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Aspen airport navigational system down

Aspen Times staff report
Aspen, CO Colorado

ASPEN – The newly installed navigational equipment atop Aspen Mountain that serves the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport was shut down Wednesday, according to a brief media advisory issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The localizer shut down automatically because the monitoring system received conflicting data about the signal it was transmitting, according to the FAA. Crews were to be at the site by late morning; snowcats were being used for transport, according to the agency.

The mountaintop equipment is used by pilots making an instrument-guided approach to the airport in the event they miss the approach and must circle around for another attempt. It was still down shortly after 4:30 p.m., according to an FAA spokesperson.



The FAA recently replaced the equipment on the mountain, a four-week process that ended when it was put into operation Saturday evening.

The month-long shutdown affected United Express flights, flown by SkyWest Airlines, when cloudy weather prevented a visual approach. United was flying on schedule Wednesday, as skies were clear over Aspen.