Richard Ayres writes: > I've just gotten myself far too involved in (flying) Flightgear, > and am now looking for aeronautical charts etc. to take it that one > step further. > > As far as I'm aware all publications of the US feds are public > domain, so I was wondering if anyone knew if/where I could download > sectional maps for free? (Or even Europe/UK seeing as that's where > I am.) I've found a couple of sites that have them - one that > charges, and one that displays a small section in the browser. As > I'm jobless, credit card-less and generally penniless the charging > one isn't suitable.
Welcome. Walk into your nearest airport flying club or flight school, introduce yourself, and ask to buy a nice, low-tech paper chart. The 1:500,000 scale visual charts have different names in different countries: in the U.S., they're called "Sectionals", in Canada, they're called "VNCs" (for "visual navigation charts"), and in the UK they doubtlessly have yet another name. You should be able to get a chart for around 10 pounds unless prices are much higher over there. An even better choice might be to buy a chart from the WAC (World Aeronautical Chart) series -- they're printed at 1:1,000,000 scale, so each chart covers roughly four times the area of a VNC/sectional; you get less detail, but most of the missing detail won't be covered in FlightGear anyway. Using WAC's will be a lot cheaper for you if money's an issue and you feel to urge to cover more of the UK and continental Europe (trust me, buying charts is very addictive). You don't have to be a pilot to walk in and buy a chart. A quick Google search turned up this list of UK flight schools and flying clubs: http://www.flyingzone.co.uk/flyingschools/flyingschools.htm Furthermore, watching the airplanes land and take off is free, as is listening to the tall tales near the dispatch desk (and there'll often be a radio tuned into an aviation frequency). You might even decide to forgo two or three trips to the cinema to save up for a cheap intro flight of your own. All the best, David -- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-users
