Thanks Don: I know one flight into O'Hare on a United flight we descended to 12,000 ft 50 miles out "Looking for a smoother ride". I was nervous as hell we were in the realm of GA aircraft, I would have much preferred to stay in Class A or above 15,000 ft at least for as long as possible.

On Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 9:20:13 AM UTC-7, Don Grillo wrote:
A little background about the Class B at O’Hare and how it works.

I have been flying airliners out of O’Hare for 31 years. I also fly gliders in the Chicagoland area. I live 23 miles due west of runway 10C at O’Hare. The Class B Airspace that extends west over my house ranges from 10000 ft down to 4000 ft. With an elevation of 890 feet, that puts airliners on approach to 10C at 3110 ft AGL over my house, 23 miles from touchdown. In VFR conditions, (like it was last Monday), Chicago ATC will descend aircraft to the lowest altitude possible and ask the pilot if he has the airport in site. If the pilot acknowledges he has the airport in sight, ATC will clear him for a visual approach. If the pilot accepts the visual approach, this relieves the controller from providing separation and traffic advisories. The pilot is on his own and can maneuver his aircraft as he/she wishes to landing.

Mondays weather at KRFD (Rockford, which is south of Beloit and Janesville) was reporting between 8000 and 9500 scattered clouds in mid afternoon. (An excellent soaring day for the Midwest in September).

Now let’s look at the Janesville 8 Arrival into O’Hare. It shows an “Expect clearance to cross” 30 miles northwest of the Janesville VOR at 13000 ft. The next crossing altitude is the Teddy intersection (22 miles southeast of the Janesville VOR) at 7000 ft. That 7000 ft crossing is 42 miles from ORD.

HOWEVER!, this aircraft was not on the Janesville arrival. This a/c was receiving vectors from ATC (in my opinion). Looking at the flightaware track of this flight, it came from the north, over Wisconsin heading south, west of Janesville, then made a slight left turn towards Beloit Wi. The aircraft now at 10000 ft made a left 360 degree turn followed by a right 270 which put it on a heading of 110. The airliner was given a clearance to descend while still west of South Beloit. The trace shows it at 9000 ft west of South Beloit descending at 1000ft/m. At 8000 feet the airliner was approximately 1 mile southwest of the Beloit gliderport. The a/c leveled off 7 miles north of Poplar Grove Airport at 7000 feet, 57 miles from ORD, well outside the Class B airspace. It then flew 22 miles at 7000ft to Woodstock Illinois before turning south and then east into O’Hare.

What we don’t know is why this a/c made the turns near Beloit. If, for example, is was for a traffic advisory, ATC would have just given the a/c one or two course direction turns to get out of the way of the traffic. Were the 360 and 270 turns for spacing into O’Hare? The ATC voice tapes and data trace will reveal why.

Why was this a/c given a clearance to descend to 7000 feet so far from ORD?

In my opinion and with none of us knowing all the facts, there is a good chance we will find their was some controller error in this situation.

Ref: http://flightaware.com/live/flight/U.../KORD/tracklog

F2