Something Weird on Google Earth

Captain

Captain

Final Approach
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Noticed this today...

If you use Google Earth or Google Maps and navigate to KFPR and look close at the threshold of runway 32 you can see two planes caught in the picture that are about 600' in trail of each other on final.

One is just over the numbers and the other is just short of the threshold. It's clearly day time and KFPR has a tower. Weird. Maybe it's a time lapse issue...
 
Gotta be a time lapse effect. The aircraft at and approaching the hold short line look identical when you zoom in.

Nice spot though. Any others?
 
Well, I know of a little known thing but it isn't really a Google Earth mess up or anything...


You can see it with Google Earth so I'll share:

If you navigate to KSAV you'll notice they have a north/south and a east/west runway. Start at the intersection of the two runways and go West along 10/28. Go past the first taxi crossing you come to. Almost exactly centred between that first taxi way crossing and the next taxi way crossing and just a tad north of the runway centreline you'll see two rectangles in the runway surface next to each other.

Those two rectangles are grave markers. The story goes that the runway was built over a cemetery. Georgia law prohibits moving a grave unless the family is notified. So, out of the entire cemetery they notified all the families of all the graves that were to be moved when construction on the runway began...all except two. Those two graves families could not be located, so the graves stayed. What you see on the runway are two markers (square discoloured bits) to mark the graves location.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Gotta be a time lapse effect. The aircraft at and approaching the hold short line look identical when you zoom in.

Nice spot though. Any others?
Click to expand...
I've seen similar things before. Google Earth shows a composite image created from multiple shots captured at different times. If the plane or vehicle was moving in the same direction as the image taker and at roughly (within a factor of 1-4x) the same speed the exact same plane or vehicle will show up in multiple images.
 
NE of Jean NV you used to see a glider on tow, and the tow plane shadow, but no tow plane. W of the airport you had two images of the jump plane on climbout.

It was a matter of stitching two photos together. The phenom has been replaced with newer photos.
 
Too funny! We were down at KFPR in early May and I noticed that on Google Earth as well. I always like to check out new fields on Google Earth before I go.
 
Kewl. What I'd really like to know is whether anyone has found that plane in the desert - a P-40, wasn't it?
 
If you zoom in on KOSH in Google Earth (or G'maps) you'll see that the last shot was taken during AirVenture 2011. But more importantly (to me anyway) a closer look at the airplanes parked on the south side of 9-27 shows that several airplanes (including mine) were lined up between the campers in the fourth through eleventh row west of the new bathhouse. This was in preparation for the first ever formation showcase flight of Barons and Bonanzas at OSH. My airplane is the eastern most one by itself four rows west of the bathhouse.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.990068,-88.567883&z=16&t=h&hl=en
 
gismo said:
If you zoom in on KOSH in Google Earth (or G'maps) you'll see that the last shot was taken during AirVenture 2011. But more importantly (to me anyway) a closer look at the airplanes parked on the south side of 9-27 shows that several airplanes (including mine) were lined up between the campers in the fourth through eleventh row west of the new bathhouse. This was in preparation for the first ever formation showcase flight of Barons and Bonanzas at OSH. My airplane is the eastern most one by itself four rows west of the bathhouse.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=43.990068,-88.567883&z=16&t=h&hl=en
Click to expand...

Nice shot. Definitely shows how well attended that event is.

For the un-initiated, such as me, is the area north of Whitman Road the "north 40" camping area?
 
Captain said:
Well, I know of a little known thing but it isn't really a Google Earth mess up or anything...


You can see it with Google Earth so I'll share:

If you navigate to KSAV you'll notice they have a north/south and a east/west runway. Start at the intersection of the two runways and go West along 10/28. Go past the first taxi crossing you come to. Almost exactly centred between that first taxi way crossing and the next taxi way crossing and just a tad north of the runway centreline you'll see two rectangles in the runway surface next to each other.

Those two rectangles are grave markers. The story goes that the runway was built over a cemetery. Georgia law prohibits moving a grave unless the family is notified. So, out of the entire cemetery they notified all the families of all the graves that were to be moved when construction on the runway began...all except two. Those two graves families could not be located, so the graves stayed. What you see on the runway are two markers (square discoloured bits) to mark the graves location.
Click to expand...

True story. There was a blurb about it on the local news last year sometime. IIRC, the family has been 'found' since the runway was paved, but they haven't moved the graves because of the cost required to do so. I believe the story made it into the mix because the family came to visit the markers and they closed the runway for them to do so safely.
 
I first heard of the graves in 1998 or so. That's when I saw the markers and asked the tower about it.
 
Also note the "two" planes waiting in line at the hold line are identical. I wonder if the original image is some kinda of false stereo image that got flattened .

Captain said:
Noticed this today...

If you use Google Earth or Google Maps and navigate to KFPR and look close at the threshold of runway 32 you can see two planes caught in the picture that are about 600' in trail of each other on final.

One is just over the numbers and the other is just short of the threshold. It's clearly day time and KFPR has a tower. Weird. Maybe it's a time lapse issue...
Click to expand...
 
What are the vehicles east of Perimeter Road (east of the field). They're lined up like we do at auto recycling yards, yet when I zoom in, they look to be all of the same vehicle design.
 
