RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, on Friday, September 26, 2014, a mentally disturbed contract employee at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Aurora, IL air traffic control radar facility intentionally started a fire in the control center; and
WHEREAS, the fire targeted critical telecommunication cables and computers causing all flights at both O'Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport to be halted; and
WHEREAS, few flights departed from O'Hare after the fire on Friday the 26th while no flights departed from Midway; and
WHEREAS, the effects of these delays currently continue disrupting thousands of flights that have already been canceled; and
WHEREAS, delays were so extensive that they prevented the President of the United States from landing at O'Hare Airport nearly a week after the initial incident; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Travel Association estimate that the delays will have a total negative economic impact of over $123 million dollars in economic activity; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago area experienced additional delays on October 6, 2014 due to equipment malfunction; and
WHEREAS, as recently as May of 2014, the area experienced extensive delays and cancellations due to a fire in a regional radar facility in Elgin, IL; and
WHEREAS, currently, there are no backup systems in place requiring the flight-plan information to be entered by hand; and
WHEREAS, the Administrator ofthe FAA, Michael Huerta, stated that a new system is at least two years away from introduction and may take a decade to be fully implemented; and
WHEREAS, there is a need for an immediate backup system to prevent similar disruptions, cancellations and economic harm in the future and causing millions of dollars in economic impact; NOW THEREFORE
i i
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Committee on Aviation hereby requests the Administrator ofthe Federal Aviation Administration, or his delegate, and the Commissioner ofthe Chicago Department of Aviation to appear before the aforementioned Co...
Click here for full text