Air Photo Search Guide

Step 3: Consult the flight line indexes for the air photo sets you are interested in

By consulting the flight line indexes you can determine whether the plane flew over your area of interest and confirm that SANDS has that flight line in our collection. 

Flight line maps show exactly where the plane flew (flight lines), and the locations of each photo (photo centres). 

Most of the flight line indexes have been scanned. To view the index using the Air Photo Search Tool, select "Download" next to "Flight Line Index" on the pop-up window for the set you are interested in. 

The flight line index will automatically download when you click that link. In the example below we can see both the flight paths (lines) and the locations where the photos were taken (indicated by dots). Flight line maps also provide camera roll number and photo numbers which you will need to make note of to locate the photos you need in the boxes. The indexes are labelled with the SANDS call number (e.g.72 M 31 1964). 

Usually if a flight line is highlighted in green that means that these photos are part of the the SANDS collection.

Some flight line indexes are also available in print form. For the Calgary area. These are kept at the SANDS TFDL 4th floor location and can be viewed during an appointment.