Monday, October 13, 2014

Federal Aviation Administration Restores Air-Traffic Control Operations at Center Near Chicago • Aurora Center Had Been Knocked Out of Action September 26 by Fire

The Wall Street Journal

By Susan Carey

October 13, 2014 8:09 a.m. ET


CHICAGO—The Federal Aviation Administration said it has restored full air-traffic operations at the high-altitude facility in suburban Aurora, Ill., that was knocked out of action on Sept. 26 by a fire allegedly set by an FAA contractor who now is in federal custody.

FAA teams finished restoring all of the critical systems and equipment at the center Sunday night, after more than two weeks of work, and a full shift of controllers returned to the facility and resumed their normal positions, the agency said. Nearly 200 workers from the Aurora site had been temporarily stationed in other air-traffic control centers nearby, divvying up the airspace responsibilities the Chicago En Route Center normally handled. They will return from those locations on Monday, the FAA said.

The outage of the center, which handles high-altitude air traffic heading to and from Chicago or traveling through the airspace covering parts of seven states in the Midwest, initially led to a high number of airline cancellations and delays as the FAA moved to spread the work out to other facilities. But in the days that followed the incident, the agency said it was able to recover, with Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the nation’s second busiest, handling more flights than any other airport in the country on 11 days during the past 14. Midway Airport flight activities also returned to near-normal levels.

The FAA had to restore and test more than 20 racks of equipment, 835 telecommunications circuits and more than 10 miles of cable at the Aurora facility. FAA test pilots helped air-traffic controllers test more than 100 radio frequencies they use to communicate with pilots. The FAA said technical teams will remain at Aurora Monday to monitor system performance and ensure a smooth transition. The weather forecast for the Chicago area Monday calls for rain and possible thunderstorms.

The agency also said it is conducting a 30-day review of contingency plans and security protocols at its major facilities because of the event. According to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Chicago on Sept. 26, Brian Howard, who worked at the Aurora center for eight years for FAA contractor Harris Corp., went to the facility about 5 a.m., used his access card to enter, set fire to telecommunications cables and attempted to take his life with a knife. The Naperville, Ill., resident, age 36, has recovered from his injuries and is in detention. He is charged with one felony count of destruction of aircraft facilities, and, if convicted, faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

At a brief court hearing on Sept. 29, Mr. Howard’s lawyer, Ronald Safer, said his client is “deeply troubled” and made “a tragic mistake.”

 - Source ►  http://online.wsj.com

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