The default view is a sectional aeronautical chart. The charts cover the contiguous 48 U.S. states, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico only at this time. The charts are updated every 28 days and airport information every 56 days, coinciding with the FAA update cycles.
Any airport, navaid, or navigational fix can be found from the search box at the top of the page. Airports can be entered by ICAO identifier, IATA identifier, airport name, or city name. Since many airports share an identifier with a navaid, the search can be limited to VORs by adding a "/V" to the name and to NDBs by adding a "/N". For example, SEA/V will find the Seattle VORTAC. Searches can be limited to fixes by using "/F". Latitude/longitude fixes can also be entered as two numbers separated by a comma, a space, or a slash, as long as the latitude is specified first. Several formats are accepted, such as "47-15/-122-30", "47.25N,122.5W", "471500N 1223000W", "47° 15' N/122° 30' W". and more. Fixes can also be specified in the format used in NOTAMs, as a radial and distance from a VOR. For examle: "SEA179012.3" is 12.3 nautical miles along the 179 radial from the Seattle VOR.
Markers are displayed for weather stations and airports that match the criteria in the Settings. When zoomed out to a large area, the number of markers that is plotted is limited so that the map will still update quickly. Airports with weather information and high general aviation traffic have priority. Temporary flight restrictions are also plotted on the chart/map, again limited at higher zoom levels. TFRs covering larger areas are given priority. Clicking anywhere on the line of the TFR will display information about it. Navaids and navigational fixes can also be added to the map Both are also limited to the higher zoom levels, especially fixes since there are so many of them.
To plot a route, type in the airport identifiers, navaids, or fixes separated by semicolons, e.g. "SEA;LAX". A marker will be added to the middle of each segment. Clicking on that marker will show the segment length, trip length, and initial heading.
To display a range circle around an airport, add a colon and distance after the airport name or identifier. The distance will default to nautical miles, but the following units can also be used: sm (statute miles), ft, km, m (meters). For example, "SEA:30" or "SEA:30nm" will display a 30 nautical mile circle around SEA.
Clicking on the "Settings" button will display a dialog that can be used to control what is displayed on the map. The "Airports only" checkbox will hide any non-airports such as heliports, seaplane bases, etc. The "Public only" checkbox will hide private and military airports. If an airport provides weather information but is not public (such as many military airports), the location will still display a weather icon, but will be a square instead of a pushpin marker.
"Units" affects how the translated weather and forecasts are displayed, as well as any distances. "No conversion" will not convert the units. "English" will convert distances to miles, speeds to mph, and temperatures to Fahrenheit. "Metric" will convert distances to kilometers, speeds to kph, and temperatures to Celcius. Altitudes will always be displayed in feet.
"Time zone" will convert the times shown in the weather, forecasts, and sunrise/sunset table.
"Auto update" will update the weather icons periodically, every 5, 15, or 60 minutes.
"Default airport ID" will set the string show in the search box when the map is first loaded, and "Display at startup" will zoom the map to that location.
Use the F11 key to temporarily maximize the size of your web browser to see the most chart area. Pressing F11 again will return it to the previous size.
To view even more map, the ads on the right-hand side can be hidden by double-clicking the re-size bar separating the ads and the map.
Use the "Zoom in" link in the pop-up ballon for an airport to center the map or chart at that location and zoom in. Switch to satellite view and "Zoom in" again to really get a close look at an airport.
The weather markers will update whenever the map is moved. You can also update the markers by clicking on the Update button in the toolbar or by setting an automatic update interval in the Settings.
Detailed airport information is available by clicking a marker and then clicking the airport name in the pop-up balloon. To find amenities around an airport, zoom close into the airport in map or satellite view and then use the search box in the lower left corner. This can be used to find hotels, restaurants, rental cars, etc.
If you'd like a link to particular location, click on the "Show link" button.
To create a link that centers the map at a particular airport, add "?loc=ID" to the end of the web site address. For example, to link to Sea-Tac, use "www.runwayfinder.com?loc=KSEA".
You must have javascript enabled in your browser for this site to work properly. Enabling bookmarks will also allow your settings to be saved between sessions.
Google Maps imposes some minimum requirements on the browser, which thus also apply to this site. Currently supported are IE 6.0+, Firefox 2.0+, Safari 3.1+. IE 5.0 is not supported. For the best experience, Firefox 3.0 is recommended. Smaller screens will not be able to display much of the map. 1024 x 768 was targeted as a minimum screen size. Also, this site uses many images. It will work much better over a fast internet connection.
More information about linking to this site and embedding chart images on your web site.
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