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.

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