I just looked up KFPR on the regular Google Earth and there are three planes on top of each other on final. A black one slightly past the numbers, another black one almost to the threshold, then a white one slightly behind and above the second black one.

But then it's Florida, hot, sticky, people cant think clearly in all that mugginess.


-John
 
Captain said:
Well, I know of a little known thing but it isn't really a Google Earth mess up or anything...


You can see it with Google Earth so I'll share:

If you navigate to KSAV you'll notice they have a north/south and a east/west runway. Start at the intersection of the two runways and go West along 10/28. Go past the first taxi crossing you come to. Almost exactly centred between that first taxi way crossing and the next taxi way crossing and just a tad north of the runway centreline you'll see two rectangles in the runway surface next to each other.

Those two rectangles are grave markers. The story goes that the runway was built over a cemetery. Georgia law prohibits moving a grave unless the family is notified. So, out of the entire cemetery they notified all the families of all the graves that were to be moved when construction on the runway began...all except two. Those two graves families could not be located, so the graves stayed. What you see on the runway are two markers (square discoloured bits) to mark the graves location.
Click to expand...

Apparently the same thing at Mathis Field in Georgia.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zir6/528673748/
 
If you look due east of KXFL at the beach, just below the pier you will see the remanats of an old airport. Charles Lindbergh made an emergency landing at that old airport in 1931. There is a news paper report about it at the local museum.
 
flightmedic said:
If you look due east of KXFL at the beach, just below the pier you will see the remanats of an old airport. Charles Lindbergh made an emergency landing at that old airport in 1931. There is a news paper report about it at the local museum.
Click to expand...

I'm looking but don't see it. Is it on the beach and when you say below do you mean South or actually under the pier?
 
Sorry, I should have been more specific. It is a grassy area in the shape of the left half of an x that is between the inter-coastal waterway and the ocean, about a half mile south of State Road 100. I don't know how to transfer an image from Google Earth to here.

Edit: It is actually between the the inter-coastal waterway and the residential area that fronts the ocean.
 
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John Baker said:
I just looked up KFPR on the regular Google Earth and there are three planes on top of each other on final. A black one slightly past the numbers, another black one almost to the threshold, then a white one slightly behind and above the second black one.

But then it's Florida, hot, sticky, people cant think clearly in all that mugginess.


-John
Click to expand...

Shadows?
The first airplane (white) casting the dark shadow, is right at the top of the runway numbers and hidden there.
Or, to your thinking there is a black plane, white plane, black plane, white plane.
 
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flightmedic said:
Sorry, I should have been more specific. It is a grassy area in the shape of the left half of an x that is between the inter-coastal waterway and the ocean, about a half mile south of State Road 100. I don't know how to transfer an image from Google Earth to here.

Edit: It is actually between the the inter-coastal waterway and the residential area that fronts the ocean.
Click to expand...

If you are talking old airports, check out Squantum Mass, the marina is now where the old Navy flying boats would taxi in and out. What is left of a runway is still visible and part of a walking path with a bird sanctuary.
N42-18
W071-02
The airport was established in the early 1910s.
 
An airport I fly to, KGON (towered airport), has the same phenomenon although there are 2 planes on 33 (maybe the same plane?) and 1 plane on 23 about to collide with the second plane on 33. Maybe they are stunt pilots. ;) It's a relatively recent photo because they constructed the arresting strips last year.


Edit: Forgot link: http://goo.gl/maps/XdCA
 
numl0ck said:
An airport I fly to, KGON (towered airport), has the same phenomenon although there are 2 planes on 33 (maybe the same plane?) and 1 plane on 23 about to collide with the second plane on 33. Maybe they are stunt pilots. ;) It's a relatively recent photo because they constructed the arresting strips last year.


Edit: Forgot link: http://goo.gl/maps/XdCA
Click to expand...

On runway 5/23 there is a white marker right where it crosses 15/33 that has something on it. What the heck is that?
 
I always like to see what the censors decide they don't need to display, like the White House in pure HD and the Vice Presidential mansion blurred out. . . .like no one knows where it is. Or airports in NY State blurred out [ROC/SYR] while lower Manhattan and JFK/LGA are shown in all their glory. Who thinks this stuff up?
 
BillTIZ said:
If you are talking old airports, check out Squantum Mass, the marina is now where the old Navy flying boats would taxi in and out. What is left of a runway is still visible and part of a walking path with a bird sanctuary.
N42-18
W071-02
The airport was established in the early 1910s.
Click to expand...

I found Squantum Mass marina but couldn't find the old runway.
 
flightmedic said:
On runway 5/23 there is a white marker right where it crosses 15/33 that has something on it. What the heck is that?
Click to expand...

No idea. I flew there yesterday and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. :wink2:
 
You can spend hours looking up old abandoned airfields in Google Maps using this website, trust me. It's amazing how many of them you can still see the remnants of after years of them being closed and developed over.

Abandoned & Little Known Airfields
 
ausrere said:
You can spend hours looking up old abandoned airfields in Google Maps using this website, trust me. It's amazing how many of them you can still see the remnants of after years of them being closed and developed over.

Abandoned & Little Known Airfields
Click to expand...

Love that site. Kinda. I mean, well... A number of the Colorado airports on that site are in my logbook. Even the one I soloed at.

:( :( :(
 
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