We heard the unfortunate news today about adventurer Steve Fossett disappearing during what by accounts was a simple pleasure flight in good weather. He departed the Flying M Ranch southeast of Reno, NV in a Citabria Super Decathlon Monday morning on a local flight and did not return. The Flying M Ranch is owned by the Hilton Family of hotel fame. Finding the ranch on a map wasn’t easy - so we’ve created the simple map below showing the location of the Flying M. We suggest you view the map in Google Earth to get an appreciation for the mountainous terrain nearby.

Get the latest version of Google Earth HERE

Flying M Ranch - Switch to Hybrid Mode or use the View in Google Earth Button for best results!

For best results when viewing Google Earth files, it’s best to always have the latest version. The easiest way to do this is to install Google Earth via the ‘Google Pack’ from Google. The Google Pack is free, and will keep all your Google applications up to date. To get Google Earth via the Google Pack, use the button below:

Amazing things are being done with Google Earth. We discovered a worldwide realtime METAR feed today.

Provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, it maps the Aviation Digital Data Service’s (ADDS) database of over 3000 world METAR reporting stations to Google Earth. Observation data is updated every 5 minutes and they have adopted a symbol set reminiscent of older paper weather charts to quickly convey current conditions at each airport.

Download the Google KMZ file HERE.

Use the link below to get the current version of Google Earth: