From www.Avweb.com's AvFlash 10.19a, May
3, 2004:
MEIGS
CLOSURE CITED IN AIRLINER SCARE
The closure of Meigs Field (for security reasons, remember?) has been
implicated in an incident that gave a Chicago baseball stadium full of people a
collective case of the jitters. The FAA is investigating whether an ATA Boeing
737-800 was dangerously (or illegally) low when it passed over U.S. Cellular
Field on approach to Midway Airport on Thursday. According to CBS 2 Chicago, the
closure of Meigs eliminated restricted airspace that had previously kept
aircraft approaching Midway away from the stadium. Of course, that doesn't
really explain why the 737 was, according to the FAA, just 700 feet AGL when it
was still 6.5 miles from the runway.
More...
The original story appeared 4/30/04 on CBS
2 Chicago:
Plane
Scares Fans At Cellular Field
VIDEO: Jim Tilmon reports.
Apr 30, 2004 4:39 pm US/Central CHICAGO (CBS 2) New
information about a scare over U.S. Cellular Field shows there may have been
real cause for concern. Thursday night, startled fans could barely believe their
eyes as a passenger plane flew very close to the stadium.
The F.A.A. says it's investigating ATA flight 670, a 737-800
commercial airliner that some thought came dangerously close to the ballpark.
"I've never seen an airplane that low over the park
before," White Sox announcer Ken Harrelson said during Friday’s game
broadcast.
Harrelson has worked at U.S. Cellular Field since they built
the ball park.
"I have never seen a plane, in all the years that we have
been there, an airplane that low. And, it scared me, it really did,” said
Harrelson. “I guarantee you, if there were passengers on that plane, they may
have been able to see the numbers on the guy's backs on the field."
I presented Hawk with a possible scenario for last night’s
low flight. We took a look at a layout of the Chicago area, and located the
relative positions of Midway airport, U.S. Cellular Field and, what was, Meigs
Field.
When Meigs was in operation there was a restriction that would
not allow low flying aircraft to fly close to Meigs.
Now that Meigs is closed, airplanes are allowed to fly closer
to that area, and that brings them closer to the ballpark.
Apparently, some thought it was too close and too low.
"It scared me, it really did," he said. "I'm
thinking to myself, oh man, I hope this plane’s not in trouble."
There were early reports that the aircraft was legally flying
at, or above, 1500 feet. A later check with the FAA revealed that flight was at
about 700 feet above the ballpark.
Hawk agreed.
“I'll kiss your ass if that plane was 1500 feet,” he said.
With new procedures in place allowing low altitude flights
closer to Lake Michigan, it is possible that flights near the ballpark may occur
from time to time. But, US Cellular Field is about 6.5 miles from Midway
Airport. And, if this aircraft was 700 feet above the ballpark, there is
certainly cause for an investigation.
Jim Tilmon
(MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc., All Rights Reserved.)
