So how do you do it

[500e]

Holes in the chart. or folding fun
Blow the origami its the room and free hands I want :suspect:

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ght=fold+chart (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=132801&highlight=fold+chart)
Here is a way I have used in cars
How to slit and fold a map for special use (ArmyStudyGuide.com) (http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/land_navigation_map_reading/how-to-slit-and-fold-a-map.shtml)

[A.Agincourt]

I rarely need a chart unless I forget a particular item. I plan fairly extensively as a means of memorising the detail that is pertinent to my task with useful things like frequencies times etc. jotted on my knee pad. The map with lots of nice lines carefully plotted is usually folded so that the whole of the track can be viewed without re folding and in such a way that I can use only one hand to review. About A4 size suits me. If necessary I use more than one map of the same type to achieve this on longer trudges. I keep my map [s] handy in case needed.

Best Wishes

[Gordy]

Copied this down years ago:


The procedure I am about to describe will result in a map book about the size of a Sports Illustrated magazine.

First thing: Make sure you have an equal number of maps to fold. If you do not, get some heavy stock paper the same size of the map sheets to round out the pile of maps. Trim the maps of any excess paper you do not need, but be sure to trim them all to the same size and leave a little extra area in the margins for slop and grid markings

Second: Lay the first map out with North at the top and the printed side up. Bring the East and West edges together so that you have a crease running North/South. Unfold the map and turn it over so the printed side is facing down and North is pointing up. Bring the North and South edges together so that you have an East/West crease and you are looking at the South edge of the map sheet with the printed side upside down. Pull the South edge to the center crease, creating another East/West crease. Do the same with the North edge. When you are done, turn the map over with North at the top and the printed side up. You should see 3 East/West creases and one North/South crease. Repeat this procedure for each map sheet.

Third: Place glue (gluesticks work REALLY well for this) on the back side of each map sheet so that the back sides of the middle panels (North and South of the middle East/West) crease are stuck together. Repeat for each map sheet.

Fourth: Arrange your folded and glued mapsheets so that all of the maps that are North and South of each other are lined up that way. Place glue on the bottom panel of the Northern-most map and the top panel of the next map to the South. Continue this process until you have completed each string of North/South Mapsheets.

Fifth: Take each string and find the middle point where you have a relatively equal number of panels North and South of the East/West crease. Fold each string along the North/South crease. Starting from the Western-most string, place glue so that the right side gets glued to the left side of the next string to the East. When you are finished, pace the whole assembly on a flat surface and put a heavy flat object on top. Let it dry for a few hours.

Sixth: Once the whole thing is dry and any touch-up glueing and trimming is complete, you will probably want to put on a cover. The first thing I have always done is to take some duct tape and create a spine North and South. You don't want to compress the maps too much when you do this or the whole thing will try to stay open after you put the tape on. If every thing dried OK under the heavy flat object, the maps should be at a good thickness to put the tape on.

Next take some relatively flexible and sturdy material, such as posterboard, and cut out two pieces slightly larger than the maps. The idea is to have a slight edge that protects the map. Glue them on. If you saved any thing from the trimmings, such as legends or scales, you can glue these on the outside. Cover the outside with some plastic and you should be good to go!

There is a way to make an even tighter and smaller fold, but you end up with something that is about the same size and shape of a FAR/AIM book. I have never done it. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I don't have any. I recommend you practice with a few pieces of paper before you start trying this technique on your maps.

[Perro Rojo]

Chart? Chart? I don't need no steenking charts!!!

[Lost Again]

You mention the use of a knee pad

I find they get in the way - I use an Avery label style A5 label stuck on my trouser leg and it will never jam or interfere with the cyclic.
Just remember to take it off after as I seem to get strange looks - mind you this is probably just me !

With the map I print off memory map and staple them in a pile and flick through them in order - easier than trying to refold in flight.


Richard

[rudestuff]

Used to use a kneeboard when i started flying helicopters - back when wiping the sweat off my nose was a major challenge. Went through the usual student pilot fads, such as folding the chart as tight as possible so that departure and destination are opposite corners etc... then I got my first commercial job - the kneeboard lasted less than a week.
If I need to look at the chart - i'm ashamed to say I steer with my knees, remove chart from pocket, fold it out and read it like pages of a book.

[heliski22]

I had a fight with my PPL insitructor many years ago. He insisted I should read the map "track up", I insisted I would read it "north up"!

I never gave in and continue to do it to this day. Even the moving map display is set to "north up" and I have to change it back whenever my relief pilot has been in the machine.

The "north up" habit comes from my pre-flying days when I used to sit as a navigator in night-time road rallies, where direction changed every couple of hundred yards. Turning the map to face the direction of travel was out of the question in such an environment and was generally frowned upon as the mark of a less skilful navigator in the circumstances.

Possibly getting a little off-thread but still map-use related.

[Brilliant Stuff]

I also need the North up on my maps I simply can not cope with track up.

