TennesseeFlying
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2025
- Messages
- 7
- Display Name
- TennesseeFlying
I was looking on the FAA's eNASR the other week because I love seeing physical NAVAIDs. Every trip I go on I plan around seeing potential NAVAIDs or Airway Beacons.
On the eNASR search, fan markers are a search category. And unlike LF/MF AN ranges or CONSOLAN, a few still exist! Fan markers are apart of my search, and while marking them on my map, have found an active approach actually using one!
It's even given a cute "FM" denotation and not marker beacon or something generic. Other surviving beacons are not named like this--so this one is astoundingly unique. If you live in or near Nebraska, it may be worthwhile to fly this simple VOR approach. Another worthwhile approach may be up in Decatur, IL at KDEC. They use a remnant marker as the FAF for a LOC BC approach, but it is not named a fan marker and remains ambiguous.
For those who do not know, in the time before GPS, VORs, or even DME, marker beacons were used to line airways. Pilots would listen to the name and cross-reference with the compass, then they'd know if they were on the airway, who to talk to, or what approach to begin. Unlike LFMF ranges, fan markers were never disabled on a widespread basis. They stopped being plotted on aeronautical charts in the late 1960s, but a small number still exist and still emit now archaic information. So if you are ever flying along one day and see a repeated white flash on your panel, you've flown over a fan marker! This assuming you're not on approach at an airport with an inner marker.
On the eNASR search, fan markers are a search category. And unlike LF/MF AN ranges or CONSOLAN, a few still exist! Fan markers are apart of my search, and while marking them on my map, have found an active approach actually using one!
It's even given a cute "FM" denotation and not marker beacon or something generic. Other surviving beacons are not named like this--so this one is astoundingly unique. If you live in or near Nebraska, it may be worthwhile to fly this simple VOR approach. Another worthwhile approach may be up in Decatur, IL at KDEC. They use a remnant marker as the FAF for a LOC BC approach, but it is not named a fan marker and remains ambiguous.
For those who do not know, in the time before GPS, VORs, or even DME, marker beacons were used to line airways. Pilots would listen to the name and cross-reference with the compass, then they'd know if they were on the airway, who to talk to, or what approach to begin. Unlike LFMF ranges, fan markers were never disabled on a widespread basis. They stopped being plotted on aeronautical charts in the late 1960s, but a small number still exist and still emit now archaic information. So if you are ever flying along one day and see a repeated white flash on your panel, you've flown over a fan marker! This assuming you're not on approach at an airport with an inner marker.
