I live on the lakefront in one of the highrises along Sheridan Road. On several occasions when I knew the President was coming to town I have noticed several large, military looking helicopters flying over the lake heading downtown. They seem to move out over the lake somewhere north of Devon as if they are coming from O’Hare. I’ve seen them come from downtown and then turn west over Rodgers Park on a couple of occasions. My assumption has always been this is how he is able to get quickly from O’Hare into the city.
This morning I know the President is going to tape a show with Oprah and shortly after 11AM I saw two large helicopters flying south over the lake with a much larger helicopter with tandem propellers (a Chinook?) further out over the lake moving in the same direction.
My question is, where is there a heliport anywhere downtown or at least on the near South Side for something this large to land? I tried to do some Googling for helipads in the city. All I saw were several hospitals, WGN and a helipad on top of the Hilton Towers Hotel. Assuming the President was in the Chinook, would any of those helipads be able to accomodate something that big?
