PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - UPS cargo crash near Birmingham AL
View Single Post
Old 18th Aug 2013, 16:36
  #405 (permalink)  
PJ2
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: BC
Age: 76
Posts: 2,484
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
BOAC, re "Yes thanks - do we have an initial impact elevation? "

Even given the inaccuracies described regarding Google Earth's topographical data, using the "ruler" tool in G.E. to draw a line from the 1000ft point on 18 along the approach path over the two houses (photographs showing broken trees), and using the Altitude control, "Clamped to ground" feature available when saving the line to "My Places", one can obtain a slightly better appreciation for the character of the terrain.

And using the Altitude feature, "Relative-to-ground" and placing the same line at the runway elevation, one can see that the line "disappears" anytime it is going through terrain higher than the altitude selected by moving the slider on the "ground - space" control.

Viewing from the side, (perpendicular to the approach course, looking north for example), the same line "Clamped to the ground" shows a rough approximation of the undulation of the terrain.

The limitations are obvious (for example, the actual descent path obviously cannot be described at this time) but with the cautions expressed, it does give one something by which one may roughly examine the terrain.

PJ
PJ2 is offline