More Chicago Flights Canceled; Suspect Was Told Of Hawaii Transfer

It’s still early in Chicago, but the number of canceled flights is creeping toward 700, as workers try to restore one of the nation’s busiest air traffic control systems. The system was crippled Friday, officials say, after a disgruntled employee set a fire in a federal radar center.

New details emerged late Friday about the suspect in the case, Brian Howard, 36, after the FBI filed a preliminary criminal complaint in federal court. It accuses Howard of sending a note to a relative Friday morning in which he bid them farewell and said he was taking down the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center in Aurora, Illinois.

Howard was a contract employee who had worked at the control center for some eight years, according to the document. It also states that he had recently been informed that he was being transferred to Hawaii.

The affidavit says Howard entered the control center shortly after 5 a.m. Friday, pulling a hard-sided rolling suitcase behind him. Thirty minutes later, he sent a note via Facebook that caused a relative to report its contents to the police.