4 municipal staff in Chicago have been disciplined or ticketed for 3 incidents during the last yr by which they by accident breached lively runways at O’Hare Airport with their floor automobiles, newly obtained data present.
No accidents or crashes occurred. However in one of many mishaps, a metropolis employee’s mistake in driving onto a runway pressured an airplane that was about to land to abort landing, in accordance with the data from the Chicago Division of Aviation, the arm of Metropolis Corridor that runs O’Hare and Halfway airports.
That incident, which occurred April 21, 2024, concerned a metropolis car coming into Runway 10C/28C from a taxiway “with out ATC permission,” metropolis data say, referring to O’Hare’s air visitors controllers who oversee motion on and close to the airfield.
The town car “proceeded west on Runway 10C/28C as much as Taxiway F earlier than turning round and heading east to Taxiway HH and thereafter exited the runway,” data present.
What’s referred to as the Airport Motion Space Security System “alarmed,” signaling to controllers there was an “unauthorized car on the runway,” which is considered one of a number of east-west strips on the southern facet of O’Hare.
Controllers then ordered a flight by Envoy Air, an American Airways affiliate, that was lower than a mile out and making ready to land to “go round,” which means abruptly cancel the touchdown and circle again, in accordance with data. Controllers “tried to contact” the driving force of town truck to no avail, data present.
The jet, arriving from Houston, seemed to be lower than a minute from touching down, and certain was carrying fewer than 80 passengers primarily based on its dimension.
When confronted in regards to the misstep, town driver initially wouldn’t give a proper assertion, as a substitute indicating “he’ll (achieve this) tomorrow with union rep,” data present.
Areas of O’Hare incursions
He acquired what’s basically a visitors quotation in addition to a five-day unpaid suspension for, amongst different issues, “conduct involving job efficiency or substandard work efficiency.”
An aviation division supervisor informed an inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration — the company regulating U.S. airports, airways and airspace — that “our investigation didn’t discover that the airport’s floor car procedures should be revised to stop future car deviations,” data present.
However, the aviation supervisor additionally stated the incident would “be included in ongoing research concerning floor incidents and runway incursions which can be being developed” by town company.
The incident got here months earlier than a near-collision at Halfway on Feb. 25 involving an plane lumbering onto a runway the place a Southwest Airways jet was about to land.
And it was amongst roughly two dozen whole incursions at O’Hare in 2024, with lots of them showing to be the fault of pilots, in accordance with an FAA database.
Two incursions had been blamed on metropolis staff in every of the next years: 2023, 2022 and 2021. In 2020, there have been 5 runway mishaps involving metropolis workers, in accordance with a metropolis aviation division spokesman who added, “Security is the highest precedence on the airport,” with every incident taken significantly.
Even so, with 1000’s of individuals “licensed to drive on O’Hare’s airfield, it’s a small subset of issues that you just’re speaking about right here.”
The FAA database stories two runway incursions at O’Hare up to now in 2025, however metropolis staff didn’t look like concerned.
Different paperwork obtained by the Chicago Solar-Occasions reveal one other metropolis worker was hit with a two-day unpaid suspension following an incursion on July 2, 2024, on an angled strip generally known as Runway 4R/22L spanning greater than 8,000 toes within the southeast nook of O’Hare.
The runway had been closed for a routine inspection, however after it reopened, neither the worker nor a colleague being skilled by him in a metropolis car checked in to see if that stretch was accessible.
Information present their car proceeded northeast “on Runway 4R/22L as much as the midpoint of the runway” earlier than “turning round and heading again [southwest] certain to Taxiway Y3.”
“On the time of the incident Runway 4R/22L was open however not in use by ATC. No air visitors was affected due to this incident.”
Drivers are required to contact controllers “to substantiate the standing of a runway or get approval . . . every time runway entry is required,” data present.
The trainee was ticketed however not disciplined.
One other incident, on Jan. 23, 2024, concerned a metropolis employee driving into an space that was restricted across the time a flight was cleared to land close by. He was given a reprimand.
The town staff concerned within the three 2024 incursions are members of both the Teamsters or the Laborers unions, neither of which instantly responded to questions. Their labor contracts with Metropolis Corridor name for “progressive self-discipline” in such situations.
None of them had prior runway violations, the aviation spokesman stated.
A fourth incident in 2024 concerned a metropolis car rolling right into a runway security zone whereas serving to a tug crew get to a disabled 747. Nonetheless, it was later decided to not be a violation.
