Using free online approach plates

Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?

This concept makes me uneasy, but perhaps it would be reasonable to
have the regular FAA plates, allowing them to expire but retain them
for, say, a year, bring them along, and print out absolutely current
plates for the destination and likely alternates. This way, you could
have "old but a heckuva lot better than nothing" plates for very
unlikely scenarios in the bag. This would help save much money via not
getting 99% duplicate plates every 56 days yet provide satisfactory
safety.

In case anyone does not know, very nice high quality plates are
available free at:

http://www.aeroplanner.com/flightpla...oachplates.cfm

This has the additional advantage of being able to print out larger
copies for those with imperfect reading vision and on higher quality
white paper.

Mitch

"mvgossman" wrote in oups.com:

Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?

Hey Mitch,

Do this all the time! See

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...5649b55b09fe4f

for what I use in my trip planning and experiences with an IFR trip planning program.

Been several upgrades since my posting in January.

As stated in my original post, just an EXTREMELY satisfied user of this program.

Allen

On 10/28/2006 7:20 PM, mvgossman wrote the following:
Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?

Yes. I have used Seattle Avionics' plate pack tool in the past but am presently
using Aviator Trip Pack. This is a lot easier than manually downloading each one.

This concept makes me uneasy, but perhaps it would be reasonable to
have the regular FAA plates, allowing them to expire but retain them
for, say, a year, bring them along, and print out absolutely current
plates for the destination and likely alternates. This way, you could
have "old but a heckuva lot better than nothing" plates for very
unlikely scenarios in the bag. This would help save much money via not
getting 99% duplicate plates every 56 days yet provide satisfactory
safety.

I use Air Chart Systems for the backup. IIRC it's like $75/year for a
region/half dozen books of plates and the updating service. Plus you can buy
additional books any time you go outside your region and since the monthly
updates cover the whole nation your additional books are covered too for the
balance of the year.

A Lieberma wrote in
. 18:

Hey Mitch,

Do this all the time! See

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...m/thread/8e643
414634fc998/4a5649b55b09fe4f?lnk=st&q=%22trip+pack%22+lieberma +&rnum=1&
hl=en#4a5649b55b09fe4f

for what I use in my trip planning and experiences with an IFR trip
planning program.

Been several upgrades since my posting in January.

As stated in my original post, just an EXTREMELY satisfied user of
this program.

Allen

Let me also add, if you use the latest Adobe program with the ATP
program, you can print out 2 approach charts on one sheet (landscape
mode) which puts the charts in a knee board size format after cutting the
page in half.

This was something that I didn't have in my original posting as I was
running it on a very, very tired computer. I have since upgraded my
computer :-)

Also, one of the many upgrades since my original posting is that airspace
is now displayed on the maps.

It is Vista ready as I am running Vista RC2 on my computer.

Allen

mvgossman wrote:

In case anyone does not know, very nice high quality plates are
available free at:

http://www.aeroplanner.com/flightpla...oachplates.cfm

Or, better yet, download them directly from the NACO/FAA site.

http://www.naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_tpp

mvgossman wrote:
Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?


Why not?

BTW, just because a chart says it's valid between say 9/28/06 thru
10/26/06 doesn't mean the chart expires after 10/26/06. On the lower
left hand of each the NACO chart there's a chart sequence number, and
it looks like "Amdt 10A 05328". As long as that number hasn't changed
in the respective most update-to-date chart on the NACO website, your
2-year chart for that procedure is still valid.

In this example, the number 05328 means the instrument approach chart
was last revised on the 328th day of 2005.

mvgossman wrote:
Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?

This concept makes me uneasy, but perhaps it would be reasonable to
have the regular FAA plates, allowing them to expire but retain them
for, say, a year, bring them along, and print out absolutely current
plates for the destination and likely alternates. This way, you could
have "old but a heckuva lot better than nothing" plates for very
unlikely scenarios in the bag. This would help save much money via not
getting 99% duplicate plates every 56 days yet provide satisfactory
safety.

In case anyone does not know, very nice high quality plates are
available free at:

http://www.aeroplanner.com/flightpla...oachplates.cfm

This has the additional advantage of being able to print out larger
copies for those with imperfect reading vision and on higher quality
white paper.

Mitch

Your uneasiness is justified. However, it doesn't take much to print a
couple of extra airports in the vicinity as well as one or two airports
along your route. That should cover all but the most extreme scenarios.
In those cases you can ask FSS or ATC to read you the nav frequency and
the minimums. Carrying an expired book is not a bad idea either.

Thanks! Last time I checked the FAA sites, they were crummy scanned
documents,now they're nice perfect PDF's.


Mitch


Sam Spade wrote:
mvgossman wrote:

In case anyone does not know, very nice high quality plates are
available free at:

http://www.aeroplanner.com/flightpla...oachplates.cfm

Or, better yet, download them directly from the NACO/FAA site.

http://www.naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xml=naco/online/d_tpp

My goal though is to have current charts available that are likely to
be needed with a minimum of hassle. The easiest way is to, as I do now,
subscribe to the procedures Volumes that you may need. This is very
wasteful and expensive. If you go to the internet and download them
that is great but only for those you take the time to do. To check the
actual change date on the plate and compare to the online one can
relieve you of the need to print out a single plate.

The software mentioned about, ato automatically keep track of plates
and print them for you, is very interesting! But for a pilot who flies
as much as I do, even the modest fee for that I'm afraid exceeds what
I'm willing to pay at this time, and if I do this paper-saving, it will
be on a case-by-case manual basis. But for a pilot who flies a great
deal or a pro, certainly looks like a great time-saver.

Mitch





M wrote:
mvgossman wrote:
Anyone in the habit of going online for instrument approach plates
(terminal procedures), printing out only the plates you need for a trip
along with possible alternates and taking them in the plane?


Why not?

BTW, just because a chart says it's valid between say 9/28/06 thru
10/26/06 doesn't mean the chart expires after 10/26/06. On the lower
left hand of each the NACO chart there's a chart sequence number, and
it looks like "Amdt 10A 05328". As long as that number hasn't changed
in the respective most update-to-date chart on the NACO website, your
2-year chart for that procedure is still valid.

In this example, the number 05328 means the instrument approach chart
was last revised on the 328th day of 2005.

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
Carrying an expired book is not a bad idea either.


I thought expired charts could bust you on a ramp check... yes? no?