Chart reading starts with Class E airspace. When I look at a sectional or terminal chart, all I see initially is Class E airspace - my AOPA reference card calls it "everywhere else" airspace, and that's a good description. I can readily determine where it starts at the surface, at 700 and 1,200 feet above ground level, and at higher mean sea level altitudes.
The remaining airspace is real easy to identify. Class G airspace is always located below Class E airspace. Class B, C, D and special use airspace are clearly defined.
Basic chart symbols are next, and these can be extremely misleading to a novice. A small landing strip, designated on the chart by a bold airport symbol, can be impossible to find from the air. Hilltops or towers, however, designated by subtle (and frequently ignored) symbols, can be easy to spot in flight. Skilled instructors orient dead-reckoning cross-country flights so that students have the opportunity to observe these nuances.
Course plotting is important, and I always question a student who draws faint course lines that will be hard to see when airborne. Yes, charts are expensive, but you should use a soft-lead pencil that makes a bold line and erases easily or use one of the new erasable highlighter pens or removable highlighter tape to mark your chart clearly.
I will always teach my students to draw an arrow next to each course. The true or magnetic course (your choice) for that leg is written next to the arrow's shaft. The leg's mileage is written at the arrow's tail. Finally, using 10-mile intervals whenever possible, I locate and circle good landmarks that are on or adjacent to each course, and I complete my navigation log.
After you have learned map reading and dead-reckoning navigation, it's time for "mini-reckoning," a useful technique for short-range navigation.
Imagine that you are flying westbound in hazy conditions and the afternoon sun reduces forward visibility from the prevailing six miles to about one mile. You can't find your destination airport, but you do see a dam that was one of your checkpoints.
Return to the dam and circle it while you do the following: Bend the fingers on your right hand into a U shape. One of the middle segments of a finger (my little finger works perfectly) will represent 10 miles on a sectional chart, five miles on a terminal chart. Now measure the approximate distance from the dam to the airport.
Next, you determine the magnetic course from the dam to the airport by placing a pencil on that course, and while keeping it parallel to the course, slide it over to the center of a nearby VOR compass rose. The numbers on the compass rose indicate your magnetic course.
Estimate your ground speed in miles per minute (mpm). Sixty knots is one mpm, 120 kt is two mpm, 180 kt is three mpm. If the distance to fly was eight miles and estimated groundspeed was 140 kt (about two mpm), time to the airport will be a little less than four minutes. Note the time, turn to the magnetic course plus or minus your estimated wind correction angle, and after 3.5 minutes or so start a steep-bank left turn. Your destination airport will be in sight.
Modern airliners and corporate jets have large moving-map displays and two pilots, one of whom does all the button-pushing while the other pilot flies the airplane and looks out for traffic. When this GPS-based technology becomes commonplace in single-pilot general aviation aircraft and head-down button pushing has been significantly reduced, I'll re-evaluate the importance of dead-reckoning navigation. But for now, and the forseeable future, you can't beat dead reckoning. Besides, when all else fails, including your electrical system, your chart and pencil will still work.
