The Nation : Retraining of O’Hare Controllers Urged

Federal safety investigators called for a “back-to-basics” training program for air traffic controllers at Chicago’s busy O’Hare International Airport. The National Transportation Safety Board started an investigation of air traffic control at O’Hare in June after a sharp surge in the number of operational errors by controllers. So far this year, the number of operational errors at O’Hare is four times the number at Atlanta and five times the number at Los Angeles, the board said in a 15-page letter to Federal Aviation Administrator T. Allan McArtor. The safety board said that most of the controller errors at O’Hare’s radar control facility in the first half of the year involved a “breakdown in basic (controller) skills.” The panel called on the FAA to provide controllers there with newer and better equipment, increase controller staffing, reduce peak traffic loads, improve controller training and develop better quality assurance.