We're all familiar with our share of Sectionals. Amazing how many times your first approach into a new airport is nothing like you thought. Wouldn't it be great to be able to at least glean a better idea of what you should expect to see VFR as you approach your Cross Country destination?
Google Earth to the rescue! For this example I am illustrating what it would look like to approach MCAS Miramar's runway 24L FCLP area... this is a TAILHOOK Blog after all!
This is how we are all used to seeing San Diego in a sectional or terminal control chart.
And this is how San Diego looks in Google Earth!
How cool would it be to be able to over lay the two? To be able to see how the terrain mostly looks as we would approach Miramar. Well now you can... and best of all its FREE!!! Below is a screen-shot of the sectional overlayed on the above map. The grat part about this is that via a slider in the left navigation pane you can increase or decrease the opacity of the chart!
You can pan out...or in seeing the Sectionals, Terminal, and even 3d renderings of the Restricted Airspace columns complete with radio freqs! The image below is looking from Mexico up the SOCAL operating area.
So back to our Cross Country approach to the 24L Carrier approach the image below is our target destination:
So using Google Earth I'm able to take a pilot's eye look at what this should look like by moving my mouse I can literally fly a simulated approach into Miramar!
While still paying attention to the charts as I go by periodically sliding the opacity to see where I would expect to be in relation to the chart.
The only thing missing is the meatball! And of course... Paddles Screaming in your ear!
It's actually quite fun to play around with, and has sectionals for CONUS and Alaska, including airways, terminal control areas, and 3D Airspace. Google earth also allows for real-time weather plotted on the maps.
With practice you can even plot you way points. So here's how... first if you don't have Google Earth, go here and download it.
Once installed work through the following instructions, courtesy of WikiHow
- Ensure you have the most up-to-date version of Google Earth by selecting Check for Updates Online in the Help menu. You MUST be using Google Earth Version 4.
- Open your updated Google Earth.
- Click on This Link
- Open the download file, which will automatically load it into Google Earth.
- When Google Earth begins, look under Temporary Places and click on "Aero_Charts" to see a list of the various chart options. Click on Sectionals to open up the mosaic of the Sectionals covering the lower 48 United States.
- Note: After clicking on the Aero_Charts link in Google Eart, it might take some time for everything to load. If it doesn't work, or for more information visit Aeronautical Charts of the US page on Google Earth Library.
- You can also select other options, such as the Alaska Sectionals, Flyway maps, the Sectional legends, 3D Airspace, etc.
[edit] Tips
- You can also view all of the Terminal Area Charts, Flyway maps and 3D airspace polygons. Check under the Places Menu to enable these options.
- The maps will load increasingly higher resolution as you zoom in. Give it a few seconds to download the higher resolution tiles when you stop moving the view. There are 1,000s of tiles altogether that make up the maps. The faster your Internet connection, the faster the tiles will load.
- The 3D airspace polygons are a big file and might take a minute or so to load when you first enable them.
- You can overlay the Terminal Area Charts right on top of the Sectional Charts.
- You can view the maps directly in your web browser by clicking on This Link if you have the Google Earth Plugin installed (currently only supported by IE and Firefox, MS Windows Only).
[edit] Warnings
- These sectionals are definitely not up-to-date and must not be relied upon for actual flight planning. This is an entertainment tool only!
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