text: Cleanup crews are working inside the Air Route Control Center in Aurora after fire, smoke and water left the place quite a mess. Technical crews are still trying to assess the damage and determine how long it will take to fix it.Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville has been charged with one felony count of Destruction of Aircraft or Aircraft Facilities after he allegedly set a fire in the basement of an Aurora FAA facility, cut the feeds to the radar and damaged the communications system, forcing a ground stop at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports, the FBI says.Investigators say Howard managed to do extensive damage to the host computer, as well as the lines to radar in the facility. The Air Route Control Center monitors high altitude aircraft before landing in Chicago or flying through the area.Much of that work is being handled for the time being by other facilities in surrounding states, but at a much more limited capacity. Experts say the thousands of flights cancelled and delayed today had a definite negative impact on the economy.Illinois Senator Mark Kirk said in a statement tonight, "I want to see not only an immediate review by the FAA of the screening process....but also a report within 30 days outlining changes the FAA will make to prevent any one individual from having this type of impact on the heart of the United States economy."Authorities have stressed all day they believe this was an isolated incident and that Howard acted alone."This is a local issue with a contract employee," Aurora Police Chief Greg Thomas said. "There is no terrorist act."According to the criminal complaint, Howard allegedly entered the FAA facility at approximately 5:06 a.m. with a black hard-sided roller board suit case. The complaint alleges that at approximately 5:36 a.m., a message appeared on a Facebook account in Howard's name that contained a reference to the three-letter call number for the facility. The message was forwarded to law enforcement.The complaint says paramedics from the Aurora Fire Department then responded to a 911 call placed at approximately 5:42 a.m. by an individual at the FAA center. Paramedics entered the basement and followed a trail of blood that led them to Howard, officials said."They covered him, attempted to get him out of the building. There was some degree of effort on their part to drag him out of the building. But he was conscious. And as far as being cooperative, I would say not necessarily. They had to fight with him physically," Aurora Fire Department Chief John Lehman said. Howard remains hospitalized with self-inflicted stab wounds and is under police guard.Howard had worked for the Control Center as a contract employee for approximately eight years, according to the complaint. Howard was authorized to be in the building, officials said. No firearms were found on the scene, Thomas said.Howard had intimate knowledge of the building and radar system. According to ABC7 sources, he cut every radar feed to FAA air controllers before setting gas-soaked rags on fire near sensitive equipment and also damaged the communications system.Naperville police said he also made suicidal threats, prompting his family to ask for a well-being check Friday morning at his Naperville apartment. After speaking with Aurora officials, Naperville officers searched his apartment and found no victims, police said.Police said Howard had no real record, only a few minor traffic citations from 2007. Sources said he was angry he was going to be transferred with work to Hawaii."We don't know what his motive was at this point, and so the evidence is still being collected," Tom Ahern, ATF spokesperson, said."The scene is being worked, as with any investigation would, trying to gather all the evidence, interview all the people, collect all the information so we know what's going on," Thomas said.Officials said there could be days of potential radar outages at the Aurora facility, which could result in significant flight delays in the Great Lakes region. Without the Aurora facility, planes are moving in and out of Chicago at a "reduced rate" after airspace management was transferred to adjacent FAA facilities.There are only three routes out of Chicago right now: east toward South Bend, north to Milwaukee, and west to Rockford. Planes have to stay at a lower altitude for a longer time to maintain contact with those smaller facilities, which can only handle about 25 percent of normal operations.The FAA is beefing up staffing at those facilities and others in the area, and has not said when the repairs will be made to the Aurora building and when controllers can come back to work.Hundreds of Chicago flights were canceled, delayed and re-routed Friday. Airlines are urging travelers to check the status of their flights at www.fly.faa.gov ||||| (CNN) -- The man accused of setting a fire in an air traffic control center, causing the shutdown of operations at Chicago O'Hare International and nearby Midway Airport, sent a private Facebook message to a relative just before he started the blaze, the FBI says in an affidavit. 
   
   "Take a hard look in the mirror, I have," the message said, according to the affidavit. "And this is why I am about to take out ZAU [the three-letter identification for the control center] and my life. ... So I'm gonna smoke this blunt and move on, take care everyone." 
   
   Then, 36-year-old Brian Howard apparently started the fire in the control center basement, the affidavit said. When firefighters arrived, they found him lying on the floor and slicing his throat with a knife, the affidavit said. 
   
   The FBI charged Howard, a resident of Naperville, Illinois, with one count of destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities, a felony. Howard was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. 
   
   The fire started at about 5:40 a.m. Friday and caused the evacuation of the air traffic control center in Aurora, Illinois, which controls flights in several Midwest states. 
   
   Airlines at O'Hare canceled 1,550 flights and 470 at Midway, the Chicago Department of Aviation said at 8:45 p.m. Friday. Southwest Airlines suspended all fights for the day at Midway and Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport. 
   
   The ripple effect caused the cancellation of flights at airports across the nation. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport had 70 cancellations on Friday, compared to seven on Thursday, according to Flightaware, a flight-tracking website. LaGuardia Airport in New York City had 56 on Friday and 10 on Thursday. 
   
