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. 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. 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. 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. 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. He booked a flight with another airline, only to discover the first airline couldn't locate his luggage. 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.
– 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.