http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-air-traffic-center-fire-sentencing-met-20150821-story.html
By Jason Meisner
Chicago Tribune
August 21, 2015
When Brian Howard decided to take out an Aurora radar tower's
telecommunications systems in a botched suicide attempt, he essentially
plunged into the dark 135 jets traveling through Midwest airspace.
By setting fire last fall to the radar facility where he worked as a
telecommunications contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration,
Howard left aircraft unable to communicate with ground control while the
facility was evacuated, prosecutors said in a court filing that provided
new details on the chaos inflicted that day.
Among the new disclosures was that Howard cut cables at precisely the most
sensitive spot, knocking out the backup telecommunications system in
addition to the primary one. Radars went black. The automated handoff
system to transfer control of planes to other facilities was down. Even
ground-to-ground communications were wiped out.
What followed was a controlled panic, as FAA controllers used cellphones
and other backup devices to ground planes and turn back hundreds of others
about to enter Chicago's airspace. The contingency plan worked — no planes
were lost and no one was reported injured. But severe damage had been
done.
[...]
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