I was fooling with Sky Vector tonight and noticed something. At the top you can choose what chart you want. One of the options is world chart. I understand that they were discontinued in 2015. So why does Sky Vector have them? And why would you want to use them in Sky vector to begin with.

Tim

Skyvector had WAC charts back when WAC charts were a thing. But they eventually provided World VFR, which is different...it is the stitched together highest resolution VFR charts of the entire globe. It is not a product you can buy anywhere, it is Skyvector's own stitched image. They also do it for the IFR charts, both high and low altitude.

So my take on it is the opposite of yours. Since Skyvector put the World stitched images in as an option why would you choose any other layer? I haven't switched off of the world layer since it came out.

I've been using skyvector for a couple years now, mainly to check METARs & TFR's.
I was aware that it has other features, like flight planning, although I rarely use them.
Maybe I'm late to the party, but I just discovered that it also has a wx radar feature.
Click "layers" at the top RH corner of the page.

There are actually a lot of features hiding in there. Fuel prices. Winds aloft at various altitudes and time periods.

Something that people sometimes do not realize...when you put in a flight plan, it takes account of the wind forecast. So if you are looking for decent estimates of flight time, you need to specify your cruising altitude and specific date and time of departure. Otherwise, you just get the estimate based on an immediate departure and whatever standard altitude it chooses. Which can result in some pretty off-kilter estimates depending on the winds at the time as they compare to the winds when you actually fly.

One of the nice things about skyvector is that it's free.
I like my GPS app, Avare, for the same reason.
Might be that neither is the best at what they do,
but they both work pretty well and you can't beat the price.

Another similar product

http://www.iflightplanner.com/AviationCharts/

The scale of the WAC charts is still handy for 'big picture' planning. Especially for how to make an efficient plan around MOAs and Restricted areas or following major geographic features that may be harder to discern when you zoom out on the "World VFR" view.

As a paper chart flyer still (it's a weird addiction), I miss the WAC option. Good for building a planning wall at home. And from a cartography standpoint a neat study in incorporating all that aeronautical data on a larger scale that makes the cartographer work a lot harder.

Troy Hamon wrote:There are actually a lot of features hiding in there. Fuel prices. Winds aloft at various altitudes and time periods.

Something that people sometimes do not realize...when you put in a flight plan, it takes account of the wind forecast. So if you are looking for decent estimates of flight time, you need to specify your cruising altitude and specific date and time of departure. Otherwise, you just get the estimate based on an immediate departure and whatever standard altitude it chooses. Which can result in some pretty off-kilter estimates depending on the winds at the time as they compare to the winds when you actually fly.

Type “9900” in the ETD time block, either Zulu or local. It cuts the winds out of the estimated time enroute calculations.