Worker sets fire at air traffic center near Chicago, snarling flights

CHICAGO – A contract employee set a fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control center where he worked, bringing two of the nation’s busiest airports to a halt Friday, according to a criminal complaint.

Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville, Illinois, is charged with destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, a felony. When paramedics found him, the criminal complaint says, he was trying to cut his own throat. The FBI said Howard remains hospitalized and no court date has been scheduled.

The ground stoppage at O’Hare and Midway airports immediately 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 Friday night, more than 2,000 flights in and out of Chicago had been canceled.

The shutdown quickly spread travel misery around the country, with airports as close as Milwaukee and as far as Dallas canceling flights.

The early morning fire forced the evacuation of the control center in Aurora, about 40 miles west of downtown Chicago.

Howard 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, the union that represents FAA technicians. He recently was told he was being transferred to Hawaii, the complaint said.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, a relative who saw a suicidal Facebook note posted on Howard’s account early Friday alerted authorities. Meanwhile, a 911 call from the control center brought a suburban fire department to the scene, where paramedics followed a trail of blood past a gas can, two knives and a lighter, the complaint said.

When they found Howard, he was trying to cut his throat and told the paramedics, “Leave me alone,” the complaint said.

Thomas Ahern, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the man used gasoline as an accelerant.

Howard used a key card to access the center, according to the complaint.