Exploring the real world in the Google Earth Flight Simulator

[Leif Ohlsson]

Exploring the real world in the Google Earth Flight Simulator

Recently I have had much joy exploring the world as it really looks, in 2012, from the air, and in a classic yellow Piper J3 Cub. I just came across the free online GEFS (Google Earth Flight Simulator). You fly it in your regular browser. There's an option for a joystick, but I use only keypad controls. Yet I can get a very real feeling booth for the flight dynamics of the Cub, and a very real and very beautiful sense of what the world around me really looks like today, in places I will never get to. This way I can get a very real feeling for them - and get some flying to boot.

Just to demonstrate how much joy you can get from this simple to set up and get started flight sim, I invite you to follow me on a replication of a flight more than a hundred years ago, which I recounted in another thread - see "On a beautiful Summer afternoon at Seaview, 1913".

The adventure here and now starts at 1500 ft over the little community of Seaview on the Isle of Wight. Harry Hawker with passenger arrived here in the Summer of 1913 after a pleasant flight from the Brooklands aerodrome south of London. I came here almost a hundred years later in a yellow Piper Cub, which was the closest aircraft the GEFS sim can offer to the Sopwith three-seater biplane Harry Hawker flew.




My intention now is to learn how to land the Cub on one of the fields ahead, just beyond the housing area, which is where I believe Harry Hawker landed his Sopwith a hundred years ago. The landscape can't have changed that much. A field is a field, whether a hundred years ago or today. You just have to find one which is even, plain and recently harvested (preferably).

If you want to join me in this adventure do the following (or just continue to read the thread, of course):

1) Download the Google Earth Web plug-in version 6.2. Do not download the latest version (7 at present); it doesn't work with the sim. Go to "Advanced settings", check "Previous version 6.2".

2) Click this link: Seaview approach 1500ft Cub. This is my link to the situation above, and an example of what you can do in the sim - save situations for others to use. You may not want to fly this situation just yet, but now you now what will happen if you click on one of all the links you'll get in what's to come.

[Leif Ohlsson]

Searching for the right field

I made several dozens of attempts to get down in one of the fields you can see above. Here's an example (almost all others were abysmal disasters and painful crashes, sometimes unfortunately leading to third-party damages - my approach was over a residential area):




Here I am sideslipping (difficult; use separate rudder control, not coupled to ailerons) over the golf course, trying to get in to the irregular field ahead. The Cub is a floater, and I always seem to allow too much altitude on final - used to effective airbrakes, I guess. This was a no-go; much too high.




This one actually looks promising. On the threshold, passing what looks like a parking lot, clearing the hedges. Note the wind direction in the upper right corner - that is the reason why I'm comin in at such an oblique angle - the Cub just won't tolerate anything other than straight-into-the-wind landings. And don't even think about starting into anything than straight into the wind - a ground loop will be almost inevitable.




After landing it was abundantly clear that this was not the field to use - uphill and very inclined. No way to get off properly in the present wind.




Here we go again - this time I'm aiming for the small green field at the right wing tip. It doesn't seem to be inclined, and appears to have been recently cut. The fresh green grass isn't tall yet at all. Note the shallow angle of the set-up. This is the only way I've been able to get the Cub down on a predetermined spot. Which means there has to be a fly-over to reconnoitre first.




This looks really good - straight into the wind, wings level and over the trees. Field seems long enough.




And it really worked! For the first time in the Cub I managed more than an arrival - I really couldn't notice when the flying stopped and the roll-out started. And the roll-out lasted the whole field, although the touch-down was quite early. Smooth beyond all expectations. Didn't use the brakes at all. I was so happy now that I decided to call it a day - I really could learn to fly this sim. Oh, joy - what adventures might not lie ahead!

PS - on a more sober note: My advice is, do not start learning to fly the sim on the Cub. Use the Cessna three-wheeler instead. It is very stable, has flaps for better approach control, and is much easier to start and land. The Cub cannot be flown hands-off and is a pain until you learn to appreciate the challenge…

[willygoat]

I had seen something about this a while back. Now i'll have to get it going. Thanks Leif!

[Leif Ohlsson]

Good luck Willy! Meanwhile, I take to the air again:


Seaview to Brooklands

I needed to confirm that I could learn to fly the Cub, before actually attempting the flight back to Brooklands. Here's the take-off from the small green field outside Seaview on the Isle of Wight:



Navigating in GEFS is a joy - you have a small window where you can open Google Maps, zoom in and out, and the sim marks every airfield along the route plus your own position - like a very user-friendly GPS, I guess.

After crossing the Solent and leaving Portsmouth behind with course set for London, my main concern was to find the landmarks whereby Harry Hawker might have navigated a hundred years ago.




Above, I have tacked on to the Old London Rd. That should have been there a hundred years ago, although it is of course much wider and even easier to see today.




Here the road is following a ridge - very pretty to see from the air.




Golf courses are easy to spot from the air - here is the one at Godalming. I don't think it would have been there a hundred years ago...




And here's another one - Sandown golf course. Plus an easy to spot reservoir that might well have been there a hundred years ago. There's also a river which is easy to spot. This junction is actually very interesting, although I didn't realize when flying over it. It may well have been the landmark Harry Hawker would have aimed at coming back from the Isle of Wight. Brooklands is just a tad further left - but I missed it for the time being…




Instead, I flew on, until arriving at this spectacular garden - the Hampton Court, and Kingston-on-Thames, the home of Sopwith aircraft then, and Hawker aircraft industries until just a few year ago, is just on the further side of the river, the nose of the Cub pointing at it.

