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An aeronautical chart is a map designed to assist in the
navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the motion, movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navig ...
of
aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
, much as
nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...
s do for watercraft, or a roadmap does for drivers. Using these charts and other tools, pilots are able to determine their position, safe altitude, best route to a destination, navigation aids along the way, alternative landing areas in case of an in-flight emergency, and other useful information such as
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
frequencies and airspace boundaries. There are charts for all land masses on Earth, and long-distance charts for trans-oceanic travel. Specific charts are used for each phase of a flight and may vary from a map of a particular airport facility to an overview of the instrument routes covering an entire continent (e.g., global navigation charts), and many types in between. Visual flight charts are categorized according to their scale, which is proportional to the size of the area covered by one map. The amount of detail is necessarily reduced when larger areas are represented on a map. * World aeronautical charts (WACs) have a scale of 1:1,000,000 and cover relatively large areas. Outside of WAC coverage, operational navigation charts (ONC) may be used. They use the same scale as WACs, but omit some useful information such as airspace restrictions. * Sectional charts typically cover a total area of about 340x340 miles, printed on both sides of the map. The scale is 1:500,000. * VFR terminal area charts are created with a scale and coverage appropriate for the general vicinity of a large airport (1:250,000). They may depict preferred VFR flight routes within areas of congested airspace.


Use under instrument flight rules

When an aircraft is flying under instrument flight rules (IFR), the pilot will often have no visual reference to the ground, and must therefore rely on external (e.g. GPS or VOR) aids in order to navigate. Although in some situations
air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...
may issue radar vectors to direct an aircraft's path, this is usually done to facilitate traffic flow, and will not be the sole means of navigating to an important point, such as the position from which an aircraft commences its approach to landing. Charts used for IFR flights contain an abundance of information regarding locations of waypoints, known as " fixes", which are defined by measurements from electronic beacons of various types, as well as the routes connecting these waypoints. Only limited topographic information is found on IFR charts, although the minimum safe altitudes available on the routes are shown. En-route low- and high-altitude charts are published with a scale that depends upon the density of navigation information required in the vicinity. Information from IFR charts is often programmed into a flight management system or
autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of a vehicle without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator's control of the vehicle, allow ...
, which eases the task of following (or deviating from) a flight plan. Terminal procedure publications such as standard terminal arrival plates, standard instrument departure plates and other documentation provide detailed information for arrival, departure and taxiing at each approved airport having instrument capabilities of some sort.


Sources for charts

Aeronautical charts may be purchased at fixed-base operators (FBOs),
internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
supply sources, or catalogs of aeronautical gear. They may also be viewed online from the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
.


See also

*
Index of aviation articles Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Articles related to aviation include: A Aviation accidents and incidents – Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL) – ADF – Acces ...
* Moving map display *
Nautical chart A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...
* World aeronautical chart * Sectional chart * Terminal area chart * En-route chart * Standard terminal arrival * Standard instrument departure *
Global positioning system The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...
* Flight management system * Electronic flight bag *
Spherical trigonometry Spherical trigonometry is the branch of spherical geometry that deals with the metrical relationships between the edge (geometry), sides and angles of spherical triangles, traditionally expressed using trigonometric functions. On the sphere, ge ...


References


External links


SkyVector Aeronautical Charts online & Flight Plan

FAA Aeronautical Chart User's Guide
at
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
website
open flightmaps - high quality VFR maps
{{Authority control Air navigation