FAA: Close calls during O'Hare expansion work
A cargo plane nearly crashed into a fence as it took off and several other aircraft also had close calls during major construction over several years at O'Hare International Airport, according to Federal Aviation Administration information in a report published Monday.
Authorities have implemented new safety measures since the incidents at O'Hare International Airport, which occurred during the first phase of a $15 billion airport expansion project, the Chicago Tribune reported in its Monday editions.
But the revelations come in the wake of a recent compromise agreement between the city of Chicago and the two largest airlines operating out of O'Hare, United and American, that lets the city move ahead with a second phase of expansion, including the construction of another runway.
The close calls highlight the safety risks such massive projects can create.
"It changes the traffic patterns that pilots may be accustomed to and it requires a lot of extra care on everybody's part," aviation safety expert David Zwegers said.
Construction-related alterations have caused confusion at O'Hare, veteran United Airlines pilot Kevin Dohm told the Tribune.
"Normally, we don't land over anything after crossing over the airport fence," he said. "Now at O'Hare we often are dealing with a displaced landing zone beyond barricades, and that can throw an unprepared cockpit crew a curveball."
One close call took place on Sept. 9, 2009, when a FedEx plane sped down a runway that the pilots realized was shorter than they thought only when it was too late to stop — and they barely cleared a construction-related fence stretched in their path, the newspaper reported.
FAA databases include another account of a fully loaded Boeing 777 taking off at O'Hare in May 2008 with a weight above the maximum allowed because the crew wasn't aware construction work had reduced the runway's length.
And in an incident in June 2004, an air traffic controller told officials he ordered two planes within just a three-minute span to abort landings because construction vehicles were traversing a landing strip, the Tribune reported.
Chicago aviation officials said the work at O'Hare met FAA safety standards, but they agreed more could be done to make it safe. Among other steps, the FAA has begun revising daily alerts to pilots about airfield conditions, including trying to making them easier to follow.
The FAA, Chicago's aviation department and others with a stake in the airport met to discuss the issue last year. One outcome of those discussions was to erect clearer signs at the beginning of runways indicating their current length, the Tribune reported.
The issue of construction as a potential hazard arose in 2006, when a Comair plane turned onto a runway that was too short and crashed on takeoff at a Lexington, Ky., airport, killing 49 people. Federal investigators ultimately concluded pilot error was primarily to blame. But the airline — while accepting responsibility — also questioned whether the pilots could have been better notified about construction that had diverted planes.