Chicago Air Traffic Mess A Suicide.

A while back we told you about an air traffic control shutdown that wreaked havoc on the east coast and specifically Chicago. What was originally reported as a small fire at the main Radar Center in Chicago turned out to be a suicide.

A contract employee who had been working to maintain the systems posted a cryptic note on Facebook. And as soon as he was alone, cut the main power lines taking down the Radar Center and doing irreparable damage. He then took his own life.

The story is just beginning though. After evacuating the building, Airplanes had to figure out what to do. There are procedures for this, but never in the history of US aviation have so many airplanes been out of communication for so long.

The amazing thing is not one incident occurred.

The FAA scrambled over the next three days to reprogram systems to cover about 25% of the load that the Radar center had been handling. Within a week, 50% of the normal flows into and out of the Chicago area were back in play.

The Center had to be completely rebuilt, and in the interim, new systems were developed so that no one center could be so critical to US Air Traffic. Load Shedding procedures were built from the ground up.

Chicago is back to normal with delays for snow and ice this time of year, so plan extra time if you are traveling to the Northeast.

Clouds over Chicago
Clouds over Chicago

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