Seven things I know about flying in Illinois

Corn or beans? The debate rages on

1. It’s a great place to learn to fly.

I “grew up” in my aviation career in Illinois, and I think it was a fantastic place to learn. One reason is that the weather changes often and has quite a bit of variability. As a pilot learning, it’s good to learn that weather conditions can be partly cloudy with light winds when you depart, and by the time you get to the practice area, a thunderstorm could have popped up.

Sleet, driving snow, high wind conditions, thunderstorms, tornadoes, solid overcast, and beautiful summer days make the flight conditions challenging, interesting, and a solid learning environment.

Another challenge when starting out is learning how to navigate on those cross country flights using dead reckoning and landmarks. Downstate Illinois (everything south of Chicago) looks a lot the same. Mostly tiny towns, all with one water tower, at a major north-south highway intersection.

Determining which small town you are getting ready to fly over forces you to distinguish with tiny details, and makes you a more observant pilot. You learn not to take for granted that you are where you think you are, just because you think you are. You learn to verify, verify, verify. Ask me how I know.

2. It’s hot.

Thunderstorms can get quite nasty over the field of Illinois.

Illinois summers are hot and humid; thunderstorms most afternoons. Hot and humid conditions don’t necessarily lead to the most comfortable experience in an un-air-conditioned Sundowner or Cessna.

Continuous bumps, up and down drafts, and general joggling about as you turn-about-a-point while learning to fly can be challenging to your flying skills and your stomach. I remember having one poor student who would become sick, each and every time he flew.

But if you can get through it, it definitely makes you tougher, and you’ll feel you’ve paid some dues to earn that license!

3. It’s cold.

Speaking of paying some dues, earning that license, and getting tougher… it’s also freezing (so it’s got that going for it). Winters can be harsh, with icing, negative temperatures, driving wind and rain, and general nastiness.

While not comfortable in the four-seater that takes 20 minutes to start warming up, it definitely builds character and lets you know just how much you want to get that rating. Experienced or new, pilots are made to choose daily to make that go/no-go decision based on the weather and runway/taxiway conditions.

4. It’s flat.

Most of Illinois is extremely flat (excepting some hilly parts in the southern part of the state). This is good and bad for a learning student. Flat conditions mean not having to worry too much about terrain (just man-made tower avoidance), and it means every one of those fields (almost), presents a nice flat emergency landing space, in case of engine failure.

Students need to keep in mind that learning in this environment, though, in no way prepares you for high terrain. In fact, although my brother and sister-in-law own a lodge in Bettles, Alaska, I would never go fly there without supplemental training on flying in Alaska and its challenging terrain.

5. There is a raging debate about whether emergency landings are better in corn or beans.

This may not be known outside the Midwest, but there is a raging debate amongst Illinois flight instructors. Is it better to do an emergency landing in a corn field or a bean field? (Since there are hundreds of fields to choose from, and since there are likely to be both under you when you have your simulated or real engine failure.)

Some say corn is better because it would cushion your aircraft as it glided down, and the downside of beans is the gear tangling in the vines and possibly turning the airplane.

Some say beans are better because it’s lower and you have more visibility all the way down, while the mature corn cobs would beat the airplane to shreds.

I think it may be an academic debate, as I don’t know of anyone that has had the opportunity to compare landing in corn vs. beans. But if anyone has actual experience, I’d love to hear it. In the meantime it’s a somewhat funny debate… specific, I think, to the Midwest.

Meigs was once one of the most convenient airports in America.

6. Meigs Field was the coolest.

Landing at Meigs was one of those memories that will always stay vivid. It was fun when I was a student; it was fun to take my students there as an instructor.

In addition to pure fun, it was a fantastic learning environment. As a student pilot, I became better from flying there. And I became a better instructor from managing my students in and out of there. And, it was just awesome.

The airport was beautiful, right on the edge of the city and out in the lake. It was busy. Students got to deal with the big Class B airspace around O’Hare and interact with the fast pace of those approach controllers – definitely challenging. Our little Sundowner or Twin Comanche was spaced in with the business jets, and students felt the pressure of speaking with the Chicago controllers, while they desperately tried to sound like they’d done it a million times instead of a first-time student pilot.

It was just a cool experience. The FBO had a courtesy car available. After landing, we would drive downtown for some deep dish pizza while the students decompressed.

A great airport all the way around. I miss Meigs.

7. The Chicago air traffic controllers are great.

In my opinion, the Chicago controllers are fantastic. They sometimes get stern (especially if you stop moving on the ground in O’Hare and block their beautifully set up traffic flow), but very rarely, and only if you are misbehaving. Usually they are organized and relaxed on the radio, making it a pleasant experience to fly in there. They move some serious traffic, and they do with a friendly, calm way, while ensuring that everyone is doing their part to keep it all moving. They juggle hundreds of “balls in the air” with skill and grace, in my opinion.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done general aviation flying in Illinois, and though I used to be based in Chicago, I only now go there occasionally. These are the things I definitely remember about flying in Illinois. I will hope no one ever finds out for sure which is better… corn or beans.

Read the rest of the series on “Things I Know About Flying in…” here.

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Kristin Britt

Kristin was born in 1971 and grew up in central Illinois. She paid her way through college by serving in the United States Air Force from 1989 - 1993. While in the Air Force, bases included Great Falls, Montana, and Mildenhall, England. She then attended the University of Illinois, as well as the Institute of Aviation beginning in 1994. She earned a degree in Entrepreneurship and her certificates and ratings. She flight instructed at the Institute of Aviation, before becoming a First Officer and then Captain for a commuter and is now Captain for a major airline. She has many leather bound books and her house smells of mahogany.

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