Localizer? Who ever heard of that before?

The fact that the localizer for the Aspen Airport has been down intermittently since October has been in the news quite a bit. But I ask...who ever heard of a localizer before last month? Not me. I fly as much as my vacation allows but never thought about the equipment pilots need, not just to land, but to abort a landing. The broken piece of equipment is actually the piece that would help pilots navigate back into the sky if they have to abort a landing. Federal Aviation Administration rules prohibit pilots from landing without this, even though it seems like an unlikely scenario that they would have to abort the landing. Thank goodness for safety. I've seen a few planes smashed into pieces on the sides of runways in the Himalayas -- not for me!

At a press conference the other day, Bob Kitson with the FAA explained what a localizer is. So now, this information is not going to be kept secret to the select few, but can be understood by all!

Here's his description. (By the way, he told me Aspen was the only airport in the country to have the LDA, which you will hear about in his explanation).