H

houndsfour

Well Known Member
This has to be a first. I went to buy a new Chicago sectional from our FBO
at C15. Clow International Airport. The FBO no longer sells sectional charts
to the public (pilot). Just to current students. Ain't that a graber.
Reson is "Every one has them on a 'frigen' Ipad or something. I get stuck with as many as 30 or 40 charts and the feds won't credit me for them."
(He used a stronger word than frigen)
So now I have to buy something I can see sectional charts on. Now I'm gona use a strong word here!!!!
Rich
RV6 N721ET
 
Or you can order them on line from one of many vendors who will be happy to sell them to you.

Unless you're looking for an excuse to buy a new toy. :)
 
houndsfour said:
This has to be a first. I went to buy a new Chicago sectional from our FBO
at C15. Clow International Airport. The FBO no longer sells sectional charts
to the public (pilot). Just to current students. Ain't that a graber.
Reson is "Every one has them on a 'frigen' Ipad or something. I get stuck with as many as 30 or 40 charts and the feds won't credit me for them."
(He used a stronger word than frigen)
So now I have to buy something I can see sectional charts on. Now I'm gona use a strong word here!!!!
Rich
RV6 N721ET
Click to expand...

Yep, the FAA changed the way they distribute paper products some time back and a lot of FBOs no longer handle charts for the reason you stated.

You may purchase paper or digital charts from the FAA or many other online sources:

http://faacharts.faa.gov/Catalog.aspx?a=AERO+NOS+VISUAL+SEC
 
Sectionals have become so cluttered over the past 35 years, they have become almost useless. There are many things that no longer need to be there. And are in the way of information that you need. The topo lines drive me nuts!! The shading is enough to scare the **** out of you. They are useless and just make it harder to read the chart. Whats more important, deep water ship channel or V6 195*? Do we care about the name of the wilderness area? And can we tell the difference? Embassy Suites, as if we can tell that from the air.

At current price, I would spend $72.00 in charts just to fly to Oshkosh........ I mean Air Venture.
 
Rich, I feel for you.
If it was up to me we would still be looking at round gages:rolleyes:
If you are set on paper charts you have all the info you need, end of story.
I have recently succumbed to the iPad/foreflight idea and you know what,
It's amazing what you get for less than $100 per year.
Yes, you'll have to spend some money on a iPad, galaxy or other tablet but there is a whole new world on those devices, give'm a try you'll love it.
 
I'm really surprised. I've been ordering sectionals and all my FAR/AMT/AIM manuals from them for years and not one problem ever.
 
I have some sectionals as historical curiosities but never expect to purchase one again. I would have an iPad anyway, but even if not it is cheaper and far more flexible to go the electronic route. I am amazed every time I download all the electronic charts for a huge area of the country for no incremental cost over the modest annual subscription.

iPads are horrible for cockpit visibility but they still compare favorably to paper charts that need to be found, refolded, stowed and so on.
 
Now really...hmmm

Sectionals make really nice gift-wrapping paper!:)

Really guys, c'mon...I had an old carrier pilot with me to the Keys and back and he was sooo fascinated by my iPad and SkychartsPro, that he couldn't put it down.

Double-tap any airport and up pop all the Airport Flight directory AND all the instrument approach procedures.

Tap on any red circle that identifies MOA's or restricted areas and up pops all that information. Try finding that on your chart in a crowded RV cockpit!

Best,
 
I love sectional PAPER charts. I don't have an iPad so getting them on a computer isn't really an option for me. But I just LOVE looking at them, sitting watching TV and opening one up to see what I can learn. I'm going to try this MSP to PHX flight next month and I think I've been over ever inch of the sectional, trying to imagine what the actual flight will be like and it seems like every time I open one up, I see something I didn't notice before.

I'm lucky enough to have an FBO -- Wipaire -- that keeps a full supply of all the charts, but I always wondered what happens when they expire. It seems foolhardy for the FAA to try to get people to keep their charts current, and then have a policy in place to dissuade retailers from making them available.
 