If you want to join me at this point, here's a link: "Hampton Court - Kingston - Cub 4000 ft". The altitude is fairly realistic - Hawker stated that the flight from Isle of Wight had been undertaken at 5.000 ft all the way.



Having recognized Kingston, I knew Brookland wouldn't be far off - but I didn't know where. So I had to bring up Google maps and mark booth Kingston and Brooklands on it. Turns out I had passed Brooklands some distance back!




Befor turning back, I just had to try to locate the Sopwith-Hawker works at Kingston-on-Thames. Can't say I actually managed to spot the building, but it has to be somewhere right about where the nose of the Cub is pointing.

Then I turned back and followed my map towards Brooklands.




Once I knew its whereabouts, the former Brooklands motor court and aerodrome was easy to find. It was very satisfying to finally see this famous court, somewhat how it would have appeard to Harry Hawker returning from the Isle of Wight a hundred years ago. I never knew it looked like this!

And - luck upon luck - the map actually had a yellow mark in the middle of it, marking an airstrip of unknown dimensions. Could this really be true? If so, it would be more than I could ever hope for!

[Leif Ohlsson]

Finding a suitable landing strip at Brooklands




Above you see my set-up for exploring the landing possibilites (legal or otherwise) on Brooklands today. A hundred years ago, there was just a single large grass field inside the rime of the motor court. Not so today.

If you would like to join in the exploring, here's the link for the situation above: "Brooklands all options open left base 750ft". For the winds prevailing today, I would recommend a generous base leg over the railway tracks ahead. You start on idle, and will find that the altitude is more than sufficient.



Above: Here's an initial fly-by over the far end of the aerodrome, tentatively marked as some kind of landing strip. Not so, it seems. There's a go-cart course and lots of obstacles around. Yet, I wanted to try a landing touching down somewhere around the white mark, on the present course, thus avoiding most of the obstacles.



Above: Here's the actual approach, aiming for the white mark. I eventually got down (after destroying a couple of the houses below). This is clearly not a very safe landing spot.




Then I tried the main racecourse, with long stretches of tarmac. They are eminently possible if the wind is right.




Safest of all would be the main center field, were it not for another winding racecourse, with potential obstacles along the course itself. Not suitable.




This became my favourite strip - it actually looks like it could serve like a short landing strip for real - wheter it is allowed in real life, I sincerely doubt. It runs along the main museum buildings on the left (with a full-size Concorde aircraft parked outside, make sure to have a peek when making your initial fly-by).




With the wind prevailing today, a proper wheels landing was actually achieved. My tip for a safe landing in the Cub is to level out and float a couple of teet above the ground, juggling elevator carefully to achieve a stall (below red mark on airspeed indicator; and stall sign flashing) while you're still airborne just above the ground, yet at the same time avoiding ballooning. This way you make sure that the Cub will really stay down, and not bounce back up uncontrollably. Don't give up, it's tricky but sometimes doable; more often so with practice...




Finally, in my experience, these are the conditions to strive for on short final. Speed 45-50 knots, and note the shallow angle.

Good luck now, and enjoy - the world looks really glorious from up there!

Leif

[peter taft]

Leif.... i have spent more hours than i dare admit to in Microsoft Flight sim. It's excellent to see the world this way. The longest flight was from Birmingham International Airport {uk} to the UAE {Dubai} In real time too, so a long flight - but very enjoyable. Love seeing what you have done, and the pleasure you had. Enjoy your flying hours Leif

[BobGurkin]

I really love my Google Earth and any time we are to take a vacation I always "fly" over the route. We especially love to travel the "Smoky" Mountains and some of the roadways can be tough for a motorhome so a "fly over" can be enlightening.

[Leif Ohlsson]

Thanks for the tip Bob! Here's where I got to by simply typing "Smoky Mountains" into the "Location" option in GEFS:



Smoky Mountain National Park - click on this link and get to this situation (if you have downloaded the Google Earth plugin 6.2; see first post in this thread).

I see what you mean about a flyover being helpful before driving here, Bob!

Climbing along the road in the background, out of this valley, and across the ridge in the background, was almost more than the Cub could manage:



At almost 8.000 ft, the Cub has only another thousand ft in it (at most).



What I would have never guessed at from below in the valley, is the vast system of lakes and dams (?) higher up. Go see for yourself! (GEFS link to the situation above).

Thanks again, Bob, for letting me find this out on my own!

Leif

[Johnflys2]

Leif, looks like you are close to being hooked on Flight Simulation. You have a better way with words than I do and you have expressed your experience perfectly.

I too have spent many hours in the virtual world of flying but I fly sailplanes and gliders. You may remember you gave me permission to use your INKA textures and I made one for the sim.

I have attached 4 images of your INKA paper model converted to a virtual model.

They show it flying at Wasserkuppe in Germany. First pic shows it a couple 2000 feet over the field. Pic 2 shows it rolling out on final. Pic 3 shows it about to touch down along side the run way in the grass because it has a skid and not a wheel. The last picture shows it safely down and stopped.

If you ever get MicroSoft FSX and you want a copy of the INKA to fly let me know I will gladly share. Again, I thank you for the textures. John

[BobGurkin]

Yep, thats them. For a real treat go down to ground level and go along some of the back roads. That is what we love to do when on vacation. We call it "getting lost". Sometimes we get into some interesting places I'm sorry I can't enjoy the flight simulator, but I have been in Virtual Reality since 1997 and we fly every where in there. I know it can be fun though. I'm not trying to hijack your thread and will bow out at this point. No need to say have fun....you are already having a blast