FAA hires contractor to put a $1.6 million roof on McGrath's navigation beacon

The Federal Aviation Administration on Oct. 27 hired a Georgia company to replace the roof on the navigation beacon at McGrath's airport, a $1.6 million job scheduled to run through June 30, 2027.

The station is a VORTAC, a ground radio beacon that pilots can navigate by without GPS, combined with a military navigation unit. RG Tenney Electric of Loganville, Georgia, won the work, which was set aside for small businesses and drew three offers.

The roof job comes as the FAA moves Alaska's air routes from ground beacons to GPS, and it touches McGrath directly. On Dec. 24, the agency will revoke airway V-320, which ran from the McGrath station to Johnstone Point in Prince William Sound. Parts of the airway were unusable because of limited signal coverage between the McGrath and Anchorage beacons, the FAA said in its February proposal. Two other airways and a GPS route already cover much of its path, and a new GPS route will replace the stretch near Anchorage.

None of McGrath's instrument approaches is a VOR approach. They use GPS or a localizer, though the localizer chart still lists the McGrath station.

The FAA has been retiring other Alaska beacons, citing the cost of running them. Nationally, it plans to keep a core network of VORs so pilots can still navigate if satellite signals become unavailable.