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http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=4&id=9466

Updated: January 2nd, 2007 04:04 PM EDT
Home > Airport News
"Emergency Crews Answer Calls at O'Hare 3 Times a Week"
Monifa Thomas
The Chicago Sun-Times

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "To passengers, they can be unnerving. To pilots and firefighters, they are fairly routine.

At least three or four times a week on flights bound for O'Hare Airport, emergencies are called by pilots during flight, bringing fire trucks and ambulances to the runway area as a precaution. Almost always, the plane lands safely.

In 2006, there were 177 of these emergency calls -- known as "stand-bys" when they occur during flight and "emergency alerts" when they happen on the ground -- according to figures provided by the Chicago Fire Department.

Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said stand-bys and emergency alerts "happen more often than people think," but they represent a small fraction of the more than 900,000 flights O'Hare handles each year."

http://www.kamu.tamu.edu

http://www.kamu.tamu.edu/fmlocal/archive.php?id=1124306099

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http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20070102-034215-5043r

"DC has new radio show on homeland security"

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A Washington-area public radio station begins airing next week a weekly magazine show dedicated to homeland security.

WAMU will broadcast the hour-long program, "Homeland Security: Inside and Out," on Wednesday evenings, the station said on its Web site.

The program is produced by Texas A&M University radio station, KAMU, and is co-hosted by David McIntyre, director of the university's Integrative Center for Homeland Security, and retired Air Force Col. Randall Larsen, director of the Washington-based Institute for Homeland Security.

The program has been on the air since March last year in a 30-minute format, and will expand to its new length on its home broadcast on KAMU Tuesday evenings, Larsen told United Press International."

"At least three or four times a week on flights bound for O'Hare Airport, emergencies are called by pilots during flight, bringing fire trucks and ambulances to the runway area as a precaution. Almost always, the plane lands safely."

I can vouch for that personally. I live right up the street from one of the firehouses that goes on these calls. 5 pieces of equipment go roaring down the street headed for the highway into O'Hare. I can fire up the scanner and sometimes catch the inbound flight. A few occasions I have even watched them fly right over my house!

But yes, at least twice per week is the average. Thankfully, always uneventful.

Happy New Year all! May it be an uneventful one.