In article ,
Steven Barnes wrote:
I saw an ad in AOPA for www.airchart.com . Does anyone have any experience
with these charts? My flight instructor recently got them. For someone that
does a bit of traveling, it sounds like a great deal.
I was just looking at those myself.
The new sectional charts seem like a good deal: to cover the whole US
costs about half what it would to buy the individual sectionals,
in theory you update them over 2 cycles, AND they're spiral bound.
I figure the updates won't be a big deal and it will even save me
having to redraw the TFRs a few times. I've seen mixed reviews of
their home-grown VFR products, but how badly could they screw up a
reprint of the sectionals?
Whether you like the "captain's guide" probably depends on what you fly.
They keep it small by limiting it to 2500' hard-surface runways. If
you fly a twin you're probably not missing anything. I do wonder about
the misc A/FD things that the FAA shovels in because they have no other
place for it. VOT frequencies, preferred routes, lots of phone numbers
for things like FSS, etc. Plus the AF/D now has full page runway diagrams
for many airports (nice if you don't have that duplicated by IFR charts).
The captain's guide is very inexpensive compared to any alternative
(less than a subscription to any one AF/D, same price as any one of the
three Flite Guide books, which I hate).
IFR atlas I'd lump in with the sectionals. Actual NACO charts, but
ring bound. Updates probably no big deal.
The approach plates sound like a nightmare. NACO books or loose leaf
(your choice) combined with manual (as in you write on the chart) updates
of the charts. At least if you buy the NACO plates normally you get
to toss torn up books and you never have to do updates. Of course you
could buy all the NACO plates yourself, and you could get updates off
the web if they changed, so I guess the only service here is sending you
the text descriptions of the changes.
Maybe the way to go is to supplement their IFR atlas with a subscription
to the Sporty's DVD of NACO plates and print what you need. Or buy the
regional NACO book you need when you need it.
--
Ben Jackson
http://www.ben.com/