Hello WFC, coming off the heels of an amazing spotting trip down in Chicago. An amazing stay, an amazing room, an amazing trip! More on that to come later. To get there, I took probably the most interesting route probably in Michigan. Manistee is a small city located 2 hours north of Grand Rapids, and an hour south of Traverse City. I’ve basically grown up here, vacation up to our cabin on weekends, and this Spring Break is no exception. For Christmas, I received a hotel stay at the Hilton at ORD with a designated room just for spotting (again, more on that later)! And then at another party, I received the plane tickets from my grandparents, super cool! So now we’re here, here is the flight review of the Cape Air Tecnam P2012 from Manistee, MI, down the coast and hopping the pond over to Chicago, IL!
Welcome to MBL, known as Manistee County Blacker Airport. Named after RR Blacker, a man who owned several logging companies in Manistee, which was vital to the communities surrounding it. The terminal inside was reminiscent of some Nordic ski lodge, with a giant fire place, and wooden walls. Along with a table filled fake Michigan Apples.
We actually arrived before any of the Cape Air staff or crew was even at the airport! Check in was very simple, I had to tag my backpack and my camera for gate checks, and I received my boarding pass. Simple, easy, awesome.
Security was a whole other story. I was first to go, I removed my metals, my liquids, and my camera. I got flagged for a “random security” check. I don’t think is random because everyone had to do it. It actually took longer for security in Manistee than it did at Ohare 
. The TSA workers were nice tho, they were pretty chill
Soon it was time for boarding. After being a holding room for 5 mins. I was told to hand in my boarding pass and board our tiny lil Tecnam P2012 bound for O’Hare. It was open seating, so I didn’t have to worry about not getting the seat I wanted. There I am as I wave goodbye to my family inside the terminal as I get on the plane 
(I’m 5’10" for reference)
The seat itself was pretty comfy, no where near Southwest, but it was better than my Allegiant flight 2 months ago. For it’s size, legroom was pretty dang generous, with around 32" of pitch. The safety card was also in great condition, as the aircraft is only 2 years and 4 months old, delivered new in Jan of 2020.
Our flight today would take us over Ludington, Pentwater, Shelby, and Muskegon, before turning away from the coast near Grand Haven. We cruised over the cobalt blue waters of Lake Michigan at 8,000ft at around 140kts. Our decent took us over the suburbs of northern Chicago, before we landed on 9L
Our taxi took us on a joy ride around the airport, seeing Cargolux, regionals, stored AA 767s, and this beauty Emiriti Gov 744 sitting on the ramp. We taxied south past all the terminals before heading to gate L11A to disembark, and unload
Welcome to Chicago! After a very very smooth flight, and a conversation with the crew, I made it to ORD. We walked out, got our bags, walked through the baggage loading areas, up some stairs, past Spirit aircraft, up MORE stairs, and into the crowded terminal. I loved this flight so much! Here is the final review of this wonderful flight
Airport (MBL): 
Employees were nice, but security was a pain
Aircraft (Tecnam P2012):
Amazing little workhorse, I think it’s one of the best ways to travel
Cabin/Seat (2A):
Cabin was spacious (for it’s size), and seats were generally comfy
Amenities:
Not anything to write home about, but that water bottle for the plane was nice
Overall:
I’d definitely take this trip again, that little plane is so much fun to fly on, and with a great crew, and great employees, I had a wonderful experience!
Thanks for reading!
~Devin