LettersFromFlyoverCountry said:
I love sectional PAPER charts. I don't have an iPad so getting them on a computer isn't really an option for me. But I just LOVE looking at them, sitting watching TV and opening one up to see what I can learn.
Click to expand...

This is where the iPad truly shines IMO. I have Wing-X on both my iPad and iPhone. In the cockpit, although i do carry the ipad, I rarely have the iPad on. I use a panel mounted iFly, which is much more readable, 430, and Skyview mapping. I carry the iPad for pubs and FLIP redundancy. Preflight, however, the iPad cannot be beat - one button and update every publication, peruse the entire CONUS sectionals, ELAs, charts while planning, research weather, AF/D info, etc. It really is a great tool, and just about a one stop shop for my preflight planning.
 
I use the subsciption feature at Mypilotstore.com. I just get a load of IFR/ VFR charts, AF/D and procedure books as the old ones are about to expire.
I amost never open them because of the iPad but I can't bring myself to cancel the subscription.
 
I love paper sectionals and still use them religiously. They never run out of batteries, have no issues with daylight readability in bright sunlight under a plexiglass canopy, and are a handy place to jot down notes if I need something to write on.

And speaking of bright sunlight... when flying westbound into a blinding late afternoon sun, you can just unfold one across the windshield and then call up to get flight following for your traffic lookout :p (just kidding about that of course! :eek:)
 
If you really want paper there is always the option of taking a screen shot on Skyvector then pasting and cropping on a MS Word doc. Then just print them out yourself. Besides, 8.5x11 is much easier to unfold or go to the next page in a tight RV cockpit. I have done this before as a home-made triptik on X/C's just in case my tablet, phone, moving map EFIS and GPS all went out at the same time.
 
MarkW said:
I use the subsciption feature at Mypilotstore.com. I just get a load of IFR/ VFR charts, AF/D and procedure books as the old ones are about to expire.
I amost never open them because of the iPad but I can't bring myself to cancel the subscription.
Click to expand...


Sounds almost like me. I cancelled everything from MyPilotStore.com EXCEPT for the local TCA, WAC, and IFR chart. I use Foreflight on iPad, backed up on iPhone plus have a subscription to the GX60 database. 396 with old database is available if everything goes down.
 
I'm sure I'm not in the mainstream - but I'll put in a plug for WAC charts. It doesn't take many to cover a lot of ground, and they've (at least to me) been as useful as the sectionals.

What I really hate is the IFR charts - several scales, layouts are not so great, etc. For me, that's where the iPad and other solutions with seamless charts really come in very handy.

Dan
 
I use the iPad (AnyWhere Map or Wing X like them both) for preflight but mostly rely on my Garmin 396 with XM in flight. Also have Apollo GX65 and my last back up is Air chart's spiral bound WAC of the entire us. So far no problems getting around.

Also for preflight weathermeister.com, love it.
 
n5lp said:
I have some sectionals as historical curiosities but never expect to purchase one again.
Click to expand...

I agree.

I kept a Sectional, Terminal, and AFD from 2004 when I got my private. Pretty cool to pull out and see all that has changed already. I also kept the sectionals with my 50NM phase 1 drawn in.

Now days it's iPad or iPhone with Foreflight. So nice to only pay once a year for all that information.
 
+1, Dan. Years back, my first trip to NM required 7 or 8 sectionals plus a couple more for VFR wobble room. A couple expired during the trip. Sheesh! Bought a Mooney, the speed matched the scale of the WAC charts and they update only once per year versus six months for the sectional. Never bought another sectional.
Now have an iFly and it is simple to update and cheaper than paper if you fly a large area. Last year they added WAC charts. I still like the WAC. Less distracting detail, larger print without zooming in.
 
Well I did it

Ok. Gota tell the truth. I purchased the IPAD and I'm looking real hard at
Foreflight and the Garmin software. And at the recommendation of a buddy
I just brought home a mini IPad . He said it fits in the 6 better. Now if I just knew how to tell the boss why I need 2 IPads
Rich
RV6. N721ET
 
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