Technicians replaced a sensor in an instrument landing system at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday in hopes of fixing the beacon, which has had two significant outages this month.
It could take days to tell if the repair solved the problem that caused delays Aug. 7 and Monday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said Thursday.
Technicians with the FAA, which owns and maintains the equipment, said they replaced the sensor after discovering that it wrongly reported a sudden shift in the beacon's signal, which caused the system to shut itself down.
The beacon, called a localizer, sends out a radio beam that pilots use to center their aircraft on the runway for landing. The FAA has been criticized by airport officials, politicians and the air traffic controllers' union for not solving the problem faster.
The airport has eight localizers - one at each end of its four runways. Los Angeles International is the world's fifth-busiest passenger airport.
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