A small Illinois airport updates its coordinates, removing a 1960s navigation beacon

The Federal Aviation Administration proposes to update the flight path rules for Marshall County Airport in Lacon, Illinois. This change removes a navigation beacon that has been decommissioned as part of a national program to modernize air traffic control.

For decades, air travel relied on ground-based radio beacons to guide planes. These beacons are slowly being phased out and replaced by satellite navigation systems. This small change in Illinois is one tiny piece of a much larger, nationwide shift to satellite-based air traffic control.