The Valdez airport is an LDA/DME, not an ILS system.

Yup. Your explanation is fine. And without looking up the approach plate it's really not obvious since it is only a 5° offset (57° LDA approach, 62° runway heading). Whereas the 45° offset Honolulu LDA approach is plain as day. I never land without first looking up the airport in the AF/D and TPP.

Yup. Your explanation is fine. And without looking up the approach plate it's really not obvious since it is only a 5° offset (57° LDA approach, 62° runway heading). Whereas the 45° offset Honolulu LDA approach is plain as day. I never land without first looking up the airport in the AF/D and TPP.

 

The Honolulu LDA to 26L is a fun one in the soup. Flying along, minding your business, then "Hey, there's the runway pointed straight at me way over there to the side" followed by a hard turn.

Now we are talking about approaches... Obviously... the pseudo full screen trick is also GREAT for watching other stuff while flying! Just now I did a flight to Unalakleet, using VOR only, and I used the LOC-DME RWY 15 approach. Instead of calling up GMap I know called up Firefox with the pdf of the approach from Airnav. Worked like a charm! Now I don't have to print those charts anymore! Yes, this trick helps saving trees! (Of course you lose sound as long as another window is active.)

 

Here is a shot taken when I was flying to the EARMI IAF, flying pretty straight on the 274 radial (I came from the east).

 

 

And here I am flying the 16 nm arc. (Doesn't add anything useful to what I just posted but I was so proud to fly EXACTLY on 16 nm almost all the time... The hardest part for me right now is to keep the desired altitudes.)

 

 

This time I didn't need GMap (since I used VOR) but if I wanted to, I could: here is a shot from earlier in the flight. It gets a bit crowded onscreen, but you CAN do it and still control the plane and fly on!

 

Received from one of the devs over at the FS Widgets forum:

 

 

Hi Ken,

Don't worry, you aren't doing anything wrong. As Jim says, it has been a bit of a mystery as to why on some folks systems it works OK and on others not and we are focusing on this one at the moment. What we have noticed is that for some starting GMap only after they are in the air (or doing a -DISC/+CONN) seems to clear the problem, as opposed to trying that on the ground.

 

Fermin Fernandez

Developer - FSWidgets

http://fswidgets.com

 

 

Guess I'm just one of the unlucky ones which those work-arounds don't work for. Still, as J van E pointed out, it's not a major drawback at the moment given what it's capable of for free.

Well I got to a couple of airports today flying around that I would have never located without Gmap and the Nav data. I love it in Alaska cause you can fly above the river beds or up canyons and you can know exactly where you are.

 

Beautiful flight tonight from Valdez to Whittier.

 

 

Just landed at Whittier.

 

Received from one of the devs over at the FS Widgets forum:

 

 

Hi Ken,

Don't worry, you aren't doing anything wrong. As Jim says, it has been a bit of a mystery as to why on some folks systems it works OK and on others not and we are focusing on this one at the moment. What we have noticed is that for some starting GMap only after they are in the air (or doing a -DISC/+CONN) seems to clear the problem, as opposed to trying that on the ground.

 

Fermin Fernandez

Developer - FSWidgets

http://fswidgets.com

 

 

Guess I'm just one of the unlucky ones which those work-arounds don't work for. Still, as J van E pointed out, it's not a major drawback at the moment given what it's capable of for free.

 

Tonight I took off and the map aircraft was not aligned with the direction of flight. Stopped Gmap and restarted it, and it was fixed.

Gmap is a lot better than having to keep going back to the Flight map to check if you are on course. Only problem for me is the Gmap window seems to take up nearly half of the screen. Is there any way to re-size the Gmap window does anybody know?

Gmap is a lot better than having to keep going back to the Flight map to check if you are on course. Only problem for me is the Gmap window seems to take up nearly half of the screen. Is there any way to re-size the Gmap window does anybody know?

 

Not that I know off... So I usually use GMap very briefly, a few seconds, just to check. I will ask Fermin, well, maybe he can answer that here if 1. it is possible to resize the GMap window and 2. if it is possible to have specific options on by default (like Airports and VORs).

I love gmap now. And I love not having on-screen pointers to my destination. Trips require thought and planning and maintenance, as they should. Again, what a forum!!

I do encounter occasional trouble connecting. I'll have a connection, the I'll lose it, then I will fly for a while and suddenly be able to re-connect. Is that normal? It's kinda cool actually, much like losing a GPS lock, so I'd better have a heading and some idea of dead reckoning as my GPS might cut out any time. Also, if it does disconnect, I can still use the map to cross-reference visual terrain to see what I am! and even disconnected, I still have access to my aiport information, just no moving me.

This has been mentioned before on the forum, but for anyone with an IPad, you can also use the Air Display app to make your Ipad a second monitor with GMap always visible even in full screen mode. I tried it out this morning, and it works pretty well.

 

I agree that It works pretty well. The main problems are that GMap does not fill the whole screen on the IPad and that you have to switch to windows mode if you want to change any of the GMap options as what you are seeing is the image of the PC GMap window. However I would very much recommend it and I now use it all the time with Sectionals and Nav data from FSWidgets. Can't wait for the IPad version of GMap.

Gmap is a lot better than having to keep going back to the Flight map to check if you are on course. Only problem for me is the Gmap window seems to take up nearly half of the screen. Is there any way to re-size the Gmap window does anybody know?

 

Just read on the FSWidgets forum that it is and will be impossible to resize GMap for Flight. I personally am looking forward to the Android version.

Just read on the FSWidgets forum that it is and will be impossible to resize GMap for Flight. I personally am looking forward to the Android version.

 

Ar you going to run the Android version on a phone or tablet?

Ar you going to run the Android version on a phone or tablet?

 

Phone. Don't have a tablet (yet). I know, it's pretty small on a phone, but 1. my Desire HD has a pretty large screen for a phone and 2. I've got good reading glasses. Besides, I only use GMap to glance at it every now and then if I am afraid to take a wrong turn.

Phone. Don't have a tablet (yet). I know, it's pretty small on a phone, but 1. my Desire HD has a pretty large screen for a phone and 2. I've got good reading glasses. Besides, I only use GMap to glance at it every now and then if I am afraid to take a wrong turn.

 

Well let us know how it works out, because that is what I have an Android phone, and before I buy a tablet, I will just continue to use the PC version which is working great for me now.

well i finally got the full screen version of gmap working now with this new windowed tutorial thing.

only problem im having is the ms-F11 key stretches the screen a little more and my mouse click is pretty off the mark whereever i try to click things. Doable for large menu selections but more tedious for cockpit selections while flying.

just wish i could run 'real' full screen, as i get better framerates than windowed mode. ah well.

well i finally got the full screen version of gmap working now with this new windowed tutorial thing.

only problem im having is the ms-F11 key stretches the screen a little more and my mouse click is pretty off the mark whereever i try to click things. Doable for large menu selections but more tedious for cockpit selections while flying.

just wish i could run 'real' full screen, as i get better framerates than windowed mode. ah well.

 

You just have to click higher than you expect. After awhile you will learn where the click spots have shifted to.