New Charts
Aeronautical charts periodically expire and are replaced with new versions that incorporate new features and other new information. Sectionals, the charts I used, expire every six months. It’s not that plate tectonics is moving things around that fast, but towers are built, frequencies and navigation aids change and sometimes airspace dimensions change too.
Since I’m a VFR pilot I fly with sectional charts and terminal area charts (TACs). Old ones are useful for packing material or better yet, gift wrapping as they are printed on good quality paper. In the past I bought my charts at my local airport but this time they were temporarily out. So, I decided to just order the three charts I needed directly from NACO, the National Aeronautical Charting Office of the FAA.
They arrived the other day in an envelope with the very dramatic and important-looking sticker:
CRITICAL TO NAVIGATION SAFETY
DO NOT DELAY
The return address for NACO is on Good Luck Road in Maryland. Either this is an amazing coincidence or someone in the FAA had a wonderfully offbeat sense of humor.
The sectionals are double-sided with the north half on one side of the chart and the south half on the other. The TAC is a tri-fold. The first thing I do is refold them both so the area I use is exposed. My re-folding allows me to flip between adjacent areas easily both east-west, and north-south. The cockpit is a small and a sectional chart fully open will use up most of the space in front of me and my right-seat passenger.
So, despite my reluctance when I was a student pilot to fold, bend, or mark on the maps, I’ve come to realize they’re an expendable resource. While I am a librarian’s son, I’m an adaptable one.
The new charts with their crisp folds, new smell, and unworn corners have the promise of adventure. Maps abstract the real world and show selected parts. They tell us just enough to make me curious to find out more detail by actually going there.