The 797 swung wide around McCormick Place and coasted in over Lake Michigan. The old Meigs Field shot by underneath, then the Shedd Aquarium, Lake Shore Drive, Buckingham Fountain, the Petrillo Music Shell, the Art Institute. The plane came gliding down onto the virgin runway on the second floor of 78 E. Washington, Chicago’s New International Cultural Center and Airport, and rolled to a halt just inches away from the back wall of Preston Bradley Hall. The crowd in attendance, which included many local politicians and business and community leaders, applauded vigorously.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The passengers of the plane, a United Airlines flight from Seattle, reported a sense of exhilaration about the landing, the first ever made on this strip. “I thought we were going to crash into the building,” said one. “But here I am, I’m alive.” Air traffic control officials later emphasized that there was no close call.
Critics point out that Ned Debevic, the mayor’s brother, who runs a carpet shampooing business on the southeast side, was contracted by the city to maintain the second floor runways. “The third airport is just the latest in a series of patronage projects the mayor has been doling out to relatives and allies in the Tenth Ward,” lakefront alderman Ann Sather told reporters this morning. “My brother shampoos rugs too. What about the rest of us?”
