unplanned stop just days after 9/11. I was heading to Iowa City and we were diverted unexpectedly by the FAA/tower control. After three hours of sitting there I was finally told that the owner of the charter service company was from the Middle East and that raised a lot of red flags. Eventually, we took off and I never been back.
I hope the park makes it but so far it reminds me of Detroit's Belle Isle in that it's just a great place to go to take pictures but not many of the locals really care to go there.
Not to worry... the park will make a great open-air marketplace for drugs, guns and various stolen goods.
@@sootikins Do you just... not like parks or something? What a bizarre set of concerns to jump to.
@@PhysicsGamer You are very naive.
@@sootikins Between the two of us I don't think the "naive" one is the one who has a positive view of parks.
Hey Sam, good job on this!! Even if a few details were a bit off, you clearly put in a lot of effort to understand a complicated topic, and I appreciate you.
Live in Chicago and love that park. Pretty grateful this happened tbh
Wait til your rights are violated
We need the North Korean haircut short back
Looking at that 'park' I think it would have been better as a dump.
Would it have killed them to plant a single tree in that barren wasteland?
tbf, if you look at more recent Maps images of the park; it is clear theres now some trees startin to be grown across parts of it.
And honestly even without the trees it still looks prty gud for a park so not rly sure why youre damning it as better off as a dump when it is actually a decent park with a nice area for swimming.
No doubt the reason why theres no trees in the original pictures from when the park opened is bcuz much of the land was built up with new soil and its best to let that shit fully settle and get the grass and such growin in it before you start tryin to plant full sized trees in it. For all you can tell from the image in this video; there cud be tons of freshly planted trees all across that landscape but you simply cant see them cuz theyre little more than twigs stickin out of the ground
It's a restored prairie - the type of landscape that would have been in the area 200 years ago. It's also a bird sanctuary for aquatic birds of the great lakes (that typically don't like trees)
Over a dozen doctors flew their small planes to Meigs for a conference in Chicago. I was FAA and I briefed the last pilot to depart in his Cessna Centurion. The FAA allowed (via a Notice to Airmen) the taxiway to be used for departure even though they had not done the normal survey work to prove it was safe and obstacle-free and actually SAFE.
We speculated that the park would eventually be the site of a casino.
Dude I loved the little quips you threw in. Laughed out loud like 4 times in a video about destroying a runway lol. Awesome video. Subscribed!
Turning a small airfield used by wealthy residents with private planes into a public park isn't the action of an evil mayor.
I flew there a couple of times back in the day for someone doing business in the city. It was very convenient for general aviation aircraft compared to Midway, for example.
How do you figure?
The fact about the terror attack thing is that it actually made terror attacks easier do to the way air traffic was routed prior to the closure.
Funny, I just saw a Reddit post about this. I wonder if they saw your video before posting!
I’ve got to finish the video to get more information, but in that Reddit post, lots of Chicago residents approved of removing the airport. They say the park is good for the birds, and can be enjoyed by anyone in the Chicago area, instead of just those who are wealthy enough to own an airplane.
Also, I like your take on what exactly Congress really is. Lol
Edit: Okay, well that definitely wasn’t a legitimate way to go about it. We could’ve seen a very lethal and tragic accident if a plane had attempted to land and not realized the x’s were gouged out. Man, Illinois is corrupt!
Loved FS so much I had a trip to Chicago in the late 90s and took a daynoffmwork to visit Meigs in person.
"but hey - if you don't use political influence to advance your own self interest, are you really an Illinois politician?" with the wiki page listing Illinois politicians convicted of crimes ... savage. I'm dead
Daley family just joined the list. Daley’s nephew, a city council member, was convicted the other week
I first heard about this years ago in the documentary One Six Right. The shit people in power get away with is disgusting.
@1:20 In One Six Right they said it was because his wife wanted a park named after her and the air port tried to compromise offered to just name the airport after her but nope; he pulled this shady shit.
I didn’t realize Adam Chase wrote for Half as Interesting!!! Can’t believe it!! That’s amazing!! I think we need a Danger Zone episode!!
I have great childhood memories of playing MS flight sim 98 and taking off from this airport in a Cessna 182.
Fighting corruption with more corruption. Wow.
Now we just need a mayor to carve Xs in the park to turn it into an airport >:D
MAKE MEIGS 2.0 A REALITY
One has to wonder how much in 'commissions' Daley got from developers, contractors, for the park and the arena ?
funnily enough, I didn't first learn about this airport through Microsoft Flight Sim, but rather through Need for Speed Prostreet, since one of the tracks in that game is called Chicago Airfield and is basically Meigs Field if you used it to make a race track
error at 1:00 - you say Richard J Daley while the graphic says Richard L Daley
He actually wanted to build a casino. The only reason it's a park now is because the Illinois Supreme Court stopped him from building the casino.
A friend and I actually flew into Meigs in the late 90s. Both of us were using FS to shoot the approach, and landing there was almost identical to the simulator.
