When the wind at O’Hare’s from a western quarter–a common occurrence–flights often overfly the North Side or northern suburbs, then loop out over Lake Michigan and circle back to land into the wind. I’ve experienced that approach many times, and typically, it seems the maneuver occurs well up the lakeshore, well north of downtown. Today I was sitting on the north side of the plane as we crossed the city, and I could clearly see the Edgewater neighborhood and other landmarks of the North Side shoreline. But it felt like we must be well north of downtown. Then we flew out over the lake, turning north. Looking back, I could see we were actually south of the Hancock Building (it’s the tall black building toward the right edge of the forest of towers here), meaning that we must have flown right over downtown, maybe even over the southern half of the Loop, before reaching the lake. I took the picture as we completed our turn back west, and we were already well north of downtown. It was one of the best views of the city center I’ve ever gotten.
"You want it to be one way. But it's the other way."
