Chicago Midway Airport
A major airport squeezed into one square mile, a live webcam on the short runways to prove it.
About this view
Midway opened in 1927 and is boxed into a single square mile of Chicago's southwest side, hemmed by 55th, 63rd, Central and Cicero. The city grew around it and never gave it room, which is why its longest runway stops at about 6,522 feet: short, by the standards of the jets that use it.
That constraint is the appeal of this planespotting cam. Approaches are tight and landings are decisive, and Southwest runs its largest base here, so 737s dominate the traffic in a near-continuous cycle of arrivals and departures.
On a live webcam that never closes, Midway was once the busiest airport in the world, claiming the title in 1932, and it passed LaGuardia as the busiest in the United States from 1948 until 1960. Central time, UTC−6; the morning and evening banks are the busiest hours to watch.
