Again, there was another ATC error on Monday (this time at KORD, O'Hare), and even though it DIDN'T involve Air Force Two, the mainstream media had to include it in the story. Air Force Two's mention seems almost to add sensationalism, as some news organizations then reference the close call with Michelle Obama's plane a few weeks back.
In this instance, Air Force Two wasn't part of the reason for the close call; however, the increased traffic congestion as a result led to a much higher workload and may have led to the lapse. Just prior to the incident, traffic began to back up as departures and arrivals were held during the landing of Air Force Two. Then, controllers had to deal with the helicopters hovering over, then escorting the vice-president's motorcade to downtown, off the departure paths for the East/West runways.
The incident had an ExpressJet flight departing 32L with a Skywest flight cleared for landing on 9R. (View .pdf of the ORD Airport Diagram here.) You can see that the approach end 9R is just east of the midpoint of 32L. So a regional jet departing on 32L will lift off across the path of any incoming aircraft into 9R, which is what happened in this instance.
The controller handling the arrival saw the conflict as an alert sounded notifying them of the loss of separation. That controller proceeded to immediately order the Skywest flight to go-around. Some news reports have stated the distance was less than 300' vertical and 200' horizontal between the two aircraft.
You can't hear the go-around call, but you can hear one controller notify the secret service helicopter ('Hunstman 1') of the plane going on a missed approach and then clearing the departing Skywest jet to 4,000', (Skywest 6958). Audio courtest of LiveATC.net.
KORD-Twr-May-16-2011-1430Z_edit
The departing ExpressJet flight is believed to have delayed it's rotation off the runway due to seeing the approaching aircraft about to cross the runway which possibly helped to avoid a collision as well.
According to reports, a few choice words were issued by the departing pilot, and the controller apologized for the error. The Skywest flight made a second approach without incident after being vectored back around for a landing.
Also, reports are the the controller in error was also just recently certified, with some reports saying as recently as 2 weeks ago. There will obviously be discussions on if such a new controller should have been at the scope during such a hectic, busy, time as a VIP arrival at a peak traffic period for ORD.
Finally, some people have called for the FAA to increase the required separation between landing aircraft on 9R, when 32L is in use for departures , to 10 miles, to allow ATC more time to get planes spaced for landings and takeoff and avoid close calls such as this. So far, nothing has come of this, but we'll have to wait and see how the new and additional runways play into the mix once the O'Hare modernization program is complete in a few years.
Anyway, just another close call, another ATC PR issue in the public eye and another story sensationalized further by the media by bringing Air Force Two, a plane not involved in the incident, into the story. Further proof as well of the need for the new runway's and configuration at O'Hare to limit the number of operations that cross as they do in these instances.
ShareThis
