Determining Distance

[Jared]

I'm doing a little research for a friend who is considering buying a helicopter. I want to go to school and become his pilot but because I have not gone to school I am very uneducated about things in aviation.

 

My first question is, is there a website like mapquest that you can go to and type in your starting airport and your ending airport to see how many nautical miles it is? For example, how far is San Diego from Las Vegas? I can compute the travel time depending on the aircraft but I don't know how many nautical miles it is.

 

How do you guys know? Thanks

[67november]

see this thread for on-line navigation maps.

 

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/helicopterfor...amp;#entry40283

[Jared]

Thanks, I just found this website.

 

http://www.planetickets.com/airport_distances.htm

[67november]

that tells you the distance from point A to point B and little else, there's more to navigation than just distance.

[Jared]

Yeah, all I wanted for now was the distance but I will go through the links on that other page. Thanks

[ChprPlt]

Thats going to be straight line distance. You probably wont actually fly straight line due to mountains, airspace restrictions, fuel stops etc...

[PhotoFlyer]

www.airnav.com

[HelliBoy]

Long Live Google Earth!! Its hands down the best thing since sliced bread. U can even plan your route based on forced landing areas, roads, mountains, and noise abatement over populated areas. Somewhere around here I saw an app that overlayed sectional charts and sat images.

[gft]

Long Live Google Earth!! Its hands down the best thing since sliced bread. U can even plan your route based on forced landing areas, roads, mountains, and noise abatement over populated areas. Somewhere around here I saw an app that overlayed sectional charts and sat images.

 

 

I google earth any place I've never been-

It's great to get a real view of an area before you fly into it.

Nice to view airports and their surroundings.

I've even used it to hunt up restuarants and hotels with a

nearby landing spot.

 

"AOPA" offers great on-line flight planning with their membership.

You fill in your aircraft details and it does the rest for you.

It includes TFR info, weather info and airport / FBO info.

I do all my cross country flight planning with it, especially

my fixed wing flights.

 

gft

[Linc]

Landings.com flight planning calculator

[FUSE]

Somewhere around here I saw an app that overlayed sectional charts and sat images.

 

Here ya go....

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Overlay-Sectional-A...in-Google-Earth

[Jared]

Thats going to be straight line distance. You probably wont actually fly straight line due to mountains, airspace restrictions, fuel stops etc...

 

 

Fuel Stops? Any turbine aircraft should be able to go roughly 235nm without refueling shouldn't it? For example the EC120.

Edited February 9, 2007 by Jared

[67november]

Maybe, based on payload.

 

 

[HelliBoy]

Here ya go....

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Overlay-Sectional-A...in-Google-Earth

 

sweet, thanks

[Gomer Pylot]

With full fuel, yes, most can go that far. But with full fuel, you can't carry much. There is almost always a tradeoff, fuel for payload. Never, ever take the distance possible with full fuel as gospel, because you need a reserve to cover diversions, winds, and other possibilities, and because you usually need to carry passengers and/or cargo, which restricts the amount of fuel you can carry.

[West Coaster]

Fuel Stops? Any turbine aircraft should be able to go roughly 235nm without refueling shouldn't it? For example the EC120.

 

So say you're destination is 230nm. You gonna go there on one tank... without a fuel stop? Hope you nailed them auto rotations during training!

 

What about C of G limitations with low fuel? Might find yourself running out of cyclic when flaring to land.

[Gomer Pylot]

Fuel management is one of the more important parts of learning to fly. It's not a problem going around and around in the traffic pattern, but when you go crosscountry, it becomes important.

[fatnlazy]

A UH/1 WILL GO 235 NM w/a full payload and full bag.

[bossman]

A UH/1 WILL GO 235 NM w/a full payload and full bag.

What model? The B won't. It will go with full fuel and full payload, but not 235NM with standard tanks. If you start adding aux tanks, you will have to drop some payload. Burns about 85 to 90 gals an hour. The standard tank is only 170 gals.

bossman

[delorean]

I think this was one of the questions you asked. For a straight line conversion of statute miles to nautical miles, multiply the sm by 1.15. SM*1.15=NM and, thus MPH*1.15=KNOTS

 

And remember, no matter what that helicopter is capable of in covering, you are always limited by you bladder. At least in a helicopter you can land in a field, but that's not always an option (like at night or over a forest). Also, helicopters do not have BIG comfy seats like Cadillacs--you'll have saddle sores after about a 1-1.5 hrs and you'll do anything to get out of there.

[Linc]

And remember, no matter what that helicopter is capable of in covering, you are always limited by you bladder. At least in a helicopter you can land in a field, but that's not always an option (like at night or over a forest). Also, helicopters do not have BIG comfy seats like Cadillacs--you'll have saddle sores after about a 1-1.5 hrs and you'll do anything to get out of there.

I can usually last until 6 hours (the military conducts "hot" refuel), I find it to be a lumbar thing after that point. It also helps that I limit the coffee prior to takeoff and make sure to get in that last, "nervous" trip to the latrine (restroom).

[fatnlazy]

What model? The B won't. It will go with full fuel and full payload, but not 235NM with standard tanks. If you start adding aux tanks, you will have to drop some payload. Burns about 85 to 90 gals an hour. The standard tank is only 170 gals.

bossman

 

The B model holds 160 gal, VNE is 120 and it burns 90 at sea level about 80 at 4-5000 and 70 at 7000 and above give or take, it will do it cause I've done it. Beep it down and hope for a tail wind. The other short cabins, ( E,F,HH-1K,L,M,P, ETC.) hold 242 gal and the H model holds 209 gal.

Edited February 10, 2007 by fatnlazy