As a dedicated window seater, I like to know where I am. Can someone recommend maps, books, or a web site which I can use to identify rivers, lakes, cities that I am flying over at any given moment as I am flying (maybe a little history thrown in too)? Topography is more important, but towns, cities, and highway information would be useful too.

Thanks.

I asked the same question about 6 months ago and got a very helpful answer. Go to the website for Sporty's Pilot Shop. Search around their store and you will find a set of three maps, double sided, that cover the entire United States. The maps overlay the high altitude jet routes, which you will normally travel on, and it is very easy to follow along (as long as it's a clear day). Each of the jet routes has a different number and now when I get on a plane, I duck into the cockpit and explain that I just bought the maps and wish to follow along, and then I ask the pilots if they could tell me which jet routes we'll be flying on. Without exception, pilots are enthusiastic to provide this information. Let me know if you can't find the maps on the websit. Plus, they're only about $18 for the set.

I looked around the charts section of Sporty's and didn't find the $18 set you mentioned. What are they called?

Here's the link. If it doesn't work, type in www.sportys.com and click on flight shop. Then search for the word "Jetrivia":

http://www.sportys.com/acb/showdetl....ID=1628&DID=19

I wholeheartedly recommend Sporty's (and once made a pilgrimage to the physical location).

I have another related question. I was watching (in-flight) a documentary about the early days of commercial air travel, 1940s-50s. I saw a lot of people in the footage of those flights looking out the windows with binoculars.

Has anyone tried this? Is it worth it, now that planes fly higher than they did then? How is the view thru the plane window? How good do your binoculars need to be to see something five miles down? Maybe this is only good for commuter flights, but commuter flights are so short and go over relatively uninteresting territory.

I've used run-of-the-mill binoculars (maybe $60 ones) to look out the window. Aside from feeling like a real dork, the experience was okay. You can see pretty well but looking through two panes of typically not-so-clean glass hampers things a little. Don't expect to see individual people from cruising altitude but you might see some interesting stuff. On a trip to Hong Kong, I saw terraced mountainsides pretty well.

Now if I could just get these in electronic form, I'd be set, so when I'm cruising along using my laptop and wonder what town it is I'm looking down on, I could just pop it up on screen. :-)

I love taking my handheld GPS on the plane with me. Hold it up to the window and you'll get a decent reading -- it will tell you all sorts of fun information about where you are, how fast the plane is travelling, altitude, and you can measure distance and travel times between airports.

Download a map onto the GPS (I use the Topo USA maps) and you'll be able to see any interesting things nearby -- so you'll know that looking out the window is southwest and southwest 10 miles is a certain landmark. Really addictive!

The only problem is being able to fit enough map information into the GPS!

thanks for the scoop. just ordered the maps. if they look good, will probably get more for my friends that fly a lot.

Thanks BEVCC and PREMEX2000 - a very interesting thread and the maps are great.

Try getting a GPS. Always ask before using it, but so far I haven't had any airline tell me I can't use it.

I use the Garmin GPS 3 plus. It keeps me occupied on the domestic flights that don't have the map on the screen. You can upload maps but it has a decent et built in for domestic. You get all kinds of great info i.e. speed, alt, heading etc..

You can pick one up on ebay for about $270.

Flip