Christmas chaos: Dozens of flights canceled out of both Chicago airports due to dense fog

Fox Business ^ | 12/24/23 | Stepheny Price

[Libloather]

Dense fog wreaked havoc on travelers inside both Chicago international airports - O'Hare and Midway - early Christmas Eve, as over 50 flights were grounded, leaving travelers stuck for the holidays.

On Sunday, the National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory for the entire Chicago area that initially expired at 9 a.m., but was later extended to 12 p.m. as heavy fog lingered.

At Midway alone, there have been around 50 cancelations so far, with increasing delays as the FAA issued a ground stop until 10:30 a.m., after travel was put on hold late Saturday night.

Meanwhile, O'Hare airport has reported only 15 canceled flights with minimal delays.

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told Fox News Digital that they were working with travelers and working to get the situation resolved.

"We’re working with our customers whose travel is impacted by fog at Chicago Midway that began Saturday night and prevented inbound aircraft from landing, forcing some diversions and subsequent flight cancelations. With visibility remaining below required operational minimums throughout the night and continuing this morning, we’ve modified our planned start for today (Sunday) at Chicago Midway." Southwest Airlines said. "We have all-hands on deck as our employees are working to quickly take care of our customers and accommodate them on alternative flights."

[Libloather]

May need to share a sleeping bag with an illegal alien.

[know.your.why]

[PGalt]

The fog ia very thick here...39 miles northwest of Detroit.

[George from New England]

I didn’t think all the computer controls we have today, were affected by clouds or fog.

[know.your.why]

[know.your.why]

I didn’t think all the computer controls we have today, were affected by clouds or fog.

The pilots can not see 50 feet in front of them. Thats the problem.

[PGalt]

Yeah, I was on a flight to New York City some years ago and we landed in thick fog. I was amazed that the pilot could accomplish that.

[dfwgator]

“You see that Bears game?”

[CFW]

Oh, the misery of being stuck in Chicago on a foggy Christmas evening.
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Excellent weather for the thugs, though.

[Leaning Right]

Dense fog? There never was any fog back in the old days. This is certainly another evil effect of Global Warming Climate Change.

Somebody ought to tell Al Gore and Greta Thunberg about this.

[stars & stripes forever]

A lot of car accidents in the area as well.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I wonder if Chicongo will have their annual Christmas Drive-by Shooting Classic this year.

[GaryCrow]

The lowest visibility an airliner can land in is 300' RVR (runway visual range), that's not much. That is referred to as a Category III approach. To do that the runway first has to be certified for that which means the appropriate lighting and the ILS (instrument landing system) has been certified for that. O'Hare has multiple runways certified for that, Midway does not so operations at O'Hare can continue in worse weather than Midway. There are also multiple other requirements, the airline has to be certified to do Cat III, the airplane itself has to be Cat III capable, and the aircrew has to be trained and current to do Cat III approaches. Not all airlines pay for the equipment and training to do Cat III, and not all that are Cat III certified can go all the way down to 300' RVR, some have the minimums higher. Some airlines will be able to land at an airport in weather conditions that will force another to divert. Even different airplane types within the same airline will have different landing minimums.

On a real, no kidding 300' RVR approach you generally won't see the runway until you're about 2-3 seconds from touch down. The autopilot is flying it and the pilots are monitoring everything closely. It's a bit hairy but it works.

With O'Hare being capable of lower visibility operations than Midway it explains why they kept operating when Midway was closed.

[No name given]

Hopefully all the lefties in the city, especially the wealthy white lefties, do!

[Irish Eyes]

Yeah, I was on a flight to New York City some years ago and we landed in thick fog. I was amazed that the pilot could accomplish that.

Most of that pertains to the particular airport and what systems they have.

[Irish Eyes]

Explained very well.

[SunkenCiv]

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[Conservat1]

I thought it was the Frankenstein Palestine rioters