[The 90’s raw: Air Traffic Control Tower]

Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90's. Inside the air traffic control tower at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. The room is a constant flurry of activity, but no one stops specifically to talk to the camera or explain anything about his or her job.

00:26Copy video clip URL The tower has a 360-degree view of O’Hare, and the camera takes some shots of planes coming in on the radar. The tower is situated in the middle of all the terminals. Men on headsets spout streams of numbers and we see some of the paperwork they do. They give pilots directions about landing, saying flight numbers and things like “Clear to land,” runway numbers and “Prepare for takeoff.”

07:30Copy video clip URL The camera does a panning shot from a higher perspective of the whole room, and then eavesdrops on a conversation between a few employees. There is a brief shot of a plane going down the runway. Briefly, the camera catches the way the tower keeps track of flights, with plastic bars that each contain a slip of paper with the flight number and information, or with whiteboard tiles.

10:45Copy video clip URL Two people consider the radar. An interview begins with the man who prints out the flight information, but he is cut off. More planes move around O’Hare, and a helicopter flies near the tower. More shots of the equipment, with lots of buttons, and the printer which prints out the flights for the tiles. The camera continues to watch people work quickly as they organize the air traffic in and out of O’Hare.

24:45Copy video clip URL The camera cuts to a view of planes stopped at the terminals, moving around the airport, and taking off, but then turns back to the endless activity inside the tower.

30:54Copy video clip URL A plaque on the wall reads, “O’Hare Air Traffic Control Tower Dedicated May 18, 1971” and then the camera cuts briefly to radar in a dark room. Then the camera takes a shot of the control tower from the exterior, against the sky.

34:11Copy video clip URL End of tape.