sectionals for contests

The season is coming. Has anyone figured out a software package that
can download sectionals or wacs, put turnpoint markers on them based on
the turnpoint exchange files, and print out, avoiding the yearly
cutting pasting and marking job?

Thanks
John Cochrane BB

John,

GlidePlan will be able to do this in the next release (1.2) scheduled
for February. It will import SeeYou or WW Turnpoint files in CU format
into a current sectional and let you determine how the points are
displayed. It will be a free upgrade from the current release. See
http://www.glideplan.com for mre info . If you are going to the SSA
convention, stop by booth 26 and say "Hi". We will have some special
show pricing too.

Matt (Jr)


BB wrote:
The season is coming. Has anyone figured out a software package that
can download sectionals or wacs, put turnpoint markers on them based on
the turnpoint exchange files, and print out, avoiding the yearly
cutting pasting and marking job?

Thanks
John Cochrane BB

On Jan 22, 3:04 pm, "Matt Herron Jr." wrote:
GlidePlan will be able to do this in the next release (1.2) scheduled
for February.

I think this may end up being the best solution for creating and
managing your sectional charts. Remember, the FAA frowns on a
non-current sectional in the cockpit.

A current chart is essential if you need airport frequency info or to
stay out of airspace you shouldn't be in. (yes, checking with FSS is
also required before each flight to ensure nothing's changed)

Matt provides free sectional chart upgrades as new ones are released,
so I can download and print *current* chart segments as needed. So
once you buy GlidePlan, you're set for a few years of free updates.
Or, you can "roll your own" tools as described in other posts, for at
least the same money and probably a bit more busywork to get to the
final product.

I use pdf995 (free nagware with $9.95 license) to generate an 11x17
document that I then scale to 8.5x11, which reduces it to near WAC
scale. Text is small but readable. I then put these pages into heavy
duty page protectors and "bind" the 5-10 pages that make up the area I
fly in.

Am looking forward to being able to import waypoints so I can create
custom and FAA legal charts for contest flying.

-Tom

The way I do this -- and I don't use the results for navigation, btw (I
have flight software for that) -- is to simply use SeeYou (the desktop
version). You can pick your background -- vector graphics, satellite
imagery or sectionals -- then load your turnpoint file.

The only "trick" is that SeeYou doesn't expressly support printing
maps. So what I do is load a flight log from a location outside of the
area I'm interesting in having a map of, and adjust my map view to what
I want. I use the Print Setup and Print Preview to make sure I'm
getting what I want, then print.

I invested in a color deskjet printer that lets me print on 11-by-17
inch paper, which is the perfect size for maps in the cockpit. I'll
print the task area on anywhere from 2 to 4 pages. Works great!

~ted/2NO

Are the sectionals current?

Ha!! The latest sectionals I've seen for Arizona have airports that
have been reported closed to the FAA for years. So define "current".
What we need in cockpits is "useful".

Tuno wrote:
Ha!! The latest sectionals I've seen for Arizona have airports that
have been reported closed to the FAA for years. So define "current".
What we need in cockpits is "useful".

I assume Winpilot's database has these same closed airports, so how do
you deal with those? Can you delete or modify them in the database? Is
there a listing of these errors somewhere so every pilot doesn't have to
do each bad airport listing by hand?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org

Eric Greenwell wrote:

I assume Winpilot's database has these same closed airports, so how do
you deal with those? Can you delete or modify them in the database? Is
there a listing of these errors somewhere so every pilot doesn't have to
do each bad airport listing by hand?


This is actually a big reason why I switched from Winpilot to SeeYou
Mobile. I can edit my SYM turnpoint/airport database for my local
area, removing "ghost" airports and adding non-charted landing areas.
Not easy to do in Winpilot (at least I couldn't find an easy way to do
it!).

It does take a little work during the off season, or when preparing for
a safari, but I like the result. Plus it doesn't overlap airports and
co-located turnpoints (I can make them the same point, with unique
symbol).

It would be nice if we had updated US-wide lists of actual,
seen-with-eyeballs-from-the-ground, useable airports/airstrips. With
the current GPS navigation/mapping equipment available, it would make
off-airport (or known landable location) landouts a much rarer event.

I've made several straight in final glides to airports that I had never
been to before, using my GPS, getting there just high enough to put the
gear down and land. So far, every time it has been a good airport
(again, using carefully "vetted" local turnpoint data). I would be
leery of doing that to a private strip on a sectional, though - too
often I've overflown them to find them long gone!

Wasn't there a project in the West US a few years ago to document known
landout locations?

Final suggestion - if each glider operation documented all the landable
airports within reasonable XC distance and used them for turnpoints
exclusively, it might be a start. With AATs becoming the norm for
tasking, it makes sense to use only landable locations for turnpoints,
IMHO.

Kirk
66

Eric,

I don't use the WinPilot database at all. My hardcopy map is from
SeeYou with landout locations (airports, airstrips, fields, etc) from
my own turnpoint database. My turnpoint database is created from
several well developed airfield and turnpoint databases. (Crystal
Squadron, Agua Fria River Racers, ASA, etc etc etc). Every year or two
I solicit help from my fellow rASArs to scrub this database using
satellite imagery, eyeballs on the ground, etc to tweak the database.

The same turnpoint database is loaded into both my WinPilot and LX7007.
But the LX7007 has its aviation database, which is updated once or
twice a year from their web site, and it seems to be pretty good.

Anything but those $#^* sectionals!

2NO

Ted

Be carefull, See you has some of those as well!!!!
"Tuno" wrote in message
oups.com...
Ha!! The latest sectionals I've seen for Arizona have airports that
have been reported closed to the FAA for years. So define "current".
What we need in cockpits is "useful".