The 2014 Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center fire was an incident in the United States involving

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

at an air traffic control facility in Aurora, Illinois (also known as "

Chicago Center (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

"); the incident caused close to 2,000 airline flights to be grounded. One employee at the facility was treated for smoke inhalation, while 15 to 30 employees were evacuated. Brian Howard, an employee of

Harris Corporation Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and spaceb ...

, was charged in the incident. He made a guilty plea in federal court in May 2015, and in September of that year received a prison term of 12 1/2 years.

Timeline

On September 26, at approximately 5:20 am, Brian Howard had gained access to the basement of the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (

ARTCC In air traffic control, an area control center (ACC), also known as a center or en-route center, is a facility responsible for controlling aircraft flying in the airspace of a given flight information region (FIR) at high altitudes between ai ...

) facility in Aurora, Illinois. Using gasoline-soaked rags, he then started a fire near the computer equipment critical to the facility's operations. This led to a loss of radar services and communications used by controllers to direct air traffic in the Chicago region, and to an evacuation of the building. Howard then attempted to commit suicide, but was stopped by emergency crews at the scene. By 6:00 am, a

ground stop A ground stop is an air traffic control measure that slows or halts the flow of aircraft inbound to a given airport. In other words, a ground stop is the halting of departing aircraft destined for one particular airport or for a specific geograp ...

was implemented at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport as an emergency measure to alleviate traffic loads.

Aftermath

The fire caused substantial damage to the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) system, which allows Chicago Center to digitally share flight data throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). Because of the fire, much of the Chicago traffic that was normally handled by the Center was allocated to nearby

Terminal Radar Approach Control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

(TRACON) facilities; this led to a 200 to 400 percent increase in flights handled by these locations. Because the TRACONs were designed primarily for the lower altitude approach and departure structure of the National Airspace System, the radar and communications capabilities did not extend to the higher altitudes used normally for cruise flight, restricting the remaining flights to lower, less efficient altitudes. Eventually this situation was improved by adjusting radar and communication equipment at the neighboring Centers around Chicago to regain capability. Controllers from Chicago then temporarily relocated to these Centers to aid in traffic control operations until repairs eventually brought the Aurora facility back online on October 13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cicago Air Route Traffic Control Center fire 2014 in Chicago Arson in Illinois 2014 in aviation 2014 fires in the United States Aurora, Illinois Air traffic control in the United States Arson in 2014 Attacks on buildings and structures in 2014 September 2014 crimes in the United States Attacks on transport buildings and structures Attacks on buildings and structures in Illinois