More Flights Canceled As Airports Try To Get Back To Normal
(CBS) -- O'Hare and Midway airports are attempting to get back to normal after nearly 24 hours of issues.
A fire started by a contract employee at an FAA facility in Aurora caused a ground stop for hours at both airports.
CBS 2's Jeremy Ross reports O'Hare Airport was in clean-up mode on Saturday as the cancellations and major delays are down from Friday but still exist. More than 630 flights have been canceled as of 11 a.m.
Law enforcement says it's all the result of a disgruntled contract worker 36-year-old Brian Howard of Naperville setting fire to an FAA radar facility in Aurora. Howard was charged with destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities and has been fired.
That facility may not be operational for days but neighboring ones are helping out with air traffic.
On Friday, more than 2000 flights between the two airports never got off the ground. That resulted in people passed out on seats or sleeping on cots using the airport as a makeshift hotel.
But caution is turning into hope Saturday, at least at Midway.
"So far my flight's on time and it's going to be here fortunately," said air passenger Carolyn Washington. "I was wondering of it was going to be a lot of people here that hadn't got a chance to get away. I was concerned but whatever was going to happen was going to happen."
More than 70 flights have been canceled at Midway on Saturday, as of 11:00 a.m.
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An ATF spokesman says agents are still interviewing people who know Brian Howard in an effort to understand why the FAA employee would allegedly set fires in the air traffic control center where he worked.
Special Agent Thomas Ahern tells WBBM Newsradio they're talking to Howard's co-workers, relatives and witnesses to the fire as part of a "meticulous" investigation.
Ahern says it may be a while before FAA employees can get back into the center in Aurora because it's still considered at crime scene.
The FAA released a statement saying a clean-up crew began drying out water damaged equipment in the facility Saturday morning. The FAA says some workers who would normally work at the Aurora facility are working at the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility in Elgin to help guide air traffic.