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CONTROLLERS CONDEMN DALEY’S MIDNIGHT MADNESS; NATCA joins FAA, users in
blasting Chicago mayor's Meigs policy
3/31/2003
CHICAGO – Air traffic controllers blasted Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s
unannounced forced closure of downtown lakefront Meigs Field under cloak of
darkness Sunday night, assailing the stealth maneuver as a major step backwards
for Chicago aviation and warning of a domino effect on traffic at neighboring
airports.
“Mayor Daley bulldozed his way into aviation history this morning by destroying
a national treasure and potentially causing unsafe flying conditions for the
greater Chicagoland airspace,” NATCA President John Carr said. “This reminds me
of the Colts sneaking out of Baltimore by dead of night. Clearly, the mayor
didn’t think his policy choices could either figuratively or literally withstand
the light of day. It’s the epitome of arrogance.”
Chicago media are reporting today that before midnight on Sunday, workers with
construction equipment arrived at Meigs escorted by Chicago police and carved
out large, X-shaped portions of concrete out of the center of the runway.
Sixteen aircraft appeared stranded. Sources said under terms of a deal with
then-Illinois Governor George Ryan in December 2001, Mayor Daley agreed to keep
Meigs open until 2026.
“Mayor Daley has managed to do what terrorists couldn’t -- he permanently shut
down an airport in the great city of Chicago,” Carr said. “It’s just
outrageous.”
The monthly average air traffic volume at Meigs in 2002 was 1,564 instrument
flight rules operations, meaning flights where pilots were in contact with air
traffic control. But Meigs routinely became a much busier airport during events
at the nearby McCormick Place convention center. In fact, last September, the
airport handled 2,273 IFR operations.
“The problem with Meigs closing is those 1,500 operations are going to have to
go somewhere else,” remarked Ray Gibbons, president of the local NATCA chapter
at Chicago Terminal Radar Approach Control. “O’Hare and Midway airports are
already operating above capacity. In fact, we are working more aircraft than we
were before Sept. 11, 2001. Meigs’ closure adds complex and higher volumes of
traffic to this area’s overburdened, understaffed facilities and sooner or later
that understaffing will reach critical mass. At some point in time, the safety
of the flying public will be compromised.”
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