O'Hare On GAO's Naughty List

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Dec 6, 2007 4:59PM

Ah, O'Hare. First your flight gets delayed, then there's a stinky but nontoxic cleaning agent used in the terminal, then your plane almost runs into another plane. Indeed, ye olde ORD has the second-highest number of near-collisions of any US airport. And according to a report from the GAO, O'Hare has six runways that don't meet the FAA's "runway safety area standards," and the airport had four "serious incursions," which is when two planes come close to hitting each other during FY 2006 and 2007, and 12 since 2001.

O'Hare does have some updated equipment, like a ground radar system that's no doubt the envy of airports across the land, but we're still short on air-traffic controllers. (Good news! Romeoville's Lewis University now offers a major in air traffic control.) We're not short on flu shots, though--9,500 travelers have been vaccinated at O'Hare and Midway this year. Because the only way to make air travel more delightful is to include getting shot full of disease.

Again, photo by Bhaggs