brucew@bruceair.com
Seattle, WA
Every seat's a window seat on BruceAir
brucew@bruceair.com
Seattle, WA
Every seat's a window seat on BruceAir
Jeppesen is gradually releasing a series of new VFR+GPS charts that, according to the company, "offer a fresh perspective on what a VFR chart should be with intuitive symbols and colors, better coverage areas and an emphasis on GPS navigation."
These maps are the equivalent of sectional and terminal area charts published by FAA NACO, although the Jeppesen charts do not cover the same areas as the venerable government-issue editions. As of October 2009, Jeppesen offers 23 VFR+GPS enroute charts that map selected parts of the continental US (NACO publishes 38 sectionals that completely cover the lower-48).
Jeppesen VFR+GPS charts are also currently available for many areas of Europe and South Africa (a production and update schedule for the VFR+GPS charts is avaliable at the Jeppesen Web site—but it seems out of date).
Like sectional and terminal area charts, the Jeppesen VFR+GPS charts come in two scales: 1:500,000 and 1:250,000.
Unlike their predecessors, the VFR+GPS charts are one-sided maps. They include supplemental information (e.g., airport diagrams) on the reverse, but the chart itself is appears on only one side.
Jeppesen touts its "better use of color and contrast" on the VFR+GPS charts, and those attributes neatly summarize the first impression these charts make.
The Jeppesen charts do away with color-coded elevation shading and contour lines, substituting "Space Shuttle radar data" to create shading that depicts terrain. As the scanned portion of the W-8 enroute chart below and the similar area from the Klamath Falls sectional show, a VFR+GPS chart is much lighter than the NACO representation.
Elevation of terrain and obstacles is generally easier to pick out on the VFR+GPS charts, as are the names of towns and important waypoints and features often used as references when talking to ATC or communicating on a CTAF at a non-towered airport.
Grid altitudes, printed in red, follow different rules than those used to determine maximum elevation figures (MEF) on sectionals. The values on the Jeppesen charts provide clearance of all terrain by 1000 ft in areas where the highest points are 5000 ft. or lower and a 2000 ft. buffer in areas where the highest points are 5001 ft or higher.
The Jeppesen charts also simplify and emphasize the depiction of Class B, C, D, and E airspace.
For example, Class D and E airspace is show in blue, with solid and dashed lines and shading to distinguish between airspace that begins at the surface or at 700 or 1200 feet AGL. The fuzzy magenta borders that can clutter and obscure important data on sectionals are gone.
Class C and B airspace borders are marked in red, with frequency and vertical limits clearly marked along the edges of each sector. Of course, that information fades almost to invisibility in the red beam of a typical aviation flashlight.
The overall effect of this design, however, makes important airspace stand out much more clearly than it does on conventional VFR charts.
The excerpt below of the enroute chart for the area around Portland, OR (KPDX) shows another feature of the VFR+GPS charts: the relative unimportance of VORs and airways.
The compass roses used to depict VORs on the Jeppesen charts are less prominent than on the familiar NACO sectionals. On the VFR+GPS charts, VOR symbols and related information are printed in greenish-gray (as are the shaded lines that depict low-altitude airways) that doesn't stand out as clearly as the blue used on sectionals. Navaid names, frequencies, and Morse IDs are not enclosed in boxes; I had to search a bit for that information.
The essential data for airways (designation, course, and distance between fixes) are printed in small type and in a color that also de-emphasizes the information compared to the representations on conventional charts.
Of course, these charts are named "VFR+GPS" for a reason. Navaids are just waypoints to your GPS. When you use GPS to fly between VORs, your satellite navigator shows the DTK (i.e., the magnetic course), distance, and other relevant information required to track airways. You don't need to look up data on a chart, except to confirm that you're on the line you intended to follow. And it's rarely necessary—especially when VFR—to use the OBS feature of GPS to set a charted course to or from a ground-based navaid.
A typical GPS database also includes all the information you need to add ground-based stations to a GPS route or flight plan or to monitor them as supplemental sources with your navigation receivers—if you fly an airplane that has VOR and/or ADF equipment. Many homebuilt, LSA, classic, and aerobatic aircraft forgo conventional navigation gear. I certainly don't need VOR frequencies or Morse IDs cluttering a chart when I fly my Extra 300L cross-country. It has only GPS equipment for navigation.
The VFR+GPS charts make named waypoints (some of which appear on NACO enroute IFR charts but not on sectionals) more prominent. The blue triangles and five-letter IDs for intersection and airway fixes stand out well against the muted colors used for airways and the overall background of the charts. The charts also call out flagged VFR checkpoints and the four-pointed stars that mark the GPS-based VFR waypoints being added to terminal charts.
I often include named waypoints in GPS routes that zig and zag around airspace and terrain. They're also useful references when requesting or using VFR flight following from ATC. On the VFR+GPS charts, these fixes are easy to find during flight planning or when updating a route after you're airborne.
The Jeppesen charts also make locating remote communication outlets (RCO) for EFAS (Flight Watch) and general FSS services much easier. The name of and frequency associated with each RCO is printed in a prominent typeface, sometimes enclosed in a box.
Information about airports is also clearly displayed on the VFR+GPS charts. The basics—facility name/ID; ATIS/AWOS, CTAF, and unicom frequencies; and runway data—are set against a light background that's relatively easy to read even when airports are clustered or set amidst of complex airspace.
Jeppesen depicts all public-use airports, even those without control towers, in blue. The VFR+GPS charts distinguish civil, joint-use, and military airports by adding dashed and solid border to the airport circles. Although most of the symbology on the VFR+GPS charts is intuitive, pilots using these charts for the first time should spend a little time reviewing the legend.
Jeppesen emphasizes one essential datum—availability of fuel—by including an "F" in a box next to the name if an airport offers fuel and services.
Side "B" of the VFR+GPS charts includes JeppGuide (A/FD equivalent) information, including diagrams, for selected airports.
It's not clear how Jeppesen chose the 12 airports depicted in detail on the back side of the W-8 VFR+GPS enroute chart. The main Seattle and Portland terminals (KSEA and KPDX) are wisely omitted. The dozen that do appear represent a combination of busy GA airports (e.g., KBFI, KHIO, and KEUG) and small, non-towered fields (e.g., KAWO, KFHR, S36, KVUO, 7S5, and 77S) located throughout the region covered by the chart. The mix includes airports served by IAPs and VFR-only fields.
The reverse side of the chart also includes information about hotels, restaurants, and rental cars associated with selected airports, although again, it's not clear how Jeppesen chose which airports and businesses to include.
The Jeppsen VFR+GPS area charts are close analogs to conventional terminal area (Class B) charts. As the excerpt below from the VFR+GPS chart for the Seattle area shows, the Jeppsen version uses the same symbology as the VFR+GPS enroute charts; it covers roughly the same area as the comparable NACO chart.
The horizontal and vertical limits of important airspace are easy to distinguish at the larger scale (1:250,000), as are communications frequencies and flagged VFR waypoints.
I especially like the way the altitude limits are presented along the arcs that define each airspace sector. It's much easier to find and interpret the numbers on the VFR+GPS charts; the comparable altitude blocks on FAA charts are harder to locate and often confused with MEFs.
Obstacles also seem more prominent against the light background than they do on a typical NACO terminal chart.
Unfortunately, the VFR+GPS area charts don't include the VFR flyways that are clearly depicted on the reverse of many FAA terminal area charts. For example, the current Seattle area chart doesn't note the named ("Seahawk" and "Mariners") transitions often used to enter the Class B airspace and cross KSEA east-west (or vice-versa). Those transitions are prominently called out on the NACO version.
look forward to getting more experience with the Jeppesen VFR+GPS charts, especially as coverage expands. At present, given the limited coverage, they're a supplement to existing VFR charts that offer significant advantages to pilots for whom GPS has become a primary navigation.