Narrative:

Ord was on west flow. I was vectoring runway 27L; to start. There was a lot of weather in the area. The front line manager (flm) says we are changing to plan D. The last two aircraft on 27L were already cleared for the approach. I was told to cancel the approach clearance and take them to runway 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I got the two aircraft on the 22R approach along with a few other aircraft and then we were changing to 14's. Now I'm taking aircraft off 22R and headed for 14L. All the 22R traffic went around. About the time I get three aircraft on 14L; I'm told I need to start following myself to 22R again. We are still taking handoffs from ZAU. On 22R the fix east arrival is straight in. I got straight-ins and re-sequencing the aircraft I took off the 14L pattern. Now I was told to go back to 14L because we are not gonna use 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I start vectoring back to 14L. One aircraft says he can't make it to the turn-on point and has to divert due to the numerous runway changes. I think two aircraft went in on 14L and I was told to go back to 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I vector back to 22R; the first aircraft down the final says he needs to turn off the final for weather. I tell my hand off not to take any more traffic until we actually have a runway we can use. If this all sound very confusing; welcome to my world. In many years as a controller I have never felt physically or mentally the way I felt when I left work that night. I hope I never do again. Arrivals should have been stopped sooner. Having the whole room on random vectors with weather everywhere is an accident waiting to happen.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Multiple runway configuration changes dictated by weather moving through the C90 area and the numerous random vectors being utilized to handle traffic result in enough confusion for a controller to refuse more traffic in his sector.

Narrative: ORD was on West Flow. I was vectoring Runway 27L; to start. There was a lot of weather in the area. The Front Line Manager (FLM) says we are changing to Plan D. The last two aircraft on 27L were already cleared for the approach. I was told to cancel the approach clearance and take them to Runway 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I got the two aircraft on the 22R approach along with a few other aircraft and then we were changing to 14's. Now I'm taking aircraft off 22R and headed for 14L. All the 22R traffic went around. About the time I get three aircraft on 14L; I'm told I need to start following myself to 22R again. We are still taking handoffs from ZAU. On 22R the fix east arrival is straight in. I got straight-ins and re-sequencing the aircraft I took off the 14L pattern. Now I was told to go back to 14L because we are not gonna use 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I start vectoring back to 14L. One aircraft says he can't make it to the turn-on point and has to divert due to the numerous runway changes. I think two aircraft went in on 14L and I was told to go back to 22R. We are still taking hand offs from ZAU. I vector back to 22R; the first aircraft down the final says he needs to turn off the final for weather. I tell my hand off not to take any more traffic until we actually have a runway we can use. If this all sound very confusing; welcome to my world. In many years as a controller I have never felt physically or mentally the way I felt when I left work that night. I hope I never do again. Arrivals should have been stopped sooner. Having the whole room on random vectors with weather everywhere is an accident waiting to happen.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.