Chicago from the Sky

AirVuz contributor Gianlo uses his DJI Mavic Pro drone to give us an unforgettable (and DVA nominated) 60 second aerial tour of the skyline of Chicago, the city which can lay credible claim for having invented the skyscraper.  The video provides epic views of the Windy City's magnificent skyline, still dominated by the 108 story Willis Tower.  Standing over 440 meters (just over 1.4k ft.) tall, this behemoth was born as Sears Tower in 1974 and enjoyed a 25 year reign as the world's tallest skyscraper.  

It is all about the "Art of Endurance" in this amazing drone production. Drone Media Chicago captures the 'Windy City in all its glory from above.  The video begins with an aerial shot of the skyline from the Navy Pier area and it proceeds to overhead shots of the financial district, aerials of the bridges over the Chicago River and the tracks of the Loop, bird's eye views of Lake Shore Drive, and skyscrapers galore.  This video is nominated in the Cities category for the 2nd annual Drone Video Awards. 

This epic video by Majestic shows two things: (1) the skyline of Chicago is tough to beat and (2) the new DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone is one amazing aerial video platform, with video quality that holds up well against much more expensive models.  Majestic uses some of the built in hyperlapse functionality of the Mavic 2 to produce some of the best 4k footage of the Chicago skyline anywhere.  The video includes spectacular footage of  the city's skyscrapers, the Lake Michigan waterfront, and more.

For a 60 second aerial tour of downtown Chicago, it's hard to beat this video by top content creator and drone pilot Reel Aerials.  Shot with a DJI Phantom drone, the video is packed with epic bird's eye views of the skyline and lakefront of this most American of major cities.  You'll be amazed and delighted by the top-down shots of the canyons of the Loop and Wacker Drive, the Interstate highway spokes leading into the city, and the stunning Lake Michigan lakefront.  The USA's best skyline?  You be the judge.

Drone_America takes us on this terrific aerial tour over the Windy City of Chicago in this amazing drone video.  The footage of all of the city's major highlights is fantastic, but what really sets this video apart is the captioning.  You'll not only see places like Navy Pier, Grant Park, Hancock Center, and the various bridges of the Chicago River, but they are helpfully labeled as such with non-intrusive captioning.  Watch it to gain a better understanding of how the Midwest's largest city "works".  

In this highly creative piece, contributor Drone Media Chicago used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create an aerial story about the great Midwestern city of Chicago and its troubled neighborhoods.  The video includes a mix of ground footage and aerial footage from across the Windy City, all of which is beautifully edited.  With its powerful story told in part through aerial footage, the video was nominated as a finalist for the 2017 AirVuz Drone Video Awards in the Originality category.  

Chicago is one of those cities which looks completely different depending on the season.  In this video, top contributor Aerial Vision Chicago gives us a stunning toour of the Windy City in the depths of winter.  It includes bird's eye views of West Town, Navy Pier, CTA trains, Lake Michigan, South Loop, Soldier Field, Jackson Park, Lake Shore Drive, Chicago River, Trump Tower, US Cellular Field, Shedd Aquarium, and more! 

Check out this drone video of the University of Chicago campus by contributor mavictraveler.  Situated about 8 km (around 5 mi) south of the Chicago Loop on Lake Michigan, the UofC is one of the world's most prestigious research universities.  Founded in 1890 with a grant by Standard Oil titan John D. Rockefeller, the school ranked #5 amongst national universities in the 2019 US News & World Report college rankings.  Its enrollment of about 16.4k students is roughly 40% undergraduate.  

This video of Chicago by Troy Walsh was a finalist at the 2016 Interdrone Film Festival.  The video features amazing aerial perspectives of some of the most prominent landmarks in the downtown area, such as Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower and until recently the tallest in the USA), the lakefront, and the Loop District.  It also provides some amazing views of sites outside the city center, such as United Center, home of the multiyear NBA champion Chicago Bulls.  

A small drone like the DJI Mavic Pro is the perfect travel accompaniment for a trip to a city like Chicago.  The Loop and the Lake Michigan lakefront are not in FAA no fly zones, so capturing great aerial footage with this compact drone is quite feasible on a weekend trip.  Contributor Bill Drones did just that, treating us to this amazing aerial tour, with shots of Buckingham Fountain, Navy Pier, Chicago Harbor, and epic skyscrapers! 

Chicago winters can be hard, and the January gusts off Lake Michigan can be downright ugly.  Which makes the arrival of Spring in the Windy City that much more wonderful.  Contributor Aerial Vision Chicago flew a DJI Inspire 2 Drone with a Zenmuse X7 camera over the city at the beginning of Spring,  2018; you will get a bird's eye view of America's Second City as the thoughts turn from winter coats to Cubs baseball.  

The title of this video doesn't lie; watch it to get an awesome bird's eye perspective of two of the most important Chicago landmarks.  Grant Park is a giant public area on the Chicago waterfront, between the Loop and Lake Michigan.  Its centerpiece is Buckingham Fountain, one of the world's largest, which was completed in 1927.  Navy Pier, north of the park, sits to the east of the Magnificent Mile area.  The pier is the single largest tourist destination in the USA's Midwest.

Check out this drone video of one of the most storied stadiums in American football, compliments of Nick McGee.  Soldier Field is situated on the Lake Michigan waterfront of Chicago, Illinois.  Opened in 1924, it's the home of the Chicago Bears, one of the oldest teams in the National Football League.  Soldier Field underwent a substantial renovation in the early 2000's, when most of its interior was demolished.  It currently seats about 61.5k fans, making it one of the smaller stadiums in the NFL.  

