CHICAGO — A contract employee suspected of setting a fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control center brought two of the nation’s busiest airports to a halt Friday, sending delays and cancellations rippling through the air-travel network from coast to coast.
The worker, Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville, Ill., was found with multiple self-inflicted knife wounds and burns, and authorities ruled out any ties to terrorism. But the ground stoppage at O’Hare and Midway airports raised questions about whether the Federal Aviation Administration has adequate backup plans to keep planes moving when a single facility has to shut down.
By late afternoon, about 1,950 flights in and out of Chicago had been canceled. At Denver International Airport, a spokeswoman said about a dozen flights to Chicago and Milwaukee were canceled Friday.
A few flights resumed around midday, after a nearly five-hour gap. Planes were moving at a much-reduced pace, officials said.
The fire forced the evacuation of the control center in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago. Howard was charged later Friday in connection to the fire. He worked for the FAA contractor that supplies and maintains communications systems at air-traffic facilities, said Jessica Cigich, a spokeswoman for Professional Aviation Safety Specialists.
Hours after the ordeal began, the region’s air traffic was still a mess. The Aurora facility was shut down. The flames had damaged the center’s fiber-optic equipment, leaving controllers unable to talk with pilots, Cigich said.
