View from above

During my final dual cross-country training flight, I was inbound to the Hagerstown, Maryland, VOR. It was late November, but there was a layer of haze from the surface to 5,000 feet msl - not unheard of here in the Mid-Atlantic, where an unseasonably warm stretch can produce hazy conditions even in winter - and I was having trouble locating my checkpoints. The haze rendered many details shown on the sectional chart difficult to pick up until we were relatively close. And, much of the detail that was visible through the haze was not depicted on the sectional chart. For example, there were many more roads than were shown on the chart.

Without a more detailed depiction of the area, things I could see through the haze at farther distances were not useful in helping me to get oriented. My CFI talked me through it, and we continued on. Overflying the Hagerstown VOR, I turned to the south on course for Martinsburg, West Virginia, our intended destination.

As I approached Martinsburg from the north, I began scanning for the airport. Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport/Shepherd Field (MRB) is approximately four nautical miles south of the center of Martinsburg. Despite my earlier problems identifying checkpoints along the route, with the city in view and the sectional chart depictions of the area, I was certain that I would quickly locate the airport. But again, I found it difficult to get oriented and pick out the airport through the haze. Finally I spotted it to the east. Having approached from almost due north, this was not a timely discovery. Fortunately, at this point my CFI had planned to have me divert to an alternate airport. Otherwise, this late sighting of the airport would have delayed my descent and placed me closer than desired for an initial call to the tower.

It had now become apparent that translating the depictions on a sectional chart to the visual reality passing below was not simple, even when a position is well-known and there is a good visual reference, like a city. Sectional charts must combine aviation information and ground detail. As a result, the ground detail must be limited, or the clutter would render the charts unreadable. Sectionals are quite useful for planning a cross-country flight. But they are depictions, not photographs. Thus what you see on the charts simply does not look like the view from the aircraft. It's not uncommon to fail to see a particular site or feature or to misidentify a landmark that you do spot.