Contents


Item:
RAAS Remote Alternate Altimiter Setting has been removed from many plates. Removal ceased in April of 2000 but no removed RAAS is planned for reinstatement.

Why Jepp Charts and not NOS?
--Profile of descents is truly representative of what happens.
--Procedure turns are fully charted.
--The localizer frequency is near the localizer
--Jepp uses a better font
--An arrow points directly from the obstacle elevation to the obstacle.
--The taxi chart can be used for taxiing.
--Everything is made to scale if possible.
--Loose-leaf format is easier to use.
--Departure procedures and standard terminal arrival routes are on the approach charts.
--Alternate status and departure procedures are on the chart.

Charts
Charts are made by the Office of Aeronautical Charting and Cartography (AC&C) from FAA and Department of Defense National Imagery and Mapping Agencies (NIMA) as well as the FCC and industry inputs. Over 7000 airport changes and 2500 navaid changes are processed. Additionally, the FAA's National Flight Data Digest has an additional 20,000+ lines of change related to the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) program which now totals over 80,0000 obstacles. Some 700 airspace changes occur annually along with over 500 airway changes. 500 GPS charts are created each year to go with over 6,500 Instrument Approach Procedure changes which totals over 20 volumes. These procedures are always issued in narrative form which is then charted graphically for pilot use with changes occurring in a 56 day cycle.

How reliable are your charts? There are over 10,000 changes in airports and navaids per year. Errors often are not corrected over a number of issues. Errors in charts are available through NOTAMs-distant, local and FDC. Distant NOTAMs are sent to all ATC facilities and FSSs. Local NOTAMs are sent only locally and are apt to be unavailable until you get near a far destination. Temporary flight restrictions and navaid problems appear as FDC NOTAMs.

Most chart errors, when they do occur, are not critical to flight safety. When flight safety errors do occur, ATC picks up the slack and warns pilots. Under 91.103 and using NOS Charts you do not have all available information unless you also have the latest change notices. The requirement that you have the latest charts also includes that you have the change notices. Current Jeppesen charts will automatically include the change notices.

One of the worst chart problems is running off the edge. Jepp charts have border information that can save your day. When an intersection is the next en route fix the border information will give the name and distance to that intersection. The use of the Lambert Conformal Conic Projection for en route charts make it so that a straight line between two points represents a great circle route--the shortest distance between two points.

All Jepp VORs have the 360 tick and compass rose. The box gives name, frequency, identifier, code, and class (power). A shadow box indicates that it is on an airway. If VOR information is not in a box it means that the VOR is not part of an airway. scalloped circle on the compass rose and/or a D before the frequency indicates DME. A black triangle in the rose means a mandatory reporting point. A small number in a black dot means that more related information is placed elsewhere. NDBs are depicted in green. Localizers are shown to show availability frequencies are given only when the localizer is used to form an intersection.

You cannot use any charted runway length as an accurate measure of distance since the charted figures are all rounded off. The front panels of the charts have the communications information. Each city has a chart panel identification for ease of locating. Bold print identifies the proper radio term to use for the facility.

For essentials, use post-its, and any other aid that comes to mind. As you develop preparation skills you will be building toward the time when you can meet the demands of reading the plate in the cockpit. Diagram the airport on the approach plate to orient yourself for a minimums break-out, or circling approaches. Very important for airports with intersecting runways.

The MDA is protected from obstacles from one mile after receiving the FAF to the MAP. DA is the lowest descent altitude authorized without use of a glide slope. Because of this above the MDA must be held all the way to the missed approach point. (MAP) The straight-in obstacle clearance can be as low as 250' but is usually higher through the use of remote altimeter and other factors. The circling under the same conditions is based on 350'.

For aircraft equipped for VNAV (vertical navigation equipment) almost every non-precision approach can be flown as though there were an electronic glide slope. This slope begins at the FAF and ends at 50' above the threshold. The descent angle is close to the three-degree considered optimum. This is the same slope as would be achieved using the fpm descent scale given on the plate for various approach speeds. .

Any runway with a VASI or PAPI has had an obstacle evaluation that allows an RNAV approach with a decision altitude inside of the MDA. A VDP (visual descent point) should be where the descent angle meets the MDA. The purpose of vertical assistance in non-precision approaches is to reduce the number of CFIT accidents.

The IFR Approach Chart
The charted courses and altitudes are 'FAA guaranteed' safe. You cannot leave courses or altitudes until you see the runway. You cannot descend below VASI red over white in either VFR, IFR or night conditions.

When flying an approach we must know both straight-in and circling MDA. Once we go below circling minimums. The options are land or go missed. I have read several conflicting opinions as to the right to climb back to circling MDA or not. If wind conditions do not permit a straight-in and visibility does permit, you can climb to circling minimums with ATC clearance to use a different runway. All that counts is the visibility between you and the runway. On a circling approach stay at the MDA until turning final.

Night non-precision approaches should be limited to VASI equipped runways. A charted VDP is useless to a fast airplane and a short runway. Repeated attempts to make instrument approaches usually end in disaster.

GPS charts are now named RNAV because the FAA standard will put all forms of RNAV on one chart. The minimums for different systems will be different. LNAV minimums apply to IFR certified GPS.

Approach plates are designed to allow pilot nav operations. This makes the load on ATC lighter.

--Magnetic directions of the earth change over the years. An ILS may become an LDA with glide slope
--Concentric rings on a chart means that nothing is to scale beyond ten miles.
--Obstacle and terrain information usually exists between the rings.
--Textual information is usually warning you of 'killer' information

Military Field IFR Charts Are Available
---750 plates available
---These airports are PPRs or prior permission required to actually land.

The New Terminal Procedures Publications of NOS
Jepp type grouping of essential information.
Has Terminal Arrival Area for RNAV
PA when on chart indicates precision approach

Nice to Know Things
--122.2 is the ‘universal’ FSS frequency using this is likely to blanket several stations.
--Seldom used FSS discrete frequencies are 123.65, 122.75, and 122.05
--RCOs or remote communication outlets have boxed titles as to location but the actual location is a dot within a small circle.
Some flight watch outlets are identified this way.
--NDB information is in green. An NDB can have a DME.
--When the airport is all capital letters there is an instrument approach available. Non-IFR airports are a mix of upper and lower case letters.
--Where no-gyro approaches exist they are shown on the sectional chart legend by the letters ASR

Continue To Next Page