[BCNnet] Pilots see Daley's exit as hope for revived Meigs Field - Chicago Tribune today

[Randi Doeker - Chicago]

Pilots see Daley's exit as hope for revived Meigs Field


September 9, 2010 2:17 PM |

With Mayor Richard Daley set to leave office, it's time to bring back Meigs
Field, according to private pilots who still bemoan the shutdown of the
lakefront airport seven years ago.  

General aviation pilots from across the country suggest that the changing
political climate in the
<http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=1435491>
Chicago will not only lead to a new mayor, but also possibly a new Meigs.

"From what we're hearing and seeing, the aviation blogs and Twitter are
alive with conversations about whether Mayor Daley's departure may create an
opportunity to rebuild Meigs Field," said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. 

In a secretive operation that has become known as the midnight raid on
Meigs, Daley sent demolition crews to the airport on Northerly Island in the
wee hours of March 30, 2003. 

Large X's were carved into Meigs' single runway to prevent takeoffs or
landings. A number of planes were stranded on the tiny airfield.

After the bulldozers left and the sun rose, Daley said the move was
necessary to safeguard the airport from being used as a potential launch pad
for terrorists attacking the downtown with an explosives-laden small plane.

Federal homeland security officials and the Federal Aviation Administration
quickly dismissed the mayor's concerns as a gross over-reaction, saying a
plane of the size able to use the airfield couldn't pack enough explosives
to do much damage to buildings in the
<http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=29734> Loop. 

But Daley shot back that federal officials were out of touch, more concerned
with ordering no-fly zones over Disneyland and other venues after the 9/11
attacks than on protecting America's major cities.

The FAA ultimately fined
<http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=1435491>
Chicago for shutting down Meigs without providing the required notice.

However, city officials were already transforming Northerly Island into a
concert venue and nature sanctuary.

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association said today that Daley "stole
(Meigs) from America's national aviation transportation system."

The airport was a favorite among private pilots and business people who
could land their planes near downtown and be at meetings in the
<http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=29734> Loop
within minutes.

"More than seven years have passed since
<http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=1435491>
Chicago's Meigs Field was bulldozed under cover of darkness, but the airport
has not been forgotten," said Craig Fuller, president and CEO of the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

"Grassroots support for Meigs is still alive, and many in the aviation
community view Mayor Daley's decision not to run for re-election as a
hopeful sign that the field could be restored," Fuller said.

The local group Friends of Meigs is still active campaigning for the
airport's reconstruction.

 

.............

Yikes

Randi Doeker

 

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