www.soaringdata.info hints (US)

Here are a couple of things I've been asked about several times. I
thought I would post here for wider distribition:

Hint #1 - If your glide computer or PNA can't handle the airspace file
for the entire US, consider making a custom extract of a smaller
region. Here is how you do it:

1. Go to http://www.soaringdata.info
2. Follow the link near the top of the page to US Airport
Information
3. Specify bounding information:
a. Put in the FAA/IATA airport identifier of the airport at
the center of your flying area. Don't put a "K" on the front.
b. Set the drop-down box underneath to "Maximum Radius
(nm)". Put in the radius of your area of interest.
4. In the "Companion File Formats" area, select the checkbox for
"Airspace in Tim Newport-Peace Format". or "Airspace in OpenAir
format"
5. Type "Soar" into the provided box, and press "Submit".
6. Download and unzip the resulting file.

Hint #2 - By far the most common error I see is people trying to
upload Cambridge formatted input turnpoint files. Cambridge is a
supported -output- file type but not an input type. Nearly all of
these files come right from the Worldwide Soaring Turnpoint Exchange.
The solution is to get an input file from the Soaring Turnpoint
Exchange with the same data in a supported format:

1. Go to the Turnpoint Exchange at http://soaringweb.org/TP/
2. Browse to your soaring site of interest.
3. Choose "Files for downloading and importing into your programs"
4. Choose "Soaring Turnpoint Exchange" format, and download the
file. "Tab Delimited" also works.
5. Use that file as the input to my site at http://wwww.soaringdata.info.
You can request a Cambridge output file (or any of the other supported
formats), and my site will do the conversion and update all of the
data from the current FAA charting cycle.

Hint #3 -- Consider updating more frequently. Airspace and
particularly airport data changes more rapidly than you might think.
Unfortunately, dozens of airports vanish every charting cycle, but new
ones are born as well. Virtually every input turnpoint file I see
contains two or three airports that no longer exist.

Happy Downloading!

Lynn Alley
"2KA"