Flying toward disaster? Near-collision shows hazard in skies around O'Hare.(News)

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

Byline: Joseph Ryan Daily Herald Staff Writer On a cloud-filled, rainy fall evening, a Learjet inexplicably passes its turn for landing at Palwaukee Municipal Airport and speeds toward a LOT Polish Airlines 767 set to land at O'Hare with possibly more than 200 passengers. The two planes are now on a collision course - victims of a system with little forgiveness for tiny jets maneuvering near the paths of giant airliners north of O'Hare.

Radar screens at the air traffic control facility in Elgin turn red and alarms wail. Radar operators scramble as the Learjet rapidly approaches Polish Airlines Flight 3. "Where is he going? Holy crap," exclaims an air traffic controller, as others try to get the Learjet pilot on the radio. "What is that guy doing?" the...