Jetwhine

Aviation buzz and bold opinion

VFR Sectional Charts

Cross-Country Quiz: ASI & Humble Pie

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aopa-1It’s been too many years since I was last pilot in command of an airplane, and even longer since I’ve made a cross-country flight. The AOPA Air Safety Institute must have known that flying may well be part of my life in the near future because in an email it asked, “How sharp is your VFR cross-country knowledge?” and a link to its safety quiz.

It asks 10 questions about a 350 mile VFR trip from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, to Festus, Missouri. As necessary, it provides blow-up sectional chart images on which to search for the correct multiple-guess response. Like most pilots I was pretty confident of my knowledge, even though I haven’t put it into practice for a few years. The result was humbling. If you want to know how badly I blew it, you’ll have to keep reading.  Needless to say, there’s a ground school refresher in my future.

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FAA Cuts Flying Costs With Free Charts

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Now that I have your attention, temper your excitement with the understanding that this cost-saving opportunity may only benefit infrequent fliers, those who feel lucky to afford 30 or 40 hours a year. As a lifetime member of this fraternity, every dollar counts. Prudent pilots fly with current sectional charts, a $9.50 investment these days. Most of the sectionals I bought flew once or twice before their age retired them to wrapping paper duty for Christmas presents.

OSH-NorthA recent e-mail from the FAA Safety Team said a variety of  products were now up  for no-charge download from the  FAA’s Aeronautical Navigation Products web page. Infrequent fliers will most likely be interested in the VFR charts and Airport/Facility Directory, but it offers IFR products as well.   

OSH-SouthAlways delivering the current chart, it recommends that frugal aviators periodically visit the Safety Alerts page to  keep current on any changes or updates to all charts. The downloads include two formats, TIFF and HTML, and from them you can select and print what you need.

Personally, this is the most appealing feature. OSH is on the overlap of the Chicago and Green Bay sectionals, so I need to buy two charts so I can go north or south of Wittman Regional Airport.  Not having to buy those charts saves me $20. When every second counts, that’s 12 more minutes of flying in a Cessna 172 that rents for $99 an hour. — Scott Spangler