Coast Guard sends last LORAN-C signal

For more than 60 years, mariners and pilots have navigated with onboard LORAN systems, using predetermined check points as markers for determining location and destination.

But yesterday, giving way to more modern technology, the US Coast Guard turned off all North American LORAN-C signals.

Long Range Aids to Navigation signals (LORAN-C) began with radio-based signal systems during World War II as an accurate and reliable method of navigation in all types of weather.

Initially used by mariners, the system was later expanded for use by aircraft pilots as well.

Developed by the military, the LORAN-C, then high-tech and also top secret, provided users with 0.25 mile accuracy within the established areas of navigation for private citizens, merchant mariners and military vessels and aircraft.

In recent years, the LORAN-C system has been replaced by global positioning systems that are accurate, readily available and less expensive for casual boaters and weekend pilots.

In the current administration’s effort to eliminate unnecessary and underused federal programs and in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, the final LORAN-C signals were turned off in all of the United States at 3 pm Eastern Time yesterday, February 8, 2010.

The end of an era.

Examiner’s Note: Hopefully, the new GPS systems used by pilots and ship’s captains will be more reliable than the non-commercial versions available to drivers. After six years neither Garmin or Tom Tom can find my home and the last time I relied solely on GPS navigational directions I found myself in a cow pasture instead of at the hospital.