Checkride

An examiner's view of chart information

Some flight instructor candidates were discussing sectional aeronautical charts' expiration dates. Each of the hopefuls expressed that the FAA should allow an overlap period, perhaps a week or two, to allow pilots to obtain new navigation charts upon the latest issue being made available for sale. When asked why such grace periods would be helpful, their responses were varied. Indeed, they revealed an area of weakness common in the aviation education industry. Flight instructors can deepen their students' knowledge of aviation's operation as a system.

First among the concerns of these pilots was of an aviator being on an extended trip, during which time a sectional chart would expire. Some pilot examiners may from time to time pose just such questions to their applicants during a pilot practical test, although this pilot examiner has not personally done so.

Those of you who have flown as charter pilots have probably experienced this: departing on an extended trip, during which time a sectional chart expires. Most commonly, pilots simply obtain the new chart en route; that is one reason fixed-base operators (FBOs) exist. In rare circumstances, new charts might not be available. That would be a great time to know about the chart bulletin within the Airport/Facility Directory (A/FD).

Within each A/FD, aeronautical chart bulletins list major changes in aeronautical information that have occurred since the last publication date of each sectional, terminal area, and helicopter route chart germane to that volume. The FAA's general policy is to include only those changes to controlled airspace and special-use airspace that present a hazardous condition or impose a restriction on pilots. Naturally, this includes major changes to airports and radio navigation facilities. Pilots benefit by having the data necessary for pen-and-ink changes to update a sectional chart in current status during its six-month life--major changes generally are coordinated with issuance of a new chart, but smaller changes routinely take place between chart publication dates.

When a chart is republished, the listed information disappears from the A/FD, to be replaced by other changes in later months. Because life is change, there will always be updated information. Using a recent A/FD, I shared some of that information with the aspiring flight instructors. They seemed surprised at the types of data found within aviation's most useful little green book.

Entries included:

Add obst 1426' MSL (275' AGL) UC, 34�23'33"N, 98�52'45"W. Change Dyess AFT ATCT frequency from 294.7 to 257.675. Change Oklahoma City Class C frequency from 385.5 to 288.325. Delete SKY VISTA Ranch arprt, 32�13'30"N, 97�18'41"W. Delete CHICKASHA NDB 35�06'16"N, 97�58'18"W.

Deciphering these cryptic A/FD notes becomes a part of thorough pilot training, thus a part of what flight instructors render. Examiners should test in all areas specified by the practical test standards, even if they vary in detail for each practical test they conduct. Abbreviations, for example the UC preceding the AGL information in the first entry above, can be challenging. An A/FD may not reveal the meaning of UC, but a sectional chart's legend shows UC by tower symbols. It means "under construction." You may not get this question, but if you are prepared--well, you are prepared!

There is plentiful cross-country pitfall information within an A/FD chart bulletin, most of which involves adding obstructions to the chart. It is common for an A/FD to sport two pages of changes to a single navigation chart. How many people will routinely mark their sectionals with so many pen and ink changes?

Your pilot examiner is quite aware that FAR 91.103's oft-hated words apply to you because this information is available. When, through that regulation, the FAA insists that, "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight," you are responsible for what appears in the A/FD.

Introducing this regulation into the discussion, one member of the group brightened his smile appreciably, noting that since the scenario flight began before the obsolescence of the current sectional chart, he surmised that it would be appropriate to fly with that chart outdated. Another participant asked what good the A/FD's Chart Bulletin segment did in this case, since publication of a new chart resets the entries in the A/FD to zero. At this, another fellow in the group interjected that this was the entire purpose of forming the habit within our pilot community of taking every effort to always imbue each generation of the pilot community with an insatiable thirst for the latest information. Hear, hear!

Your pilot examiner's primary focus during a practical test will be your A/FD's currency, and your ability to use it. Private pilot applicants normally find that their depth of knowledge is not probed, rather that they simply use the current manual and derive something from it. Naturally, the better your knowledge of its contents, the smoother your testing. Commercial pilot applicants could naturally expect to be tested in greater detail or depth and might, for example, might be asked a question for which the answer is in the Telephone Numbers section of the A/FD.

This section includes not only flight service station (FSS) briefing and fast-file numbers and information, but key air traffic facilities and Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) numbers and addresses as well. Of particular value in this part of the volume is a Key to Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) and Aviation Routine Weather report (METAR). You certainly can use this during your checkride if you should have a brain cramp while planning your flight. Since this is included in the publications referenced in the PTS as requiring testing, using the A/FD for decoding weather information serves two tasks at the same time. Bonus!

Hearing a group of flight instructor candidates discuss one subject that flows into another is common--this is the essence of professional "hangar flying" and one of aviation's unofficial educational conduits for as long as there have been pilots. During such sessions we as a community find and polish rough spots much as a diamond cutter facets and finalizes a rare stone. The product should be as enduring.

Dave Wilkerson is a designated pilot examiner, writer/photographer, and historian. He has been a certificated flight instructor since 1981 with approximately 2,000 hours of dual instruction, and is a single- and multiengine commercial-rated pilot.