Fire disrupts flights at airports
Associated Press
CHICAGO
A contract employee suspected of setting a fire at a suburban Chicago air-traffic-control center brought two of the nation’s busiest airports to a halt Friday, sending delays and cancellations rippling through the air-travel network from coast to coast.
The worker was found with multiple self-inflicted knife wounds and burns, and authorities quickly ruled out any ties to terrorism. But 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 late afternoon, about 1,950 flights in and out of Chicago had been canceled. A few flights resumed around midday, after a nearly five-hour gap. The planes were moving at a much-reduced pace, officials said, and no one could be sure when full service would be restored.
Investigators had no immediate information on a possible motive.
The early-morning fire forced the evacuation of the control center in Aurora, about 40 miles west of downtown Chicago.