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Basic - Charts

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EHM-1997 Alexander:
An aeronautical chart is a map designed to assist in navigation of aircraft, much as nautical charts do for watercraft, or a roadmap for drivers. Using these charts and other tools pilots are able to determine their position, safe altitude, best route to a destination, navigation aids along the way, alternative landing areas in case of an in-flight emergency, and other useful information such as radio frequencies and airspace boundaries. There are charts for all land masses on Earth, and long-distance charts for trans-oceanic travel.

 

Specific charts are used for each phase of a flight and may vary from a map of a particular airport facility to an overview of the instrument routes covering an entire continent (e.g., global navigation charts), and many types in between.

 

   1.

      Charts for visual flight rules (VFR)

      Under "visual flight rules", pilots are expected to see and avoid dangers along the way (obstacles, other aircraft, bad weather, etc), and to use pilotage and other means for navigating. VFR charts include a large amount of information describing the local topography, not the least of which is the elevation. Standardized symbols are used for indication of land and water features such as mountains, shorelines and rivers. Roads, towns and other identifiable features may also be shown, in addition to specific aeronautical details.
       

      Visual flight charts are divided into categories, depending upon their scale, which is proportional to the size of the area covered by one map. The amount of detail is necessarily reduced when larger areas are covered with a map having a compact scale.

       
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            World aeronautical charts (WACs) have a scale of 1:1,000,000 and cover relatively large areas. Outside of WAC coverage, operational navigation charts (ONC) may be used, having the same scale as WACs;
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            Sectional charts typically cover a few hundred square miles of area (1:500,000);
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            VFR Terminal area charts are created with a scale and coverage appropriate for the general vicinity of a large airport (1:250,000). They may depict preferred VFR flight routes within areas of congested airspace.


   2.

      Charts for instrument flight rules (IFR)

      Instrument flight requires the use of artificial aids to navigation, under the control of an air traffic controller, usually based upon a flight plan. The charts used for IFR flights contain an abundance of information regarding locations (waypoints) "fix" according to measurements from electronic beacons of various types, as well as the routes connecting these waypoints. Only limited topographic information is found on IFR charts.

      En-route low and high altitude charts are published with a scale that depends upon the density of navigation information required in the vicinity.

      Information from IFR charts is often programmed into an flight management system (FMS) or autopilot system, which may simplify many of the tasks involved in following (or deviating from) a flight plan.

      Terminal procedure publications such as Standard Terminal Arrival (STAR)plates, Standard Instrument Departure (SID) plates, and other documentation provide detailed information for arrival, departure and taxiing at each approved airport having instrument capabilities of some sort.

 

    Example charts

     

    On the Chart above, it shows the Standard Departure Procedure (SID) from London Heathrow Airport. The chart above shows the departure routes BROOKMANS PARK 6F, 6G, 5J and 4K. All of these routes lead to the same place however, which is the BPK VOR or Brookmans Park VOR. Despite them all leading to the same place, they are given different names depending on which runway you take off from the airport. If you take-off from runway 27R, you will follow the SID route BPK 6F. If you take-off from the runway 27L, you will follow the SID route BPK 6G. Usually Air Traffic Controllers will tell you which SID route you have to take when clearing your flight-plan, but otherwise the pilot should know which route they should use depending on which runway they take-off from. There are many other SID routes from London Heathrow, but above is just an example that a pilot would use if they wanted to fly towards the north.

     

     

     

    On the chart above, it shows all the Standard Arrival Procedures (STAR) routes into London Heathrow Airport via the VOR OCK (or Ockham). There are other charts for different VOR's depending on which direction you are approaching London, but this is just an example if you were approaching London towards the Ockham VOR. The Air Traffic Controller or depending on which way the pilot would rather go would select one of the routes easiest for them. For example, if they were coming to London from the North-West, they would probably pick the route OCK1D from the VOR HON (or Honiley).

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