Joan Lunden Behind Closed Doors: O'Hare Air Traffic

Chicago O'Hare International Airport as busy as it is on the ground you can't imagine what it's like in the sky behind these closed doors and up 27 stories is the air traffic control tower the men and women who work here are responsible for moving planes safely in and out of the skies above O'Hare the pressure that comes with the job is enormous 7:3 coming out Pete salmon has worked in air traffic control for 33 years 15 of Daddy's feni's a controller himself today he's the boss the FAA air traffic control tower manager here at O'Hare there's probably a very different perception I mean we look up at the sky we see this massive sky when you think of this guy how do you think of it without trying to scare anybody or I think of it as being crowded especially in in this area in the Chicago area there's a lot of airplanes here and there's always airplanes out there so if you make a mistake there's gonna be an aircraft there my unprecedented visit to the ATC tower began with a short elevator ride then after climbing three narrow flights of stairs I was awed by the stunning panorama the O'Hare Tower is state-of-the-art and at 1,100 square feet it's the size of a two-bedroom apartment making it the biggest in the country and because cargo flights come in all night long the tower is staffed 24 hours a day on average 16 air traffic controllers work in the tower at a time it's a demanding job that can pay more than $100,000 a year they'll be on duty up here for 8 hours per shift but to help manage stress breaks are mandatory what about the ability to handle stress I mean it's got to be a stressful job some handle it was better than others they all have their own releases up in the control tower I openly encourage people to relax a little bit of noise level is okay in my book they kid with each other I like that and I and I think that's a release this controller was that good so he says be over here by himself are you talking to a campaign is taking off right there no okay here's your cut you're talking the ones coming in controllers handle planes like partners at a square-dance aircraft are handed off from controller to controller down at the gate and in the alley planes are directed by the ramp tower once they get to the taxiway the ground controller up here in ATC is in charge now that aircrafts with when it's in the correct queue then it'll fall over to this guy's frequency turn now and then he's got the line up and he'll clear for takeoff give the headings to get them going in the right direction all that kind of thing during my visit controllers were clearing departures on three runways at the same time flights were also landing on three other runways these are five mile rings okay and your poor courses in the center controllers use sophisticated radar that displays flight number altitude and heading but don't expect to find their eyes locked on the radar scope the main job of the tower controllers to look out the window on a day like today they're looking out the window more than they're looking at the radar scopes when we slow down almost to a crawl at this Airport is when you can't see the runways that's a tough time for the controllers because they they can't rely on their eyeballs out the window in the Lord this is after all Chicago the Windy City and bad weather will cause delays case in point the blizzard that struck in 1999 the weather in the winter is the big challenge who decides at the airport closes the airport never closes the FAA will from time to time utilize specific run wastes slow down the in and out of airplanes but as was witnessed in the blizzard the airport was open the runways were clean and we were there and ready to do business so it never has to close down I'd never will close down no matter what the weather all eyes in the ATC tower must stay focused on the job when you look at those little blips do you think of them as airplanes with three four hundred people on them no and I don't I don't know how you really could and it's not that's not irresponsibility or anything else like that you just don't think of 300 people 300 people 300 people it's an aircraft you have to protect it whether there's one or 300 getting your plane safely on the ground is just part of the job you still have to get to the gate and that takes special handling down on the ramp here at the ground crew with orange ones take over they are the ones in charge of working these giant Jets for the first time at O'Hare American Airlines allowed me to play a very key role in the ground crew I learned to be a guide person and how to park a multi-million dollar jet Americans training instructor Joan Gagliardi showed me the ropes initially turns out it's all done with sign language the first wave is to get the pilots attention there we go it seemed so simple go straight slow down low down turn stop put on your parking brake but try it with the nose of a big jet coming at you time for the real deal here comes flight 1809 from Nashville it's an md80 with a full load of passengers it's my job to park it at gate k-8 my instructor Joan stands by just in case so that this gate now light up your arms straight up this is no joke the pilot can't see the tips of the wings and is relying on me to guide the plane in safely great from my vantage point the plane looks huge it feels like a two-story building on wheels coming right at me to lock the steering a pin has to be inserted in the nose gear then it's on to the next job for me into the md-80s aft cargo compartment the works not over till the last bag is off from the baggage department that moves our luggage to the security people and dogs that keep us safe to the controllers in the tower keeping the flights in line it takes thousands of people behind closed doors looking around the clock to keep O'Hare flying

Channel: JoanLunden

Views: 5,079

Rating: 4.9000001 out of 5

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Id: EYdSX-3E_pk

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2016