Meigs Field sequence from "One Six Right" (Now on Blu-ray!) 

***** I was just going to send you this link :P

Wait till they do this to Santa Monica

I doubt this opinion gets much traction here, but it's undoubtedly the correct opinion. We're biased as pilots, so we don't truly calculate the social utility of the facilities we use compared to what they could be used for. Meigs made downtown noisy(er), and the land served less people than it currently does now.

The airport was public too and from I read, the park hardly gets used. I think the mayor should be banned from flying within the US airspace for what he did. Make him drive to Canada before he can fly to his European vacation.

This comment makes me so happy that we don't have the field anymore. It was land exclusive to the rich that have planes. Now the whole city can enjoy it

@@ih8thinkingofnames1 Rich people? I worked the night shift at the time like anyone else, didn’t own the company. My uncle owns a plane as well, he was (until he retired) a welder with a couple kids and a stay at home wife. Welders are rich? The difference is I don’t need a new car every 3-8 years (or even every ten), don’t live in a suburb after buying a McMansion, don’t own a bunch of random useless stuff, et al., because I decided I liked flying and made it a priority to own that plane and travel with my family. I didn’t buy a truck (or SUV) to eat gas, and pull an expensive travel trailer. Nope, I bought a plane (and a big tent) using a 20 year loan. Of course owning a plane, that costs less than a truck (or SUV that a soccer mom would buy back then) somehow makes me “rich” in your world. I think we have different definitions of “rich” as I definitely didn’t make (not even close to) make six figures. Not all of us fly jets, in fact people going to Meigs didn’t really fly jets. Most of the planes in the movie where they’re discussing Meigs cost about the same as an SUV at the time. Try again sweets?

@@jessederks8458 Well written, I get fed up with the envious people who criticise those who work hard and earn the trappings of success. It takes a lot of hard effort, sacrifice and dedication to learn to fly but the rewards make it worthwhile. As an office junior back in '72, I calculated that walking home rather than catching a bus would give me another 16 seconds airborne towards my private pilot's licence but I got there after 18 months and have enjoyed nearly 50 years of aviation as a result. I suppose your critic will have a go about using fossil fuels, well I fly gliders nowadays and they cost a few pence to launch for hours of enjoyment. Am jealous of your Saratoga though!

@@ih8thinkingofnames1 It was a public airport that everyone could enjoy. It was a unique airport that was a defining feature of the city. Now its just an park like dozens of others in the area except it is out of the way and underused. All the not-rich people who worked there lost their jobs unexpectedly. And all the not-rich people whose businesses benefited from the travels lost income. All the kids that might have looked to the sky for inspiration to get into engineering and aerospace have one less source of enrichment.

SillyEddyPhotography yes.

Yes, the taxiway was about 3,000 feet long and the remaining aircraft took off from their. I was so sad when this airport was closed.

Chicago is another victim to "liberal" politicians. They are flat broke while a certain socialist elitist group rakes in the cash. So unless some rich private investor wants to get permission and create an airport that struggled for 25 years they can try.

Corruption hasn’t ended.

A namesake park

As a lifelong citizen of the city, so glad to have it as a park instead

N0616JC Productions Mayor Daley Jr. Shut it down

His wife died in 2011.

fishodorvagina That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. They never once used that as an excuse. They got rid of it because they think airports are a "playground for the rich," (I'm not rich and I fly, so I'm not sure where they get that) and they think by making it a park everyone gets to use the land, except no one does. Last time I was there it was empty. Meigs traffic never came close to interfering with traffic at O'Hare and Midway. In fact, getting rid of Meigs only increases traffic at those airports. Last time I went to Chicago I had to use Midway and ride the train downtown. Sure would have been nice to have landed at Meigs and walk to downtown.

fishodorvagina That's there is like saying the local Chinese restaurant got shut down for serving cat without asking why first, other words it's more myth then reality, especially when Midway has quite a bit of small aircraft traffic it self besides commercial, and occasionally O' Hare dose see a few small airplane landing and takeoffs as well depending on the time of day

Airports don't like to deal with general aviation traffic. That's a fact. In this instance, however, former Chicago mayor Richard Daley overstepped his authority and closed the downtown airport illegally and on a whim. When airports close, the letter "X" is painted on the runway. Daley had giant "Xs" actually carved by bulldozers on the main runway rendering it unusable.

Nobody's pissed off that the airport is closed; if it's closed by rule then it would just be a disappointment. The problem is the elitist mayor bulldozered Xs on the runways instead of lawfully painting Xs as FAA suggests. As the woman in this video says, this teaches others that people can just sneak into properties and do these things in allegedly the most secure country. At least have some communication. It's not like if the runway's not closed then the world is ending.