Google Earth for in flight Planning?

steve writes:

One of my IFR instructors said another student prints out google earth
images of the route he is going to fly, to particularly look for landmarks
in unfamiliar routes and emergency landing site possibilities.

Why not just look at a chart? They're made specifically for that purpose.
And if you hit something, telling the FAA you used Google Earth for flight
planning instead of a chart isn't going to go over very well.