Points of interest on cross country flights

[Bryan Wood]

Is there such a thing as flight planning software or a website that will bring up points of interest when planning cross country flights? For instance if the Crazy Horse Memorial, Crater Lake, Mt. Rushmore, etc. is within a reasonable distance of the course it would seem like a no brainer to fly by and actually see some of these things that most people only see in pictures. I was just sitting here thinking about the flight back to LOE next week from CA and wondering how much we will miss by flying the most direct or practical routes. Anybody with any experience on this trip please chime in. I realize that if we see any of the above sites there is a real good chance that we'll never find Santa Teresa New Mexico, but there must be some neat stuff somewhere in the middle of all that desert.

Regards,
Bryan 9A "Flyin The Flag"

[DeltaRomeo]

Hey Bryan,

There is a map, and I don't know where it is, that shows 'points of interest' predominetly. Like you wanted....Crazy Horse, Monument Valley, Meteor Crater, etc. I think I saw it in Sporty's catalog once. I'll look around...

b,
d

[Bob Axsom]

Brian,

Really the best thing is the sectional chart. I'm not sure what part of California you are coming from but the winter time and alternate route east from Southern California goes right by the fly-in site. I'm going to do this from memory so there may be some flaws even though I have flown it many times. Paradise, Palm Spings, Thermal, Blyth, the intersection between Blyth and Buckeye, Gila Bend, north of Tucson, San Simon, Columbus, El Paso except in this case you break off for Santa Teresa before El Paso. This is a personal thing and may not apply to anyone else but a great part of my flying enjoyment is developing a personal mental picture of the land during the trip planning by studying the sectionals and drawing my intended course line with 10 mile tic marks (even though I typically make up the flight plan using IFR charts). A lake or a mountain do not have to have a special name to be a rewarding visual experience. On the route I described the Pacific Ocean, the LA basin with all of its airports, Banning Pass, the Colorado River, moonscape like land between Blyth and Gila Bend, the mountains and river at Gila Bend, the flat topped equally sloping sided mountain between Gila Bend and Tucson, The ridge you must cross northeast of Tucson, the drug runner watching tethered balloon in the desert between the ridge and Columbus, the ancient lava flows in the New Mexico desert are the things I would look for on that trip. If you want to see what impact man can have on the face of the Earth, deviate to the North and fly over Silver City - You will see deep pit mines that are among the largest in the world! Maybe I'll see you at the fly-in. Have a good flight.

Bob Axsom

[cobra]

The southern part of Utah is extremely scenic if you havn't seen it before- (low) mountains, red rock formations, lakes, etc.

Check out places like (from east to west) Lake Powell/ rainbow bridge, Kodachrome basin, Escalante canyon, Bryce and Zions national Parks, Monument valley, the Virgin river valley. You might even detour over the Grand Canyon in Arizona too.

[Brian130]

A new site just kicked off that would suit you perfectly. http://adventurepilot.com/apaweb/

It will give you points along the route. Only catch is that it's points that have been input by others previously. So it might take a while to really be a good database. On the top toolbar, click on "Destinations" and then "Destination Search." Choose the attractions you want, airport proximity, then choose "Along a Flight Path." It will create a route map with numbers along the path. There will be a table under the chart with each number and what destination it corresponds to. Click on the location and it'll bring up the submitter's comments. Enjoy!

[az_gila]

Bryan,
Try loading Google Earth ... it's even free, but does need a high speed internet connection.

http://earth.google.com/

It's 3-D views, and ability to look at an angle instead of straight down gives some neat ideas of the landscape you are going to fly over. You can even put yourself on the approach to many runways around the country, and check out what the runway will look like for the direction you are approaching from...

An example, everyone's favorite... the Grand Canyon (a Google Earth demo page)




gil in Tucson (just West of "the ridge" Bob Axsom mentions)

[Thermos]

Bryan,

A bunch of the online pilot shops sell "The Captain's Atlas", a Rand-McNally road atlas overlaid with jet routes, Victor airways and navaids. Just Google "Captain's Atlas" and you'll find their websites.

Dave