The 2014 Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center fire was an incident in the United States involving arson[1] at an air traffic control facility in Aurora, Illinois[2] (also known as "Chicago Center");[3] the incident caused close to 2,000 airline flights to be grounded.[4] One employee at the facility was treated for smoke inhalation, while 15 to 30 employees were evacuated.[5]
Brian Howard,[6] an employee of Harris Corporation,[7] was charged in the incident.[8] He made a guilty plea in federal court in May 2015, and in September of that year received a prison term of 12 1/2 years.[9]