Chicago Due to Get New Air Traffic System

Chicago’s air traffic control center, the nation’s busiest, will have new equipment installed soon after a string of breakdowns hit its 30-year-old computer system, two congressmen were quoted as saying Sunday.

New computers to replace aging systems at several of the nation’s air traffic control centers were originally expected to be ready by 1998 or later, but an interim system may be in place as early as next summer, sources told the Chicago Tribune.

Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Rep. Gerald C. (Jerry) Weller Jr. (R-Ill.) have asked for studies of the problems at the facility outside Chicago and sought action by Federal Aviation Administration chief David Hinson.

However, an FAA spokesman could not confirm that the Chicago facility’s aging computers, which were installed in the early 1960s and have failed four times in the last 2 1/2 months, will be replaced by an interim system.

The Chicago center monitors planes in parts of six states that are beyond the 30-mile limit of airport radar.

The most recent outage lasted for more than 24 hours last Monday, forcing air traffic controllers to rely on an even older, less flexible backup system. Members of the air traffic controllers union said the breakdowns slowed air traffic into O’Hare International Airport, heightened stress on controllers and raised the risks for air travelers.

Simon has also sought action on controllers’ complaints of understaffing at the facility in Aurora, west of Chicago, where 3 million flights will be handled this year.