Boeing 747-136 GAWNM

Summary

On 26 February 1995 at about 00:25 local time, a Boeing 747-136 registered GAWNM was involved in an incident near Chicago, Illinois, United States. 357 people were on board and nobody was injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 February 1995 at 00:25

Classification

Incident

Location

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Chicago O'hare Int'l (ORD)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Boeing 747-136

Registration

GAWNM

Category

Airplane

Engines

4

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 129: Foreign

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → London

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

CHI95IA095

Nobody was injured.

the North Local Controller's failure to issue a clearance which would ensure separation between the two airplanes and the North Local Control Monitor's failure to adequately back up the controller. Factors were the complexity of the airport operations and task overload of the North Local Controller.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) FLIGHT 296 WAS CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 32R WITH A RIGHT TURN TO A HEADING OF 070 DEGREES. UNITED AIRLINES (UA) FLIGHT 243 WAS CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF ON RUNWAY 4L WITH A LEFT TURN TO A HEADING OF 320 DEGREES, 49 SECONDS LATER. THE NORTH LOCAL CONTROLLER AT THE CHICAGO O'HARE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER (ATCT) ISSUED SEVERAL HEADING AND ALTITUDE CHANGES TO UA FLIGHT 243 UNTIL THE COURSES OF THE TWO AIRPLANES DIVERGED. THE MINIMUM LATERAL SEPARATION REQUIRED BETWEEN TWO HEAVY AIRPLANES IN THE CHICAGO TERMINAL AREA IS FOUR MILES. THE PILOT OF UA FLIGHT 243 ESTIMATED THE MINIMUM SEPARATION BETWEEN THE TWO AIRPLANES WAS 300 FEET VERTICALLY AND ONE MILE HORIZONTALLY. THE ATCT WAS STAFFED WITH TWO LOCAL CONTROLLERS, A RELIEVING NORTH LOCAL CONTROLLER, A LOCAL CONTROL MONITOR, AN AREA SUPERVISOR, AND AN AREA MANAGER. THE TRAFFIC WAS DESCRIBED AS 'FAIRLY BUSY' AND THE CONFIGURATION AS 'COMPLEX' BUT NOT ABNORMAL FOR THE O'HARE ATCT.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.