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O'Hare Controllers See Ghost Planes

.c The Associated Press


CHICAGO (AP) - False radar images have been popping up on the screens of O'Hare International Airport's air traffic controllers, forcing pilots to take sudden turns unnecessarily, the Chicago Sun-Times reported in its Sunday editions.

At least a dozen ``ghost planes'' have been reported during the last few weeks, the newspaper said, citing documents from the Terminal Radar Approach Control center in Elgin, Ill., and interviews with controllers.

Controllers said that at least a few times, they have ordered pilots to take sudden turns to avoid what appeared to be planes on their radar, potentially putting passengers at risk.

``The ghosting is a complete terror for the air traffic controllers,'' said Charles Bunting, president of the Elgin local of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

False radar images can appear when a crane or construction tower is put up, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro. Planes from nearby airports also have appeared much closer to O'Hare than they actually were in recent weeks, controllers said.

Molinaro said there have been 13 ghost images in the last five weeks, rather than the eight or nine the FAA would usually expect in that time period, ``meaning we still need to look into them.''

But Mike Egan, vice president of the controllers union at Elgin, accused the FAA of playing down the problem. ``Maybe 130, but not 13,'' Egan said Friday. ``We had a couple of them today, as a matter of fact. ... They know there's a problem.''

O'Hare controllers have also recently complained about the FAA's plans to speed air traffic at O'Hare by stacking arriving planes vertically around O'Hare's air space rather than having them line up single-file.

Bunting said the radar situation raises questions about the safety of the procedure.

AP-NY-05-20-00 1602EDT