Seriously, why isn’t this a thing?

I went flying with John not that long ago (and I didn’t get airsick!  YAY!), and even though the plane has GPS, I was trying to navigate by landmark.  (GPS is cheating.  Plus, what if it failed?)  I mean, we were within sight of I-5 the whole time, which certainly helped, but what if we headed east or west for a bit?  I know Eugene well enough by now that I can pretty much identify the highways and the river, the stadium, the mall – I know where we are, what we’re flying over, and where we’re going.  But what if we were flying into Corvallis or Salem or any airport we’ve never been to?  Little planes fly low enough to follow roads, but how do you know which road is which?  We’re not low enough to read signs.  So I was thinking – we should put identifying codes on the roofs of big buildings, like they do with buses.  (Pop quiz, hotshot: How do I know about the numbers on buses?)  Those building codes can go on maps and there you have it – no one gets lost.

That’s it.  That’s my big idea.

2 Comments

  1. momma betty

    I think they actually used to do that in the early days of flying: mark the rooftops of airport buildings, I mean. There weren’t all that many paved roads to follow then either. What about taking a road map with you?

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