A commonly asked question in the flight training community and one I receive in groves via email: What Charts do I need?
Below I’ll break down it down for VFR and IFR pilots and suggest charts/publications each pilot should carry.
VFR Pilots
Sectional Chart – This might just be the first chart you’ll own, issued every 6 months sectional charts aid the pilot in all forms of navigation and contain frequencies for those facilities.
Airport Facility Directory (AFD) – Is this a chart? No, it’s actually a publication. AFD’s contain all the information you could ever want from an airport. It’s kind of like the airport yellow pages. Runway distances, services provided, phone numbers, etc… You also can find taxi-way diagrams and preferred routing for IFR flights.
IFR Pilots
The above mentioned charts, yes even the sectional plus…
IFR Enroute – Whether it be Low Enroute or High Enroute depending on your needs this is obviously a must. You can purchase the government issued charts or Jeppesen also makes an IFR enroute.
Approach Plates – This may go without saying but you’d be surprised. I once had a student who kept all of his approach plates on a tablet PC. Which I thought was awesome until the battery died, thankfully I kept a spare set in my flight bag.
All of these charts can be purchased at your local flight school or FBO
