Any interest in VFR charts for use in kneeboard?

[beaky]

I'm one of those odd birds who likes to fly VFR in FS9, using real charts, planning the flight the "real" way, using real-world weather data, and not bothering with the sim's flight planner, GPS, or Map utility.

I have quite a few expired USA charts, but not all of them, and can't justify the expense of buying charts just for flight sim (my recent real-world flying has not required much in the way of charts, either).

So I've taken to making screencaps of chart sections displayed on SkyVector and/or RunwayFinder, and printing them out... but even this can get costly, and it's a bit of a pain to do every time I want to fly.

So I finally tried out an add-on that allows you to view pdfs in a pop-up window, with minimal framerate hits(Nils Meier's very simple pdfKneeboard). I've decided this works for me, so I've begun piecing together a library of complete

[ShaneG_old]

I'd be all over this one.

I bought a sectional for my home area, and I agree, getting them for the whole country would be quite pricey.  It's nice to know I'm not the only one doing the screen capture plan. 

I also have a bunch that I printed out from the Tongass Fjords addon for FSX.

VFR chart flying is probably the most fun way to fly in FS IMO.  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

I'm going to have to take a look at that kneeboard addon.

I believe there is a very large zip file here that has hundreds of airport charts in a pdf format.

[beaky]

[quote]I'd be all over this one.

I bought a sectional for my home area, and I agree, getting them for the whole country would be quite pricey.

[ViperPilot]

Hello!

rottydaddy, I'm with you! I have FS 2002, and I find that VFR chart flying is quite enjoyable and challenging, as well.

I've done the 'printing the maps' thing, as well as downloading PDFKneeboard, but I did find another way that works really well for me. I have an old laptop here at home, so I added a wireless card to it and turn it on whenever I want to go flying. I bookmarked AirNav, SkyVector, and a couple of sites that have Canadian A/P diagrams, and just pull them up whenever I need them. This way it saves me from having to pause the sim or clutter up the view.

It's nice to have everything integrated into the sim, but for me, the extra laptop method works just fine for me. Now, could I run into the same problem as the NWA pilots tho overflew Minneapolis? Of course, if I was surfing porn instead of paying attention... LOL

[beaky]

Well, it looks like this will not be do-able using screencaps from websites as the raw material... although the charts themselves are not copyrighted, sites that display them can assert copyright on that version, and would not like to see such a complete reproduction distributed in the way I'm proposing, even with credit given.

[RickG]

Hi. I hope this will pan out--I'd really like to give this a go.

[beaky]

Update:
Finally heard back from the first party I contacted at NACO; they referred me to someone else (good ol' FAA, LOL)... so it will be a little while, yet.

I am still brewing up a tutorial on using such charts regardless, which may still be useful for anyone willing to do all the work of formatting the charts themselves.

[Solid]

Just a note for you guy who like to fly VFR using a map. Do you know G-Map? ( http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/). I use it constantly and it

[beaky]

UPDATE:


The FAA is now offering all of the sectionals (and some other stuff) for free download!

[beaky]

[quote]Just a note for you guy who like to fly VFR using a map. Do you know G-Map? ( http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/). I use it constantly and it

[beaky]

Okay... created the last pdf this evening. I've given samples to a few simmers, but haven't heard any feedback from them yet... 

So I may as unleash it as is; coming soon to the SimV Downloads section!

The video version, if it ever happens, will have to wait... that will be even more work, and I'm not sure if there will be enough interest to make it worth the effort.

[djbozz]

I enjoy flying VFR sometimes using charts etc, I use nDAC3, its a stand alone app, with most major worldwide route & approach charts being available for download, the downloads cost 10 Euros for 50 downloads, its updated regulary too to the latest versions, these are printable too. I also use Plan-G this is very usefull for flight planning VFR & IFR.