Chicago To Get ATC Upgrade
<H1> Chicago To Get ATC Upgrade</H1>By Mary Ann McNulty
<I>Chicago </I>- Chicago's air traffic control system is moving into the high-tech era in the first stages of a multimillion overhaul of facilities that is expected to eliminate flight delays caused by equipment problems.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration dedicated a new $28 million tower at O'Hare International Airport and a $90 million Chicago-area approach control facility in suburban Elgin. The facility, called TRACON (terminal radar approach control facility), was moved from the tower's base to Elgin as there was no room to expand the O'Hare facility.
The upgrades couldn't come too soon for air traffic controllers, who for several years have been forced to deal with labor shortages, computer outages, electrical outages, radar and frequency problems, and outdated equipment that restricts their ability to handle more traffic.
"It's the difference between a Model T and an Indy 500 race car," said John Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association local at TRACON. "If the FAA wasn't doing it right, I would be the first one to say it. They got it right this time."
The final piece of this major upgrade is expected later this year or early next year with the replacement of a main computer, the IBM 9020E, at the Aurora facility, which controls planes flying at high altitudes in a five-state area around Chicago. The system crashed several times in the summer of 1995, wreaking havoc for travelers.
For now, controllers appear pleased with the new gadgetry at their disposal. In the new 260-foot tower-with the largest cab ever built by the FAA-an automated flight data processing system will electronically send data on planes ready for takeoff from tower controllers to those in TRACON via touch-screen computers. Until now, controllers have sent data strips with information on departing aircraft from the tower to the TRACON operation via drop tubes, similar to those in a bank. The 90 controllers at TRACON control planes in a 40-mile radius of O'Hare.
Other new components include real-time weather; access to airport layout maps and other key data in as little as three keystrokes versus as many as 125 today; and terminal Doppler weather radar to detect wind shear, microbursts, gust fronts and other damaging weather conditions. The new ILS monitors will show selected runways, and a runway visual range will show how far a pilot can see down the runway.
The radar terminal systems also are being upgraded to offer more processing power and more consistently display aircraft numbers, flight plan data and other information on radar screens.
"When everyone is on board and comfortable with the equipment, there might be some slight increases in capacity at O'Hare," Carr said. Cautious about the repeated equipment failures over the past 18 months, controllers have been restricting the number of planes in the skies.