That right there is the minor fields. Now let's talk about the minor fields. Can we talk about the smaller airports, please, Mac? I've been dying to talk about the minor fields with you all day, OK? "Madison," this name keeps coming up over and over again. Every day a flight plan to Madison is getting sent. Rockford! DuPage! I look in Simbrief, and this whole box is minor fields! So I say to myself, "I gotta fly to Gary! I gotta load up the HTDOG transition and shoot the ILS runway 12!" So I file it using Simbrief and what do I find out?! There is no ILS 12. The localizer does not exist, ok? So I decide, "Let's go to Palwaukee" There's no Palwaukee? You gotta be kidding me! ATC is calling it Chicago Executive! And I gotta circle to land! So I start flyin' my way over to Grand Rapids. "Grand Rapids Approach! I gotta land!" And when I call up what do I find? There is no Grand Rapids Approach! There's not Kalamazoo Approach either! Some strange person calling themselves Great Lakes Approach is sending me contact me's! Mac, half the airports in this ARTCC have been made up. These airports are a goddamn ghost town.
The end of summer approaches, and once again we welcome pilots to come fly into the ...less well loved fields in the heart of the Midwest. And even though the days grow shorter, it's always Sunny in Chicago ARTCC.
Airports: KCID, KMLI, KRFD, KMSN, KDPA, KPWK, KGYY, KAZO, KGRR
Date: September 9, 2024
Time: 2300Z-0200Z