Chicago became the metropolis it is due to its location relative to the USA's agricultural resources and transportation systems.   This was manifested first and foremost in the massive stockyards which ringed the city, where animals fattened by grain from the country's farm heartland were converted into consumable meat for shipment east where most of the USA's mouths were located.  Heyheyyoushould gives us a brief but enlightening aerial look at the old stockyard district.

Among the reasons for Chicago's success as a city are its two world-class universities: Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.  In this drone video by mavictraveler, you'll get a bird's eye view of the Northwestern campus in Evanston, about 20 km (12 miles) north of downtown.  Founded in 1851, the private research university has an enrollment of about 21k, about 40% of whom are undergraduate.  It ranked #10 amongst national universities in the 2019 US News & World Report college rankings.  

When the Chicago Cubs won baseball's World Series in 2016 after a nearly century long hiatus, Chicago erupted like no city in modern memory.  Millions of fans turned out to watch the Cubs victory parade.  Contributor Sky Candy Studios traveled to Chicago that October day with a drone to film the parade with a drone.  While his access was somewhat limited, the video is still quite remarkable in what it captures from this historic event in Chicago and baseball history.

Chicago is defined in large part by its geographic centrality.  For decades its O'Hare Airport was the world's busiest, and it occupies a similar position with respect to the USA's rail and interstate highway networks.  Not surprisingly, it's home to the country's largest convention center: McCormick Place.  Seen here in this drone video by nick mcgee, the complex just south of the Loop offers 250k square meters (almost 2.7 million square ft.) of floor space.  It was opened in 1960 and has been expanded multiple times.    

Navigating the waters of Lake Michigan can be treacherous, especially around the gigantic city of Chicago, Illinois in its southern reaches.  The approaches to Chicago Harbor are safer due to the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, which stands just to the east of Navy Pier.  The lighthouse was originally displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition but it was moved to its current location in 1919.  Contributor and pilot 60 Seconds used a drone to create a marvelous aerial view of this important landmark. 

The Windy City, aka Chicago, Illinois, is known for its cold temperatures and frigid windchills. Sitting off Lake Michigan, the "lake effect" snow and wind is no joke in the winter! Aerial Visual Chicago makes a little fun of their home city by combining Chicago with the infamously cold region of Siberia in the title, dubbing it Chi-beria. This piece was shot in -22F temperatures. Yes, it looks cold, but the smoke stacks, rising sun, and frozen water also leaves the city looking magical. 

For an urban jetskiing backdrop, it's hard to beat Chicago's Lake Michigan waterfront.  The southernmost of the Great Lakes turns into a playground in the summer for yachts, motorboats, sailboats, and yes, jetski's.  In this video Aerial Vision Chicago used a DJI Inspire 2 drone to film a couple of jetskiers shooting across the lake, with the epic skyline of the (not so) Windy City in the background.  As you'll see, the lake is amazingly calm and the jetskiing looks amazingly fun.

Top contributor Aerial Vision Chicago created this marvelous winter montage of Chicago, Illinois, the great Midwestern city on the shores of Lake Michigan.  The video opens with a nice aerial view of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, which protects boats and ships entering the city's (mostly recreational) harbor.  From there you will be taken over Navy Pier, the Adler Planetarium, and Lake Shore Drive.  It includes some beautiful shots of the city's epic skyline, one of the world's best-known.  

Chicago is generally considered the cultural capital of the Midwestern USA.  In this drone video by Nick McGee, you'll get an aerial view of one of the Windy City's best known cultural landmarks: the Field Museum of Natural History.  Located on the Lake Michigan waterfront just south and east of downtown, it's considered one of the world's top natural history museums.  Established in 1893 in connection with the great Columbian Exposition, the current structure dates to the 1920's.  

The Adler Planetarium is one of the landmarks of Chicago's waterfront on Lake Michigan.  Opened in 1930, it was the first planetarium in the United States.  It's situated at the northeastern tip of Northerly Island, which is technically not an island but a man-made peninsula which is now part of the city's Museum Campus.  Adler Planetarium both educates the public and also has research operations.  Check out this architectural treasure in this drone video by willryan042.  

For well over a century, the center of the USA's grain trade has been Chicago, and in particular the Chicago Board of Trade.  In the earlier years, when a large proportion of futures contracts was settled with physical delivery, the city became the repository of vast stores of grain.  In this drone video by 60 seconds, you'll get an aerial view of one piece of this infrastructure, largely unneeeded now: the Damen Silos, a now-abandoned grain elevator and storage facility on the outskirts of downtown.  

Drone Media Chicago put together this highly cinematic one minute tour of Chicago, the great American city on the shores of Lake Michigan.  In just 60 seconds, you'll see some of the most well known sights of the Windy City, for decades America's second largest.  In just 60 seconds, you'll be transported from the canyons of the Loop district to the Chicago River, from Soldier Field to the great freeways which feed traffic into the city center, and from Adler Planetarium to the foot of the Magnificent Mile.  

Prepare to be amazed by this outstanding aerial demo reel by top contributor Drone Media Chicago.  Most of the footage is shot around their hometown, the Windy City of Chicago.  You'll see amazing bird's eye views of a very frozen Lake Michigan, the fog-covered lakefront, the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, timelapse shots of the Loop area at night, and even a yoga session on the lakefront.  It's also got amazing action sequences, some incredible footage from Ireland, and more.  

Get swept away by these amazing aerial views of the Windy City. Chicago is one of the United States most iconic cities so AirVūz created a compilation that celebrates what makes this city so great, including its Skyline, Millennium Park, Navy Pier, Lake Michigan and much much more!