Beacon Will Guide Pilots Toward LAX
A strobe light will be installed this fall atop a 50-foot tower in Darby Park in Inglewood to help incoming pilots flying through the sun and haze above Los Angeles International Airport.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. has been pushing for the device for more than two years because it will help pilots navigate as they approach LAX. Installed on the roof of the Forum last fall, the beacon was turned off after the Forum’s legal staff raised questions of liability in the event of a crash.
The Inglewood City Council approved a plan this week that calls for the light to be installed by the city of Los Angeles and maintained by the Federal Aviation Administration. The light from the beacon will be directed so it is visible only from the air.
The beacon will be called the “Gunter Strobe” in memory of Gunter Johnson, a 21-year-old Rancho Palos Verdes man who died in a skateboarding accident in 1987. His parents, Charles and Ursula Johnson, donated $10,000 from Gunter’s life insurance for the beacon.
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