Passengers on several flights trying to escape Chicago O’Hare amidst severe storms and a tornado warning say they were trapped on planes on the taxiway as air traffic controllers abandoned the control tower to get to underground shelters on Monday night.
The National Weather Service said that as many as 10 simultaneous tornados hit the ground across the Chicago Metro area on July 15, and at one point, O’Hare Airport was in the direct line of fire of one storm.
Despite worsening conditions on the ground, passengers say they were boarded onto planes as normal, which were then despatched from the gate despite significant ground delays that resulted in a major backlog of planes on the taxiways and long takeoff delays.
Then, the NWS issued a tornado warning for O’Hare, and a shelter-in-place notice was immediately put in place. Passengers in the terminal buildings were ordered to get away from windows, while many were directed to underground walkways to see out the worst of the storm.
By the time that the tornado warning came, however, nothing could be done for the passengers who were already sat on planes away from the gate.
At this point, they claim the pilots told them they were effectively on their own as air traffic controllers and ground staff had also followed shelter in place protocols.
“Our plane is sitting on the runway at Chicago O’Hare right now while everyone’s phones receive multiple tornado warnings,” wrote Courtney Mares on X. “[The] Captain announced that air traffic control and ground control have evacuated. Plane is shaking as it is blown back and forth by the wind,” Mares continued.
In a follow up post, Mares shared a video of her plane shaking as winds buffeted the aircraft and lightening lit up the night sky.
American Airlines responded to Mares’ posts, saying: “We’ll get the plane up to a gate and everyone off just as soon as the conditions allow. Thank you for your understanding.”
Data supplied by flight tracking website Flight Radar 24 showed a long line of planes snaking along a taxiway at O’Hare in what resembled a traffic jam of jets that weren’t able to depart due to the storm conditions.
Although the storm has now passed, passengers say it is taking many hours for airlines to recover and there’s currently very little information about when some flights might be able to depart.
Given that O’Hare is a major hub for United Airlines, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that the carrier was forced to cancel over 100 flights on Monday, while nearly 900 flights were delayed – representing almost 30 per cent of United’s daily schedule.
