diff --git a/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.cxx b/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.cxx
index 29d27a2b..ea699e3c 100644
--- a/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.cxx
+++ b/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.cxx
@@ -764,9 +764,7 @@ static Point3D point_inside_contour( FGContourNode *node, const FGPolygon &p ) {
 	Point3D p1 = out_pts[ t.get_n1() ];
 	Point3D p2 = out_pts[ t.get_n2() ];
 	Point3D p3 = out_pts[ t.get_n3() ];
-	double area = fabs(0.5 * ( p1.x() * p2.y() - p2.x() * p1.y() +
-				   p2.x() * p3.y() - p3.x() * p2.y() +
-				   p3.x() * p1.y() - p1.x() * p3.y() ));
+	double area = triangle_area( p1, p2, p3 );
 	if ( area > max_area ) {
 	    max_area = area;
 	    biggest = i;
@@ -991,8 +989,8 @@ bool find_intermediate_node( const Point3D& start, const Point3D& end,
     Point3D p1 = end;
 
     // cout << "  add_intermediate_nodes()" << endl;
-    printf("   %.7f %.7f %.7f <=> %.7f %.7f %.7f\n",
-	   p0.x(), p0.y(), p0.z(), p1.x(), p1.y(), p1.z() );
+    // printf("   %.7f %.7f %.7f <=> %.7f %.7f %.7f\n",
+    //        p0.x(), p0.y(), p0.z(), p1.x(), p1.y(), p1.z() );
 
     double xdist = fabs(p0.x() - p1.x());
     double ydist = fabs(p0.y() - p1.y());
diff --git a/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.hxx b/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.hxx
index bf2ddda7..88eec7f9 100644
--- a/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.hxx
+++ b/src/Lib/Geometry/poly_support.hxx
@@ -40,6 +40,17 @@
 #include "trinodes.hxx"
 
 
+// Calculate the area of a triangle
+inline double triangle_area( const Point3D p1,
+			     const Point3D p2,
+			     const Point3D p3 )
+{
+    return fabs(0.5 * ( p1.x() * p2.y() - p2.x() * p1.y() +
+			p2.x() * p3.y() - p3.x() * p2.y() +
+			p3.x() * p1.y() - p1.x() * p3.y() ));
+}
+
+
 // basic triangulation of a polygon with out adding points or
 // splitting edges
 void polygon_tesselate( const FGPolygon &p,
diff --git a/src/Lib/Polygon/polygon.cxx b/src/Lib/Polygon/polygon.cxx
index 5b93e407..86a61e22 100644
--- a/src/Lib/Polygon/polygon.cxx
+++ b/src/Lib/Polygon/polygon.cxx
@@ -160,11 +160,11 @@ bool FGPolygon::is_inside( int a, int b ) const {
     // B is "inside" A if the polygon_diff( B, A ) is not null.
     FGPolygon result = polygon_diff( B, A );
     if ( result.contours() == 0 ) {
-	cout << "    is_inside() result = true" << endl;
+	// cout << "    is_inside() result = true" << endl;
 	return true;
     }
-    cout << "    is_inside() result = false" << endl;
 
+    // cout << "    is_inside() result = false" << endl;
     return false;
 }