🚀 go-pugleaf

This is off the subject, but...

In article <1993Jan08.180937.3548@i88.isc.com> jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist) writes:
>I daresay the majority of the aircraft based at and/or using Meigs field
>are commercial, not private.  

Well, depends on what you mean by "commercial" and "private".  Perhaps
"corporate" would be a better term.  But in the FAA's eyes, if no one
pays to fly in the airplane, it is "private", even if it is a multi
million dollar 30 seat lear jet owned by Megacorp.  But I agree with
what you are saying: the landing, ramp, parking, tie-down, hangar,
fuel fees all make basing a single engine 4-seat "private" airplane at
Meigs rather prohibitive.

>Unfortunately, its location and layout
>make it a relatively unreliable field due to prevailing winds.

Actually, it is more unreliable because it has no instrument approaches.
If the visibility is less than 3 miles, or if the clouds are lower than
about 1000 feet AGL, then planes can't land a Meigs.  I don't have 
figures, but I would guess that Meigs closes more often due to low
clouds and low visibility than it does for high cross-winds.

For those who don't know:  the only runway is North-South and the
winds are typically out of the east or west due to the lake.  Small
planes can still land with direct cross winds up to 15 knots (about 18 MPH).

Now back to the subject at hand.....

>I'd much rather see the big investment made into high speed rail links
>between Chicago and other midwestern cities, 

Wonderful idea!  I wish Daley would put HALF the effort in to high-speed
rail that he's putting in to the casino fight!

>Why does Chicago need explosive growth anyhow?  Wouldn't long-term stability
>be far more beneficial?  

Yes, it would.  That's the point I was trying to make in my earlier
post.  The jobs that casions would create aren't the right *kind* of
jobs.  The growth that casinos would bring isn't the right kind.  It's
like the calories you get from sugar---empty calories.

		William LeFebvre
		Computing Facilities Manager and Analyst
		Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
		Northwestern University
		<phil@eecs.nwu.edu>