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Live Flight Tracking:
Flightaware
Chicago is a tough place to take good photos.
On this page you'll find info about both of the city's major airports. O'Hare is a large
international airport that is one of the busiest in the world. There is a wide variety
of international air traffic here, but only two decent areas to photograph from. And
because there are so many runways and so many different directions planes can be taking off
or landing from, it can be hit or miss whether you get any decent pictures at these spots.
One spot is on the north side in the parking lot
of a shopping center on Mannheim Rd. near Touhy Ave. If planes are landing on 22R,
you'll get a good view. If they're taking off on 4L they'll most likely be too high by
this point.
The other (and better) spot is further south on Mannheim Rd (see
map). At the intersection of Mannheim and Lawrence Ave., make a
left and another quick left onto Scott St which only leads to the parking lot of the USG
office building. There's a dead end just past the parking lot, and many locals come
here for the view. You will get an excellent view of planes landing on runway 28 and
if they're taking off on 14L, they'll be making a left turn directly over this area.
Both of these spots are best for photos late in the day since you
face east/north, and the light is better from October thru April. I
was there on a Sunday in 2007 and there were many people watching planes and taking
pictures. On another occasion I did get a visit from the Police but they were
friendly. Most of the international aircraft land on this runway, so you will see
planes from Europe, Asia, and the middle east as well as the usual American and United jets
and their regional partners.
The thing that makes it difficult especially if you
are coming from another city to visit ORD for the purpose of spotting/photography is it is
hard to predict whether these runways will be in use. There are 6 active runways but
only 2 really good spots and depending on the weather, air traffic may not be flying over
those areas on any given day.
Click here to see photos from the
shopping center parking lot
Click here to see photos from the Mannheim Rd. spot
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