A safer O'Hare in '07? Regulators say yes; air traffic controllers insist it's always safe.(News)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), February, 2007 | by Ryan, Joseph

Byline: Joseph Ryan Daily Herald Staff Writer Even as federal regulators are pledging 2007 will not see a repeat of an unnerving increase in near-accidents at O'Hare airport, air traffic controllers argue the airport is safe and always has been. "There is not a safety problem," said Joseph Bellino, head of the tower's controllers union.

"They changed the rules." Controllers, who are blamed for most of the logged near- accidents, say new rules from Federal Aviation Administration supervisors pushed previously benign incidents into the realm of "runway incursions," technical speak for situations in which airplanes are on a collision course on the airfield. The busy airport with five intersecting runways was the scene of 10 so-called runway incursions in...