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REPLY TO THREAD
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Subject
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CHICAGO O'HARE UFO SIGHTING & MORE INFORMATION
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Original Message
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Audio interview with Chicago Tribune reporter:
[link to www.npr.org]
(if anyone wants it transcribed I will paste)
"Dick Haines has been investigating this case since its
occurrence on November 7/06. The Newspaper report at least
recognizes much of what happened there. I corresponded with Dick off and on about the event and sent him material about ATC, tower, runways and ground control as recently as yesterday.
There are two towers, incidentally, at O'Hare and ground control occupies the older O'Hare tower. Both towers can see the entire field at their elevations. However the new tower at 250 feet AGL will be able to see the a newer runway being constructed on the back side of the terminal building.
There is mention of the ground maintenance teams and a pilot in a airliner on the ground on the apron having sighted the object. This being the case they both would have been talking to O'Hare ground control rather than the tower, and ground control would have had a good eyeball on the object as well unless the object was directly overhead of them.
The explanation by the FAA mouthpiece is absurd. There was no reason to contact ATC because they aren't even in the loop at O'Hare. Traffic in the O'Hare zone is handled by O'Hare Tower and handed off to ATC once the traffic has cleared O'Hare's zone. For ATC to be smug about it, joke about a potential hazard shows a lack of concern for safety at O'Hare. Hovering over O'Hare at 1,700 feet is a pretty safe spot for all but helicopters that might be launching because there would be no traffic flying through that space _unless_ there was some need for an overshoot by some aircraft landing or an emergency of some sort.
ATC at O'Hare would not be able to paint radar that close in to the field. It would be a cluttered mess. Transponders on the field are on standby or off because there are so many aircraft on the field that the centers of their scopes would be a white mass of xponder returns. The actual return is about 1/4 inch square with the added information bar. Raw skin paints at the field would result in a cluster of overlapping dots and quite useless.
The best bet for witnesses from the FAA is the tower personnel and ground personnel who themselves are controllers and often shift back and forth and who are in constant contact with one another. At smaller airports ground and tower share the tower facility and often when things are slow perform both duties. Chicago O'Hare has an antiquated radar facility which frequently breaks down, the last time was on Dec.15/06.
I can understand the FAA making light of this and even the
airlines because they don't want anything else deterring people from using airliners, but ATC is different. They are basically ridiculing ground personnel and pilot reports of a potential hazard at one of the biggest airports in the world. ATC ignores this hazard on a frequent basis. There are potentially hundreds of quality witnesses to this event, but many will keep their mouths shut because of just this childish attitude of ATC and the FAA.
I'm preparing a response-have been since yesterday, but waiting for more detail-to Jon Hilkevitch.(John Hilkovich of the Chicago Tribune) Listen to his interview here:
I think he did a pretty good job of getting the story out there without the usual snideness portrayed by other reporters, and it looks like he is going to continue with his investigation via the FOIA."
Don Ledger
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Pictures (click to insert)
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