Fire in Chicago ARTCC... Again....

Ha! A friend of mine just posted.

"Anyone headed to or flying through Chicago.... check your flight status before headed to the airport. Then go back to bed. All day."
 
Yep The Chicago Air Traffic Control tower that controls Midway and O'Hare is out and all planes are not being allowed to fly!

FRACKING NEWS MEDIA CANNOT REPORT ANYTHING RIGHT!!!

The real thing is that yes indeed Chicago Center has a fire and there is drastic efforts under way to minimize traffic through the area. KORD and KMDW have a ground stop. I see a couple of planes on Flightaware, but basically Chicago Center traffic is being routed around their AOR.

Living under one of the approach paths to KORD I can tell you it is really quiet outside this morning. Erie, 911 ATC-ZERO erie!
 
Just got word that they are expecting the ground-stop to be until at least 1000L.
 
The hole in the middle is C90 AOR

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Not that I have any plans to fly to Chicago today, but just curious -- with weather like this:

KMDW 261251Z 14005KT 10SM FEW070 17/12 A3026 RMK SLP242 T01670122

Even with Chicago ARTCC out, couldn't we just fly VFR and contact Chicago approach or even stay under the class B/C and contact ORD or MDW tower directly and still fly in?

Or is there a NOTAM or something closing the airspace?

Obviously 121 and some 135 operators are prohibited from flying VFR in their op specs, I think. But for us small guys, it would just make it that much easier to get in, right? ;)
 
stevenclin said:
Not that I have any plans to fly to Chicago today, but just curious -- with weather like this:

KMDW 261251Z 14005KT 10SM FEW070 17/12 A3026 RMK SLP242 T01670122

Even with Chicago ARTCC out, couldn't we just fly VFR and contact Chicago approach or even stay under the class B/C and contact ORD or MDW tower directly and still fly in?

Or is there a NOTAM or something closing the airspace?

Obviously 121 and some 135 operators are prohibited from flying VFR in their op specs, I think. But for us small guys, it would just make it that much easier to get in, right? ;)
Click to expand...
Don't think so. There are ground-stops at ORD and MDW, so even VFR guys should be affected.
 
stevenclin said:
Not that I have any plans to fly to Chicago today, but just curious -- with weather like this:

KMDW 261251Z 14005KT 10SM FEW070 17/12 A3026 RMK SLP242 T01670122

Even with Chicago ARTCC out, couldn't we just fly VFR and contact Chicago approach or even stay under the class B/C and contact ORD or MDW tower directly and still fly in?

Or is there a NOTAM or something closing the airspace?

Obviously 121 and some 135 operators are prohibited from flying VFR in their op specs, I think. But for us small guys, it would just make it that much easier to get in, right? ;)
Click to expand...
Yes, you can do that.
 
Hmmm... I guess I won't be filing IFR to Gaston's today! They'll just have to guess when I'm going to get there. ;)
 
One can only hope he's a fed employee, and that he succeeds.
 
stevenclin said:
Not that I have any plans to fly to Chicago today, but just curious -- with weather like this:

KMDW 261251Z 14005KT 10SM FEW070 17/12 A3026 RMK SLP242 T01670122

Even with Chicago ARTCC out, couldn't we just fly VFR and contact Chicago approach or even stay under the class B/C and contact ORD or MDW tower directly and still fly in?

Or is there a NOTAM or something closing the airspace?

Obviously 121 and some 135 operators are prohibited from flying VFR in their op specs, I think. But for us small guys, it would just make it that much easier to get in, right? ;)
Click to expand...

"We" could, but *all* 121 operations are IFR and that is the vast majority of what goes in and out of ORD.

HighFlyingA380 said:
Don't think so. There are ground-stops at ORD and MDW, so even VFR guys should be affected.
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AFAICT, ground stops don't apply to VFR aircraft. It just means that ATC does not release new IFR traffic destined there into the system.

There are no NOTAMs for KORD closing the field.
 
Vinny said:
There's apparently somebody in the basement of the Center building trying to do harm (to himself or others):

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...-called-to-radar-facility-20140926-story.html
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Was, not is. That was several hours ago.

Emergency crews were called to a fire in the facility's basement around 5:40 a.m., according to Aurora Police Sgt. Dan Ferrelli, a department spokesman. They found a man there with "self-inflicted non-gunshot" wounds and transported him to a hospital, Ferrelli said.
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So, he's at the hospital now.

docmirror said:
One can only hope he's a fed employee, and that he succeeds.
Click to expand...

