Contract Worker Set Fire at Aurora FAA Center, Tried to Kill Himself

Sept. 27--A communications contractor assigned to the Aurora FAA radar center set fire to the center, grounding more than 2,000 flights in Chicago today, as part of plan to "take out" the center and kill himself, according to a federal complaint against him.

Brian Howard, 36, of Naperville, remains hospitalized following the incident, and is charged with setting fire to and damaging an air navigation facility.

Just before he set the fire, Howard posted a Facebook message saying "Take a hard look in the mirror, I have. And this is why I am about to take out ZAU (the radar center) and my life...So I'm gonna smoke this blunt and move on, take care everyone," according to an affidavit from an FBI agent filed as part of the complaint.

The fire was started in the basement of the Aurora facility, known as the Chicago Center, around 5:40 a.m., forcing an evacuation and grounding all flights at O'Hare and Midway airports. Some flights were resumed "at a reduced rate" around 10:30 a.m.

The center handles high-altitude traffic across parts of the Midwest. Controllers there direct planes through the airspace and either hand off the air traffic to other facilities handling high-altitude traffic or direct the planes to terminal radar facilities, including one in Elgin, which in turn direct planes to and from airport towers.

Howard has worked for an FAA contractor at the Aurora facility for about eight years, handling communications there, and worked in the basement, according to the complaint. The complaint mentions that Howard had recently been told that he was to be transferred to Hawaii, but does not say that investigators have evidence the transfer played a part in what prosecutors allege Howard did Friday.

Friday, Howard entered the center at 5:06 a.m., according to the center's keycard tracking system, and was tracked by that system and video, which showed he was "dragging a black Pelican case," a hard-sided rolling suitcase, according to the complaint. The Facebook message about Howard's plan, which also contains what appears to be an apology to Howard's family, was posted to Howard's account a half-hour after he entered the facility, and one of Howard's relatives sent the message to Naperville police, who alerted Aurora police.

At 5:42 a.m., someone at the center called 911, and emergency crews arrived soon after. Aurora paramedics and firefighters responding to the scene told investigators that they went to where the smoke was heaviest and two of them happened on a pool of blood on the floor of the basement, according to the complaint.

One of the paramedics and another emergency official followed the blood trail to where a floor panel had been pulled up, exposing telecommunications cables and other wires. They found a gas can and gas can nozzle and towels that looked as though they had been burned, and continued to follow the blood trail until they came to a knife and a lighter lying on the floor.

The paramedic then saw Howard's feet sticking out from under a table, and saw Howard under the table, shirtless and in the act of cutting his own throat, according to the complaint. Howard also had knife wounds on his arms.

The paramedic pulled the knife from Howard, and the paramedic and the other emergency worker started to treat Howard, who told them "leave me alone," according to the complaint.

"They attempted to get him out of the building, there was some degree of effort to drag him out," said Aurora Fire Chief John Lehman.

Paramedics took Howard to an Aurora hospital.

The center was closed following the fire and 15-30 people were evacuated. One employee, a man about 50 years old, was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

"There was no explosion and, like any similar scene, first responders are being cautious as they clear the building and continue to make it safe," Aurora police said in a statement at 11 a.m.

After authorities secured the scene, they sought warrants to search Howard's car and his home, according to the complaint. Naperville police took about 20 minutes to search the home Friday evening.

Because he remained hospitalized, a court date for Howard has not yet been set, according to a statement from Chicago FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde.

The fire continued to disrupt operations at Chicago's airports Friday evening. The earlier resumption of flights did not prevent Southwest Airlines from canceling all its flights at Midway Airport. American Airlines said it had canceled 786 flights at O'Hare and, like Southwest, said no decision had been made about Saturday. As of about 7:45 p.m. p.m., more than 2,000 flights had been canceled at the airports and hundreds more delayed.

The Federal Aviation Administration has not said how much damage was caused by the fire or say when the center would be back to normal operations.

