Side View

See the Airspace Ahead Before You Get There👀

Flying near controlled or restricted airspace can get complex. Are you below it, above it, or just about to fly into it horizontally?

SeeYou Navigator 3.10 introduces Side View, a terrain and airspace cross-section. Instead of mentally combining airspace labels, terrain, altitude, and glide angle, you do it all in one simple widget: the ground below, the airspace ahead, and your glide path through it.

Why Side View?

In most situations, pilots are comfortable reading airspace on the map. In the vicinity of more complex airspace, though, the horizontal picture is only half of the story.

Imagine you are approaching a TMA that steps down toward higher ground. The map tells you where the boundary is, the label tells you the limits, and your instruments tell you your altitude. Side View brings all of those pieces together.

The profile shows the terrain ahead and draws the airspaces that intersect your path. AGL boundaries follow the terrain profile, while MSL and flight level boundaries are shown at their converted altitude. If an airspace is already warning you, Side View highlights it in the same yellow or red warning language you see elsewhere else in Navigator.

That makes Side View especially useful in busy, stepped, or mountainous airspace. You can see if the next few kilometers are clear, or whether the next transition puts you vertically inside an airspace ahead.

Step 1: Add Side View to your screen

Side View is available as a navbox named Side View. Add it to a flight page like any other navbox, or create a dedicated Airspace page where it will be displayed prominently.

For a map-heavy setup, make it wide and low. A wider placement makes distance, terrain, and airspace shapes easier to scan.

Step 2: How to read it from left to right

🔵The blue aircraft marker is you.

🟢The green profile is terrain.

Distance markers run across the bottom, and altitude markers run up the side using your selected units.

The profile extends slightly behind you and then forward along your current direction of travel. As you move, the scale adjusts to keep the relevant terrain and airspace in view.

Side View also draws a dashed projected glide path. It is not there to replace your final glide tools. It shows how the current McCready glide path sits relative to the terrain and airspace ahead.

Step 3: Automatic target context when you are lined up

The orientation of the Side view is automatic. If you’re flying towards the current target, it will stay oriented in that direction. You will see the target position and name during task flying, final glides, and transitions.

If you turn away from it, Side View follows your track again, so the view stays useful for the direction you are actually flying.

Tips & Tricks🤓

  • Use Side View alongside the map, not instead of it. The map tells you where the airspace is horizontally; Side View shows the vertical story.
  • Give it width. A wide placement makes the distance scale easier to scan in turbulence.
  • Check it before the warning becomes urgent, while you still have several options: climb, descend, turn, or wait.
  • In mountainous terrain, read the green profile carefully. Rising ground can make an AGL lower boundary climb with the terrain, which is exactly the kind of situation Side View is built to clarify.

Try It Yourself

Side View is available in SeeYou Navigator 3.10. Add the Side view navbox to your flying page, load your airspace and elevation data, and try it on a familiar route first.

Once you have seen complex airspace as a vertical profile, it is hard to go back to doing all that geometry in your head.