Why would you say such a thing? :frown2: And it looks like you're out of luck:

The man is not an air traffic controller or FAA manager, according to an FAA source at the facility.
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N801BH said:
I don't get it.. Do the controllers work in the basement. or several levels above ??:dunno::dunno:..

I say secure the basement doors so this "person" cannot get into the rest of the building and get the friggin controllers BACK to work...:mad2:
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The person is not the reason the facility is still closed - The fire is. The person is gone.

I would imagine that if the fire didn't do severe damage to the equipment that all will be back to work soon, and that by the end of the day all will be back to normal.
 
Then there's the second guy who wasn't self inflicted....
 
This is getting too weird....:confused:..

One guy shoots himself.... taken to the hospital,, later a fire breaks out...

And now another guy ??:dunno::dunno:
 
stevenclin said:
Not that I have any plans to fly to Chicago today, but just curious -- with weather like this:

KMDW 261251Z 14005KT 10SM FEW070 17/12 A3026 RMK SLP242 T01670122

Even with Chicago ARTCC out, couldn't we just fly VFR and contact Chicago approach or even stay under the class B/C and contact ORD or MDW tower directly and still fly in?

Or is there a NOTAM or something closing the airspace?

Obviously 121 and some 135 operators are prohibited from flying VFR in their op specs, I think. But for us small guys, it would just make it that much easier to get in, right? ;)
Click to expand...

This ground stop should have little effect on VFR operations within the Chicago Class B/C airspace. If anything, it should make services more readily available.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
"We" could, but *all* 121 operations are IFR and that is the vast majority of what goes in and out of ORD.



AFAICT, ground stops don't apply to VFR aircraft. It just means that ATC does not release new IFR traffic destined there into the system.

There are no NOTAMs for KORD closing the field.
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Ah, thanks. I haven't done VFR work in years, so I'm out of practice with this stuff.
 
AuntPeggy said:
Take a look at the fire footage. Not a minor fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/fire-control-stops-ohare-midway-flights-120948209.html

Also this: 'Authorities said the blaze was intentionally set by a contract employee of the Federal Aviation Administration and had no ties to terrorism. '
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AP, the footage they are showing on yahoo is a different fire.

http://abc7chicago.com/news/photos-crews-battle-commercial-fire-in-lawndale/324358/

But why set a fire? There are much easier wasys to get out of work on a friday.
 
AuntPeggy said:
Sigh. I don't get sound with the video. Did that information come out in the voice-over? Why would they show some other fire?
Click to expand...

I was reading the comments and found out the file footage was fake. Its all about the ratings. What attracts more viewers, a shot of a building with fire trucks outside doing nothing, or a raging inferno? Never trust the news.
 
HighFlyingA380 said:
Ah, thanks. I haven't done VFR work in years, so I'm out of practice with this stuff.
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I don't know why, but I find that really funny. :)

WRT this fire -- we were trapped in Chicago for hours the LAST time this happened to Chicago Center, in March. It caused us to miss our flight out of Houston, and a buddy with a Lance flew us home the next day.

WTF is going on at this Keystone Kop operation?
 
N801BH said:
This is getting too weird....:confused:..

One guy shoots himself.... taken to the hospital,, later a fire breaks out...

And now another guy ??:dunno::dunno:
Click to expand...

Chicago needs to ban handguns, then this crap wouldn't happen.
Oh wait, they already do. Maybe they need to ban matches and lighters too.
 
Who picks up the traffic load when Chicago ARTCC closes? Do they go to CTAF for the entire area?? Haha?
 
N801BH said:
This is getting too weird....:confused:..

One guy shoots himself.... taken to the hospital,, later a fire breaks out...

And now another guy ??:dunno::dunno:
Click to expand...

Where do you get all that? :dunno:

All I've seen was ONE guy, with NON-gunshot wounds. I figure he must have burned himself with the flamethrower he used to torch the place!
 
Jay Honeck said:
WRT this fire -- we were trapped in Chicago for hours the LAST time this happened to Chicago Center, in March. It caused us to miss our flight out of Houston, and a buddy with a Lance flew us home the next day.

WTF is going on at this Keystone Kop operation?
Click to expand...

That was Chicago Approach - This is Chicago Center.

Hopefully they've burned all of the underbrush out of both facilities and won't have this problem in the future. ;)
 
That city is a mess. I drove a car through there once and about wanted to shoot myself. :)
 
I wonder how this incident would be different after the 2020 adsb mandate?
 
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