A controller who was working in the facility said the radio frequencies went dead, apparently due to the fire, and that the air traffic control system was immediately shifted to back-up equipment. The controller said air traffic operations continued for a short time using the back-up system until the evacuation order was issued.

"The (radio) frequency failed," the controller said. "Depending on how bad the fire was, it could be a real mess getting things back to normal."

After the groundstop was lifted, it was expected to take a long time for the airlines to catch up. Passengers whose flights were canceled were being put on wait lists for later flights, but with mostly full planes it was expected to be difficult to accommodate the overflow.

Several hundred people waited hours in lines to check in or reschedule their flights at O'Hare International Airport while airline employees passed out water to accommodate travelers.

Air National Guard members Jeff Boyden and Rob Combs, who were in Chicago for training, were to return to Omaha, Neb., this morning but learned on their way from their hotel that they might have trouble getting there.

"I was in the lobby at about 6:30 a.m. when I first heard about the fire and some flights were cancelled," Boyden said. "When we got there and checked in, our flight was still on time, then everything went red: cancelled, cancelled, cancelled."

The two were uncertain about their chances of making a flight Friday, so they decided to hitch a ride with friends who were driving back to Omaha from Chicago instead.

"We were on standby for one and that got canceled and there was another at 7:45 p.m., but we said 'No, let's just get a ride home.'"

First, they had to wait with dozens of people to get their luggage.

"I guess what I'm more amazed by is, you shut down one center and this is what happens," Boyden said. "It concerns me because what type of message does that send for someone who might want to shut down two airports?"

Elena Doyle, 44, of Oak Park was expecting to leave O'Hare with her husband and two children on her way to San Francisco for a relative's wedding Saturday morning. Instead, she found herself in line this morning with hundreds of people, hoping to reschedule after their morning flight was canceled.

"I'm going to be really disappointed if we missed the wedding tomorrow," Doyle said "My thought is we'll try to get away from Chicago and then we'll try to hook back to San Francisco."

Doyle, however, said she understands the airports' concern after the incident at the Aurora traffic control station.

While in line, Doyle tried to dial the toll free number for the airline, but the wait for the next representative was estimated at 2 hours.

Roger Richards of Chicago anxiously stood at the arrivals and departure board outside the Blue Line terminal this morning.

He thought his flight to Seattle might be in jeopardy but it was still listed as on time. "I'm one of the lucky ones," Richards said. "As I was on the Blue Line, I was concerned. I was checking CNN, NBC. All the news reports said flights were being canceled or held up."

Cassandra Dump, a 30-year-old publicist, was headed for a Central Park concert in New York featuring Jay Z, Sting and No Doubt when she got stranded at Midway.

She boarded the first plane she could get, only to be told by the flight crew that all planes had been grounded.

"Fifteen minutes later, they let us know we could get off the plane if we wanted. You could take your ID with you, grab coffee but stay near the gate area," she said. "Then about 10 minutes later, by 6:30, 6:45, we're completely off the plane, deplaned, because they didn't know what happened to the flight."

She paused while a message played over the airport PA system saying all planes out of the Southwest terminal had been canceled until at least noon.

She said there weren't too many irate people. "No one's too pissed, everyone's been up since 3 a.m. I think everyone's just tired."

Hundreds of people were in the terminal near her, she said, everyone waiting for announcements from the airlines.

Some websites haven't been able to keep up and still listed some flights as on time, she said.

Her plan was to find another way to New York. "I'm going to go online and see if I can re-book," she said. "I'm not going to miss (the concert). I'll walk to New York."

United Airlines spokesman Charles Hobart said the situation at O'Hare was "very fluid. We've resumed very restricted operations," he said.

United has called in extra staffing at the airport and at its customer contact centers, Hobart said.

In addition, customers who were scheduled to travel to, from or through O'Hare today can rebook their flights without incurring any change fees, he said, adding that details are at united.com. "We are encouraging customers to visit united.com or check the United app on their smartphones for the latest information," Hobart said.

Tribune reporters Deanese Williams-Harris, Rosemary Regina Sobol and Liam Ford contributed.

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