A simple task
The idea that a major airport such as San Francisco should simply turn off the ILS glide slope for a few months because they wanted to relocate the antenna seems to me to be preposterous. I work in Bank and Hedge Fund IT. What we do in similar circumstances is to install a new one, test it out of operational hours, once satisfied that it is working we wait for a suitable out of use window and make the switch. We then test the hell out of it and if satisfied leave it in use OR revert to the old one.
None of our stuff is life critical.
San Fran airport might have saved a few million dollars by not using a similar procedure - Hopefully the victims of their careless exposure of innocent people to unnecessary risk will ensure that it costs then dearly.
Exactly how much does an antenna cost? It is after all in essence only a few wires.
Ford Pinto anyone?