Hopefully you guys may get some use out of this for any planned updates...
O'Hare was in a "Plan WEIRD" configuration in which arrivals land 22R/28/27L (trip runway), depart 22L/32L/32L@T10/32R(overflow).
See the airport diagram for visualization:
http://myairplane.com/databases/approach/pdfs/00166AD.PDFOn I-294 south towards O'Hare...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD1.jpgLooking North out over the United B and C Concourse and Airport Hilton.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD2.jpgNorth side again... 22R and 27L
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD3.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD4.jpgThe "Southport" between terminal 1 and 2.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD5.jpg32L intersection T10 departures... Eva-air in the 10 pad waiting to cross 28 (needing the full length of the runway). Departing from the T10 intersection is generally more than enough runway for flights within the U.S. (8800 feet available). This is known as the "free roll" runway in which tower on 132.7 can continuously ship departures off the runway without coordination in plan WEIRD and X.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD6.jpgNorth C concourse...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD7.jpgASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment version 10). This is the feed from the large white radar spinning on top of the tower.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD8.jpgThe new north tower. This will serve only for the new runway 9L/27R opening in November. The reasoning behind its construction is due to the fact that the current tower cannot see the 9L threshold beyond the United and American maintenance on the north side of the field.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD9.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD10.jpg32L departure rolling...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD11.jpgAmended strip for a Hawker on the new south "D" track...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD12.jpgUAL835 (B744) to Shanghai cross 32L at T10, full-length bound.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD13.jpgThe screen on the right is used to show how many aircraft are bound to a certain runway. The strips are scanned (note the barcode on the amended Hawker above) and entered into the computer to show the runway they are headed to. C90 TRACON also has a direct feed to this information so the sideline departure controllers will know what to expect off of certain runways within the preceding minutes and can then beef up (or combine) staffing of certain sectors according to the traffic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD14.jpgNorth tower... fairly quiet up there today.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD15.jpgGround metering - this is one of the coolest and most efficient parts to O'Hare. The individual manning this position resides on frequency 121.67. Aircraft will call ground metering after pushback with their location and current ATIS.
EX: "Metering, American 765, Kilo 19, with HOTEL"
Ground metering will then reply as follows:
"American 765, O'Hare Metering, information INDIA's now current, monitor ground .75"
He will then pull AAL765's flight strip from his bay and rack it into the outbound ground controller's bay right next to him. This prevents aircraft from having to call ground and, in turn, the outbound ground controller can call the aircraft in the order in which they called metering to keep the traffic flow orderly and efficient. If you have ever monitored the O'Hare ground frequencies, there is little time to talk and most of the time you will simply be listening to ground as he fires off endless taxi instructions to numerous aircraft back to back. You don't want to miss your call on any of these frequencies. Inbound ground stands to the left of outbound ground so they can both coordinate without having to yell across the tower. The local controllers sit on the outer edge of the tower closest to their respective runways.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD16.jpgUAL835 crossing 28...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD17.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD18.jpgA United 777 moving eastbound on HOTEL... on the bridge route.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD19.jpglooking towards Terminal 5 (International) and the 22L/28 pad. Shades down to block the morning sun on this beautiful summer morning.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD20.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD21.jpgRunways 22L and 28... The Chicago skyline can be seen in the hazy distance. My favorite city in the world...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD22.jpgNorth local's seat (this is the frequency monitored on liveatc's feed, 126.9). In plan WEIRD, he works 22R and 27L arrivals (sometimes 32R departures as the overflow runway). A lot of "shooting the gap" occurs on this position. When 27L (the trip runway) is open for arrivals, 22R arrivals must land and hold short (LAHSO) of 27L for landing traffic, 6,050 feet available. When O'Hare is doing this, American will always go to 27L as their company policy does not allow them to participate in LAHSO operations.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD23.jpgNorth local again (more northwesterly). This side of the tower was much easier to get pictures as the south tower was slammed with traffic on 28 this morning.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD24.jpgKorean Air moving eastbound on BRAVO towards the international terminal.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD25.jpgLooking east again...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD26.jpgThe O'Hare DBRITE. LOTS of traffic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD27.jpgRunway status. Luckily clear and dry... no braking action advisories or RVR today! :wink:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD28.jpgAnother United 777 crossing the ALPHA bridge. Aircraft are not permitted to stop on the bridge as if they happened to have an emergency on the bridge, the slides would hang out over the edge of the bridge sending people to death by 20 foot drop or by a car on the I190 O'Hare loop below... instead of the airplane.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD29.jpgOne of the guys showing Marko and I the traffic display... they can filter airports out on this to show all of the traffic inbound to a certain airport (or 2 or 3 at a time). Marko wanted to see all of the traffic bound to Grand Forks, ND (Not surprisingly, none showed up). This also shows weather and SWAP areas (Severe Weather Avoidance Program). As can be noted by the image, there was quite a nasty system heading into the O'Hare area later that evening.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD31.jpgTwo 32L departures, one in a left turn to 220 (southbound) and the other in a left turn to 270 (westbound).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD32.jpgThe 360 tower sim downstairs... this is where all the training occurs. They fired her up and put a bunch of traffic on the screen for us to see. They also put a B2 bomber on the sim which dropped about 100 paratroupers over the field just for fun... oh, they lit a couple of planes on fire as well. They will set them on fire to trainees who aren't paying attention enough. Aren't controllers just wonderful.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD33.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD34.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD35.jpgOne of my favorite shots on the downstairs tour... this is FAA phraseology for "gym". Literally, O'Hare was not able to get this equipment unless they came up with a name that had some sort of beneficial meaning promoting controller health and awareness than "gym".
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/Freedom91686/ORD/ORD36.jpgTim Fitzgerald was our guide at the tower this morning. Tim is the training manager at O'Hare and has been working there for many years. He is mentioned a number of times in Bob Richard's book, "Sectrets from the Tower". Tim was Bob's supervisor for a number of years... one of his honorable mentions is in the "Yeehaw Mexicana" chapter in which they were located in the old city ops tower next to the Hilton (see above pictures). Mexicana was on an ILS approach to 14R in 0-0 conditions during a blizzard one winter. They became disestablished and buzzed right over the top of the United B concourse (literally a few hundred feet from the old tower) as they conducted their version of a missed approach... Tim said it was quite nerve racking... give approach control of the aircraft and head downstairs until they get on the ground... he's cleared to land - good luck!
Hope you enjoyed these higher quality photos than the video could offer...
Regards,
AJ
