good santa???

Jim, glad to hear that the flight worked out well and you had a good
time... I noticed the weather Christmas Eve and again in the morning
and wondered about your flight...
Chicago is a big TRACON with lots of controllers that come and go, but
I wonder if that lady is the same one I bumped into a few years back
when I needed an IFR file to cross Lake Michigan... We were departing
IFR from an uncontrolled field with a flight plan and a squawk code
from center... Center advised we would have to climb VFR to 2000 feet
to make radio contact with Chicago from there... I stated that we had
1500 foot overcast and would have to penetrate the cloud layer before
making contact with Chicago... Center said to call back on the phone
right at departure... I did that, was given clearance to depart at a
specific time five minutes later, a squawk, a heading to fly, and a
clearance to climb to 4000 until I could contact Chicago... Center was
right on the money and by the time I got to 2000 Chicago was loud and
clear... I called, and called, and called, all the way to my 4000 foot
clearance... Finally the lady answers my tenth (or whatever) call with
a snarled order to remain vfr and stay clear of her airspace... I
replied with UNABLE, and she went right on talking to airliners and
refused to answer me again... Once I realized that this shield maiden
from hell was not going to answer I turned west to stay out of the
Chicago B, found a small hole in the cloud deck and spiraled down... It
was a long, long ride around the south end of Lake Michigan, avoiding
Chicago airspace, to get back to Michigan... I remember her in my
prayers, still...

denny