EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Weather; Procedure
West flow C90 with the wind picking up rapidly from the North after a hurricane. There are several safety issues here that have been going on in this facility for a long time. I yelled out more than a few times we were going to have to change configurations and quick because with a 25 knot gusting to 36 knots crosswind this was only a matter of time before refusals will come fast and furious. The wind was 350 to 360; I mean a direct crosswind. Issue number one is instead of changing right then and there; knowing full well what is coming; we (FLM) continue to push the envelope and I'm told by him to let him know as soon as we start getting refusals. There is a real problem with that because by that time it's simply too late. You have airplanes all over the sky; trying to move them here; there; and everywhere. Pointing them out to Departure and South Satellite; which gratefully my hand off was doing for me. I told them as soon as one pilot refuses; they all will and it's going to be a huge cluster but this falls on deaf ears; why I have no idea. This is not a shot at this FLM; they all do it generally speaking; we don't take proactive action here or any kind of action in these circumstances until our hands are absolutely forced. A large part of this stems from the fact that the tower calls the configuration change and more often than not; they won't do it until they absolutely have to. But there is a real safety issue with this because we have the airplanes in the air with a limited amount of congested airspace. Nobody is getting hurt sitting on the ground. We have to work out these absolutely ridiculous scenarios; where it gets to the point that you are just trying to separate airplanes; with everyone out of place now; at different speeds; alt; etc. Going to Runway 32R in this instance which I have to pull out the information; dump zones act. because I haven't worked this runway in probably over a year; we rarely use it. On top of that; trying to ensure everyone has the new ATIS and running out of my airspace into MDW's airspace. I mean it's hardly manageable; let alone safe. I talked with the OM about all this and my main question is: why do we do this? Why can't we tell the ORD TWR this is what we are going to do; because we have to not because we just want to. Instead we wait for them to make the call; creating unsafe situations. On Runway 32R a small airliner and someone else in front; (it was a large) he was cleared for the ILS (the small airliner); it was closing way too fast I got visual but not in time; went to like 2.5 or something; I just pulled him off. It was the least of my problems at the moment. I'm trying and have tried for years to figure out why we have this procedure/agreement with our Tower that is so iron clad. This TRACON needs control to change the runway configuration when we need to not when the Tower wants to. Also; every bit as important; the way to fix these problems is to be proactive not reactive. When we see these scenarios developing for a while; the answer should be we will fix it when the pilots refuse the runway when we know full well that they will.
C90 Controller described a very complex traffic period with an extreme crosswind factor and the potential for multiple go-arounds. The reporter was very frustrated with this on-going problem.