Flight Report

ADS-B radar data captured 2,375 total movements at Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) on October 1, 2025, the airport's 70th anniversary. That figure breaks down to 1,162 arrivals, 1,162 departures, and 51 touch-and-go operations across 869 unique aircraft. Traffic ran continuously from midnight to 23:59 CDT, averaging 99 flights per hour. The peak hour was 17:00 CDT with 182 movements, and the secondary concentrations fell at 11:00 (176) and 15:00 (168). Early morning hours from 00:00 through 05:00 saw minimal activity, with hourly totals ranging from 5 to 22 flights. The busiest route pair was ORD-LGA, with 30 arrivals and 30 departures totaling 60 movements. Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP), Denver (DEN), and Reagan National (DCA) each accounted for 33 to 35 total operations. Toronto Pearson (YYZ) was the only non-U.S. airport in the top ten, logging 32 movements. Approach and departure directions were spread widely across the compass, with east and west headings leading both categories. Arrivals from the east numbered 166, and departures toward the east totaled 173. Altitude data derived from 1,638,892 ADS-B position points shows the highest concentration of tracked points between 36,000 and 37,000 feet (66,789 points), with a secondary cluster across the 35,000 to 39,000 foot band. The average recorded altitude was 16,776 feet and the maximum was 46,725 feet, logged by tail number N42MJ on a departure to Knoxville (TYS). The shortest recorded flight was an 8.6 nautical mile arrival from DuPage Airport (DPA) lasting 26.7 minutes. The longest was a 4,074.6 nautical mile arrival spanning 818.6 minutes, flown by N918US originating from Washington Dulles (IAD). Registered aircraft from 22 countries appeared in the data, with U.S.-registered aircraft accounting for 785 of the 869 unique aircraft observed.