The following is an article that appeared in the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday, 8 October 2008. It outlines the planned usage of the new runway. Maybe this and other information that comes out later can be used in a future update of KORD and its AFCAD. What is odd is that the new runway will actually reduce airport capacity in a certain configuration.
That's Chicago planning at its best!
Marty
8nm NW of KORD
--------------------------------------------------------
New O'Hare tower to take flight next month
Air-traffic controllers to oversee 1 runway as part of airport expansion plan
Jon Hilkevitch | Getting Around
October 8, 2008
Ever want a job with spectacular views for miles and miles around, plus a light enough workload to fully enjoy the scenery?
That's the assignment air-traffic controllers at O'Hare International Airport will get, at least part of the time, when they direct airplanes from a new $65 million tower set to open next month on the north section of the airfield.
The 255-foot-tall cantilevered tower is designed to give controllers panoramic views. Larger than normal glass panes in the control cab are positioned at a 30-degree angle, instead of the standard 15 degrees, to make rain run off faster and protect the room from direct sunlight.
The four controllers and one Federal Aviation Administration supervisor working in the tower will be responsible for only one runway, which also debuts next month as the biggest accomplishment so far in Chicago's $15 billion airport expansion project.
The tower is needed because controllers in O'Hare's main tower cannot see the west end of the new runway, which is anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 minutes in taxiing time from the airport terminals.
Relatively few flights are expected on the new runway, and in certain weather conditions it won't be used at all, the FAA said.
"We think we have all the bugs figured out. But we know as soon as we open it up there is going to be something we haven't thought of," said Bill Mumper, the FAA's air traffic manager at O'Hare. "So we are staffing one extra controller on the day shift and one extra controller on the evening shift for the first few months we have it open."
Controllers in O'Hare's main air-traffic tower, meanwhile, will handle planes landing and taking off on the airport's six other runways, officials said.
Even though O'Hare controllers lost bragging rights several years ago to the claim of laboring at the world's busiest airport (Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International is now No. 1), O'Hare's crews still take pride in their ability to "move tin" better than anyone else.
Perhaps that helps explain why many O'Hare controllers are underwhelmed by the prospect of working in the new tower.
"The city wants to try to show it is making real progress on O'Hare expansion. But we will use the north runway only when winds are westerly," said O'Hare controller Craig Burzych. "When winds are east, the runway is dead."
In fact, the runway, which Chicago officials say will be used to reduce flight delays in bad weather, actually reduces the airport's capacity, according to Burzych, who has participated in FAA teams evaluating the runway project.
The number of arriving flights that O'Hare can accommodate each hour will decline, from 96 hourly to 88, Burzych said, because the new runway cannot be used in tandem with some other runways due to potential conflicts involving aircraft flying too close to each other.
The new runway will be used primarily for planes landing to the west, said Kevin Markwell, an FAA manager assigned to the O'Hare Modernization Program.
"An east flow cuts off too many other runways," Markwell said.
However, he maintained that in optimal wind conditions the new runway will help O'Hare accommodate up to 112 landings an hour instead of the 96 currently.
Reporters on Tuesday toured the new tower and ventured outside the control cab onto a narrow catwalk circling the structure. From there, with a strong wind blowing and planes floating in for touchdown on a runway just below, the majesty of flight was inescapable.
The new runway is the first built at O'Hare since 1971. It marks the beginning of Chicago's effort to revamp the airport and extend its useful life well into the 21st Century.
Eventually, a third air traffic tower will be needed to serve a planned southern runway.
But that may be years away. City officials first must figure out how to pay for the latter stages of O'Hare expansion, which Mayor Richard Daley wants completed by 2014.
