A close call at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport around midday last Friday demonstrated again the risks of operating at airports that use parallel runways for simultaneous arrivals and departures. The aircraft involved were an American Airlines Boeing 737 that had just departed Runway 9 Right and an Envoy Embraer 145 that took off from the parallel Runway 10 Left. ORD uses two sets of parallel runways that include Runways 9 Left and Right on the north side of the airport and Runways 10 Left, Center and Right on the south side. In this incident, both aircraft were issued a 100 degree heading after takeoff.
