Sven Dodington; Invented Radio System to Guide Planes

Sven Dodington, 79, inventor of the basic navigational system that guides airplanes to airports. Dodington, who spent most of his engineering career working for the International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. in New York, developed the system that uses radio beacons to direct airplanes to landing fields. He was born in Vancouver, Canada, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University. In Whippany, N.Y., on Jan. 13 of what was described by his family as a long illness.