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#1
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Meaning of airport tick marks on sectional charts
Recently I discovered that for a long time, I have been mis-interpreting one aspect of reading sectional charts. A few weeks ago, I was preparing for a flight to Shelter Cove on the coast of Northern California. My planned fuel stop was the Little River airport in Mendicino (O48 on the San Francisco sectional). I noticed, however, that the airport symbol for Little River had no tick marks. Thinking this was an error, I sent an email to NACO suggesting the correction. A few days later, I received a nice reply stating that the meaning of tick marks is not just that the airport has fuel available. It must have fuel AND be attended at least Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm local. Since Little River is not attended on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it doesn't get tick marks. I suppose in days before the proliferation of self-serve fuel pumps, the attendence requirement made sense. In order to get the fuel, you had to have someone pump it for you, and more importantly, collect the $$$. But now, I suspect many possible fuel stops might be missed by only a casual survey of the chart for airports with tick marks, especially if certain airports decide to forgo some weekday coverage in order to cover the busier weekends. Little River is the only airport I've found like this so far. Are there many others? Would it be more beneficial to remove the attendence requirement for tick marks? Happy landings, Ross Oliver |
#2
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The airport in my hometown (Lincoln, IL) AAA has a self serve pump with
credit card reader, so it's a good fuel stop. and you are right, no ticks because it is attended on irregular hours. If you want all of those details, look to the current A/FD. "Ross Oliver" wrote in message ... Recently I discovered that for a long time, I have been mis-interpreting one aspect of reading sectional charts. A few weeks ago, I was preparing for a flight to Shelter Cove on the coast of Northern California. My planned fuel stop was the Little River airport in Mendicino (O48 on the San Francisco sectional). I noticed, however, that the airport symbol for Little River had no tick marks. Thinking this was an error, I sent an email to NACO suggesting the correction. A few days later, I received a nice reply stating that the meaning of tick marks is not just that the airport has fuel available. It must have fuel AND be attended at least Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm local. Since Little River is not attended on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it doesn't get tick marks. I suppose in days before the proliferation of self-serve fuel pumps, the attendence requirement made sense. In order to get the fuel, you had to have someone pump it for you, and more importantly, collect the $$$. But now, I suspect many possible fuel stops might be missed by only a casual survey of the chart for airports with tick marks, especially if certain airports decide to forgo some weekday coverage in order to cover the busier weekends. Little River is the only airport I've found like this so far. Are there many others? Would it be more beneficial to remove the attendence requirement for tick marks? Happy landings, Ross Oliver |
#3
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I was taught (in ground school) that tickmarks meant "services". To me
that means more than self-serve fuel. It implies at least some sort of maintanance facility, and to my knowledge, there are no self-service aircraft maintanance shops around. Jose -- Nothing is more powerful than a commercial interest. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#4
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Very interesting.
On my first trip there I planned a fuel stop at Ukiah since Little River wasn't appropriately ticked. Now I see that SS fuel is available. In Ross Oliver wrote: Recently I discovered that for a long time, I have been mis- interpreting one aspect of reading sectional charts. A few weeks ago, I was preparing for a flight to Shelter Cove on the coast of Northern California. My planned fuel stop was the Little River airport in Mendicino (O48 on the San Francisco sectional). I noticed, however, that the airport symbol for Little River had no tick marks. Thinking this was an error, I sent an email to NACO suggesting the correction. A few days later, I received a nice reply stating that the meaning of tick marks is not just that the airport has fuel available. It must have fuel AND be attended at least Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm local. Since Little River is not attended on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it doesn't get tick marks. I suppose in days before the proliferation of self-serve fuel pumps, the attendence requirement made sense. In order to get the fuel, you had to have someone pump it for you, and more importantly, collect the $$$. But now, I suspect many possible fuel stops might be missed by only a casual survey of the chart for airports with tick marks, especially if certain airports decide to forgo some weekday coverage in order to cover the busier weekends. Little River is the only airport I've found like this so far. Are there many others? Would it be more beneficial to remove the attendence requirement for tick marks? Happy landings, Ross Oliver |
#5
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Mike W. wrote: You have to get out the A/FD to see what they offer. And if it is critical for you to get fuel at a certain airport, call them before you go to make sure. Even airports that sell fuel sometimes run out of the stuff. Good advice. I once stopped at a strange airport for fuel because it had the tickmarks on the sectional symbol. I found a closed-up FBO and no services whatsoever. Fortunately, there was another airport with fuel not far away. David Johnson |
#6
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The legend on the chart says: "Services - fuel available and field tended during normal working hours..." No mention of maintenance facilities. For example, the Byron airport (C83) according to the AOPA airport directory has fuel but no maintenance, and that airport is depicted with tick marks. On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 20:40:13 GMT, Jose wrote: I was taught (in ground school) that tickmarks meant "services". To me that means more than self-serve fuel. It implies at least some sort of maintanance facility, and to my knowledge, there are no self-service aircraft maintanance shops around. |
#7
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The legend on the chart says: "Services - fuel available and field tended
during normal working hours..." No mention of maintenance facilities. I take "fuel available" is just one of the services, not the definition of "services". For example, the Byron airport (C83) according to the AOPA airport directory has fuel but no maintenance, and that airport is depicted with tick marks. I'll keep this in mind. This is the first time I've been wrong. Since the last time. Jose -- Nothing is more powerful than a commercial interest. for Email, make the obvious change in the address. |
#8
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