We were attending the last Comdex Spring convention in Chicago, but we didn't know that.
So excited to go watch Crime Spree!!!
1:10, audio makes it seem they are showing the airport or possibly the park that took its place. Actually showing Navy Pier.
"Are you really an Illinois politician?"
As an Illinois resident, I can confirm this is true. I actually laughed out loud and I'm alone.
Was blessed to have landed there in our company King Air just before he destroyed the airport
good videos man
Now I want to hear about North Korean haircuts...
I still contend the worst change to Flight Simulator was when they took out crash animations.
Sucks that we can't crash into buildings anymore, I was practicing...
@@neonbunnies9596 whoa.
@@neonbunnies9596 holdup
1:21
As a Chocago-ian, this hurts so much because it’s too true🤦♀️
Daley also had CSX's former B&OCT tracks not far from his home ( the 2 lift bridges south of Union Station the one permanently raised was B&OCT's lead to Grand Central but freight switched to the other bridge just west of the bridge) and was disturbed by the the noise of trains near his home but also had decided the property occupied by the line had more value as condos and retail and wanted it gone. Only problem is there's all sorts of federal regulations regarding interstate commerce that gives existing active rail lines all sorts of protection against eminent domain so Daley sent out the city inspectors and low and behold found that nearly every single viaduct between the city limits and the junction at the bridges were suddenly an imminent danger to the citizenry and condemned them all. CSX determined it was cheaper to reroute trains on that line and service what line side industries by using a round about routing for the local freights.
Crime Spree is absolutely amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed both episodes!
Meigs Field and other General Aviation airfields are NOT just for the elite. In fact, the beauty of these types of airports are that they are in fact open for everyone, no matter if they are an elite using it to get to/from meetings, someone just learning to fly in a flight school, or anyone in between. These airports are essential to both the local economy in that they bring in people and resources directly to the surrounding area, and the overall aviation infrastructure in both providing safe areas for aircraft to land in an emergency, and to teach the next generation of pilots that go on to join the airlines. Big airports like O'Hare and Midway, while important for Commercial Aviation, are just too big and busy to support these needs. Airfields like Meigs are fighting a constant battle for their existence, because people either think that they could use the land for "better" uses, or because people move near the airport and then complain that there is an airport there making noise. I highly recommend the documentary "One Six Right" which focuses primarily on Van Nuys airport, although the same issues are affecting countless airfields nationwide. It does a great job of demonstrating the history of an airfield, why it is such an important asset to the community, and that once they are gone they generally cannot be replaced. Meigs Field didn't take away land from the city, in fact it was land created specifically for the airfield, in a space that allowed aircraft to safely operate over water without any danger to the nearby city. Daley single-handedly chose to demolish this amazing asset, stranding multiple aircraft that (contrary to this video) had to be trucked out of the city, all just to create a park that he would name after his own wife. Even almost 20 years later, many of us in the aviation community shed a tear whenever we are reminded of what happened to Meigs Field, because many of us were not only first introduced to the airfield in Flight Simulator, but also saw it as the most public example of the plight many are facing with their own local airfields. There is so much colorful language I could say about Richard Daley, but instead I choose remember the once great airfield known as Meigs.
In the 1980s I spent HOURS flying around Meigs field in a 172 Cessna.
This is the first airport I took off from and landed at. It's a staple of the Microsoft Flight Simulator games and I call it the airport of my childhood.
Have not played MSFS in ages, now I want to play it again.
And video suggestion link, returns a 404, found the correct one on the main site
Maybe it was a fever dream but I remember visiting the airport. Had like a little display inside like a model of the airport maybe? This was 20 some years ago, so memory is spotty. But I remember it had a weird history or was just odd because of how tiny it was.
Just wanted to get that out before starting the video, make sure I don't mix past memories with new ones from the video.
Why might you have been there? Are you a Chicagoan? Because I believe they held aviation education events for young kids in its terminal.
This reminded of a scene from the movie "The Untouchables" starring Kevin Costner, if you've seen it you know it: at the border, the Canadian Mountie in charge of an enforcement action said "Mr Ness, I do not approve of your methods!" And Ness replied: "You're not from Chicago!"
Excellent video.
Chicago's mayor: *destroys his own airport*
Chicago's mayor: "my goals are beyond your understanding"
This was a clear overstepping of boundaries and a highly authoritarian misuse of power
And yet it's pretty darn cool.
Absolutely halarious aswell tbh
I think it's a perfect use of power. The power of an elected public official should be used as much as possible for the benefit of the general public.
In this instance I think it's power being used appropriately.
Destroying an airport that only serves elites to build a park for everyone? Such a misuse smh
Huey Long would be proud.
@@Wolf950 He used his power to benefit himself, and no one else. He *didn't* replace the airport with a park, he tore down the airport, and then left the land to just sit.
The dancing construction worker STOCK FOOTAGE (ffs who even makes these things???) had me in stitches!
I did not expect the goal to build a public park. I figured it was some weird deal where the land gets sold to a real estate developer he knows