Chicago O'Hare Tower - ORD

gsmtnbiker Newcomer Winston-Salem, North Carolina

At the July PEPC in NYC, I found out I'm going to ORD tower! That was my first choice and am super excited I got it, but am now trying to get a good idea of what to expect and what I need to do to succeed at such a large facility. I'll be starting in OKC late 2008 or early 2009 and want to prepare for the ORD ATC life as much as possible. Anyone at or know someone at ORD tower? Any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions would definitely be helpful. Cheers!

Adam Unregistered

A controllers kid that I work with is going to ORD tower as well.

archie_league Junior Member Chicago

Yep. PM me any specific questions you may have.

Alex E Rookie

Read Bob Richards book Secrets from the Tower

Towerboss Future Former Controller Houston, Texas

Yep PM me for contact info.

meatasaurusx Trusted Member Chi-town

i got assigned chicago tracon, so i'm sure i'll be talking to you at some point. congrats on the offer. i would have liked ord as well, but i'm very happy to be at the tracon. good luck with everything

mjohn47 Senior Member Holbrook, NY

i'm like 99% sure you all know about Listen to Live Air Traffic Control Communications | LiveATC.net. From what I see - the ORD feed is listed as "experimental" but it might be a good idea to listen to that to get an idea of what the flow is up there.

polo708 Epic Member tower

Not to be a downer or anything, but starting at Chicago Tower is like suicide for a CTI/OTS with no experience. I think all OTS/CTI should be starting at slower facilities but thats just me... I know plenty of guys with 10+ years that probably wouldnt make it in a level 11/12 tower so to expect someone with no background is far fetched.

Please dont take this the wrong way. I hope you can make it and if you can then consider it a great achievement in my book and pat yourself on the back. But its going to be far from easy... FAR from easy.

Again, good luck. Honestly.

klkm Senior Member

ORD probably is the hardest of the 10/11/12 towers out there with their current runway setup. All the intersections with that load of traffic is crazy. I know here in the future they will be switching to a more parallel layout like Atlanta, which although still near impossible may make it slightly easier. But I would not want to go there with no prior tower experience. Good luck!

skyharborbound Newcomer

I had to look for myself on Google maps. That runway layout is stupid. Has to be because the wind is so strong in so many different directions at different times. 14/32 L/R 1 mile apart, 04/22 L/R 2 miles apart, and 09/27 L/R 1 mile apart. I'm happy to be going to Sky Harbor Tower where it's clear and a million 99% of the year and all the runways all get along nicely. Could that get boring though?