   By Friday afternoon, flights to the Chicago airports had resumed at a "reduced rate," authorities said. The effect of the fire on Saturday's flight activity has not been determined and it was not clear when the center would reopen. 
   
   Faced transfer to Hawaii 
   
   Howard had worked eight years in the center but faced a transfer to Hawaii, the FBI says in an affidavit. The documents don't specify his job title but said he worked in "telecommunications matters." 
   
   The FBI said Howard arrived at the control center a little after 5 a.m. dragging a "hard-sided roller board suitcase" into the basement, where he usually worked. He allegedly sent the Facebook message about 30 minutes after arriving and the recipient notified police. 
   
   At 5:42 a.m. somebody in the control center called 911 about a fire, the affidavit said. First responders found smoke in the air, blood on the floor, exposed cables, burned towels, a gasoline can, a lighter and a knife on the floor, the affidavit said. 
   
   One paramedic saw some feet sticking out from under a table and found a shirtless Howard "in the process of actively slicing his throat with another knife," the affidavit said. Howard, the affidavit said, told the paramedics to "leave me alone." 
   
   Police obtained search warrants for Howard's home and found "legal documents that had been laid out in a staged manner, in an attempt to make them easier to find," the affidavit said. The affidavit didn't describe the documents. 
   
   No court date has been set for Howard. If convicted, Howard faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $ 250,000. 
   
   CNN affiliate WLS reported that Howard was a machinist mate in the Navy from 1996 to 2000 with nothing unusual about his military record. He had a few traffic citations in 2007, but nothing serious, WLS said. 
   
   "He seemed like an everyday, normal kind of guy to me," neighbor Colin McGrath told WLS. 
   
   Travelers are frustrated 
   
   When the two Chicago airports shut down, controllers at other airports helped manage traffic to and from Chicago. 
   
   O'Hare last year handled 883,000 takeoffs and landings, ranking it as the second-busiest airport on the planet, according to Airports Council International. 
   
   Travelers stood in long lines inside the O'Hare terminal trying to rearrange flight plans. They described a frustrating scene to CNN reporters. 
   
   "There's chaos mixed with outrage," said Bernard Thompson of Washington, D.C., who needs to be home by Sunday for a speaking engagement. 
   
   Thompson said that after his flight was canceled, the airline told him the next flight with an open seat would leave Monday. He booked a flight with another airline, only to discover the first airline couldn't locate his luggage. 
   
   "I'll get there but it's a question of whether I'll have my luggage with me," he said. 
   
   The fire ruined travel plans at other airports. 
   
   Des Moines International Airport reported 19 cancellations on Friday, according to Flightaware, including the flight that would have carried Chelsea and Bill Wright to New York City. 
   
   "We boarded our dogs and our kids are here and we got babysitters for them so it's messing everything up," Chelsea Wright told CNN affiliate KCCI. 
   
   Other control centers pitch in to help 
   
   In a typical backup plan for a disabled FAA center, the FAA could assign air traffic control authority to FAA centers in other cities, such as Indianapolis, Cleveland, Minneapolis or Kansas City. 
   
   Doug Church, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, said air traffic controllers braced for a tough day. "Indianapolis Center is one of the major facilities bearing the brunt of the extra workload today due to the Chicago Center situation," Church said. 
   
   O'Hare is a main hub for United Airlines and other major carriers, with flights headed to international destinations. When controllers stop flights scheduled to fly to O'Hare, it has the potential to trigger a line of falling air traffic dominoes that will ruin travel plans for countless would-be passengers. 
   
   Illustrating the point, the flight tracking website FlightRadar24.com showed no aircraft flying in an area stretching from eastern Iowa to central Michigan. 
   
   Smoke at FAA facility stopped flights in May 
   
   Friday's flight stoppages come four months after smoke at an FAA radar facility in Elgin, Illinois, prompted flight cancellations and delays at O'Hare and Midway. 
   
   In that May 13 incident, most flights in and out of O'Hare were delayed by an average of an hour or more, and more than 600 flights were canceled, the Chicago Department of Aviation said. Some 75 flights were canceled at Midway. 
   
   The smoke in that May incident was caused by a faulty motor in an air conditioning system, the FAA said at the time. 
   
   CNN's Mike Pearson and Amanda Watts contributed to this report.
target: – Anyone hoping to fly into or out of Chicago could be in for a delay today along with numerous others. More than 850 flights have been canceled out of Chicago's O'Hare International and Midway International airports after an employee allegedly set a fire in the basement of a major Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control center around 6am local time. The FBI is on the scene after the man was found with self-inflicted cuts to his wrist, also in the basement, WLS reports. Sources say the fire, now extinguished, was intentional and that the employee "used accelerant to start the fire near sensitive flight equipment." He also may have revealed his plan online, a source says. Authorities were seen confiscating a car at the facility hours after the fire began. All employees were evacuated. Another man was treated for smoke inhalation. Apart from flights into and out of Chicago, the incident at the Aurora, Ill., center could also delay thousands of "long-distance routes to other regions" as the center "controls air traffic for a giant swath of the Midwest," CNN reports. But the ground stop was recently lifted, and FAA officials say flights have resumed at a "reduced rate." Even so, travelers are urged to check their flight status, as many flights were delayed or re-routed.