Instrument landing (Lorenz ILS)
Aterrizaje por instrumentos (ILS de Lorenz)
- Date
- 1932 · confidence high
- Place
- Berlin, Germany
- Credited to
- C. Lorenz AG (Ernst Kramar)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A radio-beacon system that guides the aircraft with a beam on the runway centreline and marks distance, for landing with no visibility. Lorenz developed it in 1932 and deployed it at Berlin and other European airports before the Second World War.
The first blind flight was made by James Doolittle in 1929 in the US with instruments; the Lorenz system is the first beam approach method in regular use in Europe. The US developed its own CAA system in parallel.
What it led to
- fog and bad-weather landings in commercial aviation
- the modern ILS standardised by ICAO (1949)