Southwest Airlines Flight 1248

Chicago Midway International Airport (IATA: MDW, ICAO: KMDW, FAA LID: MDW), typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the city's Loop business district. Established in 1927, Midway served as Chicago's primary airport until the opening of O'Hare International Airport in 1955. Today, Midway is one of the busiest airports in the nation and the second-busiest airport both in the Chicago metropolitan area and the state of Illinois, serving 20,844,860 passengers in 2019.Midway is a base for Southwest Airlines, which carries over 95% of the passengers at the airport. The airport's current name is in honor of the Battle of Midway. The now-defunct Midway Airlines, once headquartered at Midway, took its name from the airport. The airfield is located in a square mile bounded by 55th and 63rd Streets, and Central and Cicero Avenues. The current terminal complex was completed in 2001. The terminal bridges Cicero Avenue and contains 43 gates with facilities for international passengers. The CTA rapid transit Orange Line provides transit to Downtown Chicago, where it connects with other subway/elevated rapid transit lines.

Clearing, one of the 77 semi-official community areas, is located on the southwest side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. The southern portion of Chicago Midway International Airport is located within this community area.

Central Stickney is an unincorporated community in Stickney Township, Cook County, Illinois, a half mile north of Midway International Airport. It consists of the areas around Central Avenue, between I-55 to the north and 51st Street, its southern boundary; east of Central, the northern boundary is roughly drawn between 47th and 48th Streets. It is bordered by the village of Forest View to the north and the Chicago community of Garfield Ridge to the south and east. The area consists of a residential neighborhood of approximately 150 acres to the east of Central Avenue and a business park to the west, as well as several small businesses along Central. It is served by the Central Stickney Fire Protection District and the Central Stickney Park District. Central Stickney has been trying to incorporate for many years, but faces possible annexation to the City of Chicago.

John F. Kennedy High School is a public four-year high school located in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Operated by Chicago Public Schools, Kennedy opened in 1963. The school is named in honor of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). Kennedy is an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) school. Since 2000, Kennedy has been a part of the International Baccalaureate Program.

Stickney Township is one of 29 townships in Cook County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census, its population was 41,514, with approximately 71% of that total living in the city of Burbank (pop. 29,439).Township offices are located at 5635 W. State Road in Burbank. Other municipalities in the township include Stickney (pop. 7,110) and Forest View (pop. 792), and the largely industrial eastern half of Bedford Park, as well as some small portions of Bridgeview. The unincorporated communities of Central Stickney and Nottingham Park are also within the township. Stickney Township's approximate borders are Pershing Road (39th Street) on the north, Cicero Avenue on the east, 87th Street on the south, and Harlem Avenue on the west, excepting those areas in the Chicago communities of Garfield Ridge and Clearing (which include Chicago Midway International Airport), but also including the area between Laramie and Cicero Avenues as far north as 35th Street, where Hawthorne Race Course is located. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, designated a National Historic District in 2011, passes through the northwest corner of the township.

Phoebe A. Hearst Fine Arts Magnet School is located at 4640 S. Lamon Ave in Chicago, Illinois. The school's colors are navy blue and gold. The principal of the school as of 2013 is Teresa Chrobak-Prince. The school has a uniform policy, students shall wear a navy blue shirt and navy blue pants. 8th Grade students shall wear a white shirt and navy blue pants. The school also have a motto which is, "Hearst Warriors RESPECTFUL, RESPONSIBLE, and always do their BEST!"

The Midway Yard is a CTA rail yard in the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois which stores cars from the Orange Line of the Chicago Transit Authority. Currently, 2600-series railcars are stored here. It is adjacent to Midway station at Midway International Airport.

Garfield Ridge is the 56th of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located 10 miles (16 km) from the Loop, it is on the city's far southwest side. As of 2017, the area had 36,396 inhabitants. Named for Garfield Boulevard and a nearby glacial ridge, the area suffered from land of poor quality and was historically used as a transportation corridor rather than a place of residence. Annexed to Chicago piecemeal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the area's population surged during the 1920s after Midway International Airport was constructed. The decline in the use of Midway in favor of O'Hare International Airport led to a corresponding decline in population, which transitioned from being predominately Eastern European to having a substantial amount of Hispanic people. By 2017, Hispanics comprised almost half of the area's residents. In addition to Midway Airport, the area is home to other transportation.

Midway is an 'L' station on the CTA's Orange Line. It is the southwestern terminus of the Orange Line and serves Midway International Airport in Chicago, the city's second-largest airport. The turnstiles at the station's entrance are somewhat wider than most to accommodate airport passengers and their luggage. The station, along with the rest of the Orange Line, opened on October 31, 1993 after a long wait by Chicago's southwest side for 'L' access. It is also the closest station to SeatGeek Stadium, former home of the Chicago Fire, which is approximately 4 miles away. Although in the Garfield Ridge community area, the station serves many residents in the West Elsdon and West Lawn neighborhoods.

The Belt Railway Company of Chicago (reporting mark BRC), headquartered in Bedford Park, Illinois, is the largest switching terminal railroad in the United States. It is co-owned by six Class I railroads — BNSF, Canadian National, CPKC (the BRC's north–south main line's northern terminus is, like the Indiana Harbor Belt, the Milwaukee District West Line in Chicago's Cragin neighborhood), CSX, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific — each of which uses the switching and interchange facilities of the BRC. Owner lines and other railroads bring their trains to the Belt Railway to be separated, classified, and re-blocked into new trains for departure. The BRC also provides rail terminal services to approximately 100 local manufacturing industries. The company employs about 440 people, including its own police force.

Fox College is a Private for-profit college with its main campus in Tinley Park, Illinois. It originally was founded in 1932, and most students come from the Chicago area. Fox College awards associate degrees.

Forest View is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 792. It is primarily an industrial corridor adjacent to the Chicago neighborhood of Garfield Ridge, which is on the village's southern border.