The Pretend Flyer: Travelogue: Day 8 - Chicago, Illinois to Boston, Massachusetts

Our U.S. tour continues on to Boston today! We will be flying over several of the Great Lakes, a small portion of Canada, and upstate New York along the way. There are lots of sights to see along the way! Let's get going.

We are directed by ATC at Chicago O'Hare to taxi to Runway 14L for takeoff. This is the same runway we landed on yesterday. Fortunately, we will be departing east this time, so we will not have to endure the inconvenience of circling the airport.

It is still snowing quite heavily at O'Hare today. We can see extensive operations here for American Airlines, which is one of the two major airlines using O'Hare as a hub. American flies mostly MD-80s and 757s out of O'Hare, as well as some heavies to overseas destinations. In addition, American's regional subsidiary, American Eagle, flies ERJs to smaller cities near Chicago, such as Peoria and Fort Wayne. As we taxi past, we see quite a few American and American Eagle planes parked at the terminal at O'Hare:

Around the other side, we see a few planes representing the other major airline using O'Hare as a hub: United Airlines. From O'Hare United flies a mix of older Boeing 737s and new Airbus A319s and A320s to domestic destinations, as well as some heavies to overseas destinations. United also has several regional subcontractors flying CRJs, ERJs, and E-Jets to smaller destinations nea Chicago. O'Hare is definitely a planespotters delight, with the huge variety of airlines and aircraft operating here.

Here we are at 14L, ready for takeoff:

As we take off, you can really see the snow coming down:

The famed Chicago skyline, including the famed Sears Tower, can be seen below. The Sears Tower was once the tallest building in the world, and remains the tallest building in North America to this day:

Here is a clearer view of the skyline, as we prepare to cross over Lake Michigan:

Ahead, the vast, blue expanse of Lake Michigan is before us. The U.S. state of Michigan is located on the opposite shore. We will see it in just a few minutes:

Ah, there is Michigan now! It looks like there is a 767 on approach into O'Hare down below, too. This is yet another testament to how busy O'Hare can be.

Over Michigan, we will follow roughly along I-94 until we pass over Detroit. Below we see Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Jackson. Ann Arbor and Detroit are farther ahead. If we were to look left, we would see Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Here are Ann Arbor and Detroit. In the background, we see Lake St. Clair, the Ontario Peninsula (part of Canada), and Lake Erie. We will briefly enter Canadian airspace as we cut across Ontario before going back to the U.S. over Lake Erie:

We are over Lake Erie now. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York all lie ahead of us:

Here we are over upstate New York, in the Finger Lakes region:

North of us is Lake Ontario, between Rochester and Syracuse:

As we cross over Albany, we begin our descent toward Boston:

We're coming in a little high and fast, so we deploy some speed brakes to help us get down. Is that the Mass Pike down there somewhere?

It sure is cloudy...

We have been cleared for approach on 15R. Perfect! It is not too far out of our way to line up for the approach. The Boston skyline and harbor are visible, along with Logan International Airport:

A Colgan Saab 340, operated as US Airways Express, takes off on 15R while we are on short final:

A scenic closeup shot of downtown Boston as we prepare to touch down:

We are on the ground! The weather appears to be substantially better than it was back in Chicago. Here is another impressive view of the Boston skyline:

As we taxi toward the terminal, we have to hold short for this Frontier Airlines plane taking off on 4L. This is an Embraer 175. In real life, Republic used to fly these for Frontier until 2008, but they don't anymore.