[SASless]

Does it really matter how you fiddle with the maps....but waiting till you are engaged in a verbal jousting match with your conscience about where it thinks you aren't....can make for an interesting few minutes particularly when flying up wind and low on fuel with the weather clamping....and a keying error stuck into the GPS....which you managed to overlook whilst daydreamng about having a positive balance in your bank account one day.:ooh:

[rotorspeed]

Interesting point on whether to use north up or track up. Having tried both, long ago I settled on north up for charts and moving maps. So much better for general orientation and particularly those instant position estimates for RT - 7 miles NE of X is much more obvious on a north up moving map. Becomes even more important in IMC.

[A.Agincourt]

Kneeboard - well that was a slip of the finger you might say. I actually use the 'knee pad' that is sewn to my flight suit. There is no question or incidence of cyclic fouling.

I have always orientated the map - if used - in the direction I travel irrespective of where North might be. Simply because I was taught a long time ago that doing so meant one less mental juggling act to perform.

SASless - a very good point you make and which is why I plan the way I do so that hopefully my memorised plan is sufficient when things start to look as if they are going pear shaped.

Best Wishes

[Heli-Ice]

Since all those maps are simply wrong you may want to know a few tricks to fold them and make origami helicopters and stuff for your passengers while trying to figure out where you are. :cool:

[rudestuff]

If I got in an aircraft as a passenger and saw the pilot spining the chart around so that his/her track was face up - i'd be quite worried!
If someone needs to actually spin a chart around and orientate it in order to read it - can they really read a map at all? Teaching kids to read a map on dartmoor and doing it that way is one thing - but lacking the mental wherewithall to imagine yourself "as a little plane on the map" and yet be able to fly a complicated machine is surprising.
And what does that do for situational awareness?
Also, do you have to unclip your chart and turn it every time you make a turn?!

[Bravo73]

rudestuff,

That's got to be one of the daftest things that I've recently read on PPRuNe... :oh:

[Johe02]

I was taught the first fold should go n/s through you home airfield as you rarely fly due north or south from the field (but I'm sure somebody on here does :rolleyes:)

If the chart doesn't quite line up at the edges trim them off. . :8

[rudestuff]

You're probably right - I wasn't sure if 'wherewithall' was actually all one word.

[Bravo73]

I wasn't talking about one word. I was talking about the whole lot (and the sentiment behind it.) :ugh:

[Peter-RB]

North at top /South at bottom, as taught to me when I was at school, must work cos I found my way home, besides I could not read place names upside down!

Peter R=B
Vfr

[500e]

I am glad SAS said daydreaming about Positive bank balance, how would a helicopter pilot in real life have a + balance,:E
The ways people find their way about never ceases to amaze me, north up is the way I use them, orientating the map also works, but fiddling with maps is another thing to think about.
I also make list of freq, times, major landmarks as a quick aid to memory.

[rudestuff]

Its only three words, hardly a lot. How about 'where-with-all'?
I didn't know people were so fussy about grammar.

[Bravo73]

rudestuff,

I'm still not talking about just the one word. :rolleyes: (Although if you are that concerned about the spelling, according to Google, it's: wherewithal.) When I said 'the whole lot', I meant:

If I got in an aircraft as a passenger and saw the pilot spining the chart around so that his/her track was face up - i'd be quite worried!
If someone needs to actually spin a chart around and orientate it in order to read it - can they really read a map at all? Teaching kids to read a map on dartmoor and doing it that way is one thing - but lacking the mental wherewithall to imagine yourself "as a little plane on the map" and yet be able to fly a complicated machine is surprising.
And what does that do for situational awareness?
Also, do you have to unclip your chart and turn it every time you make a turn?!

I find it daft that you should disparage an accepted and proven method of map reading (apparently just because you use a different method.)

The fact that you would be 'quite worried' if a pilot orientated a map is (IMHO) plainly daft. Or that you think that navigating over Dartmoor is actually any different to navigating through the air. The basic principles are exactly the same - only the speed (and the effect of the wind) is any different.

If you must know, orientating a chart can actually help a student develop 'situational awareness'. Why? Because what they are seeing on the chart (ie town x on the left of track, river y on the right of track) is what they should be seeing out of the window.

And you ask 'do you have to unclip your chart'? Unclip from what exactly? Are you assuming that everybody flies with a chart clipped to a kneeboard? Because not many pro pilots that I know do...


Now looking at the posts above, it would appear that 'north up' is the preferred method from this very small sample group. But that's not to say that the other method is 'worrying', is it? If it has any bearing on matters, the moving map gps in every aircraft that I have flown (that has one, of course) has always been set to 'track up'. I can only surmise from this that my colleagues also subscribe to the 'track up' (or orientate your chart) method.

OK? :ok:

[Whirlygig]

If someone needs to actually spin a chart around and orientate it in order to read it - can they really read a map at all?

No but then I'm a woman so genetically pre-disposed at not being able to read a map. :rolleyes: Alternatively, I keep the chart in the same orientation and swivel my head round! :}

I've always used track up even when driving or navigating whilst husband was driving. Used to irritate him no end. Why, I have no idea. He said it was wrong. If it serves a purpose and works, why is it wrong?

Cheers

Whirls

[diginagain]

One more vote for 'Track-up', since this is how I was taught. As has been noted, it makes it much easier for identifying ground features. If you need to know which way North is, relative to your track, you could mark an arrow and a big 'N' on each sector, I guess.

[heliski22]

Let's not get hung up on which way is best - the bottom line is that we all start from the same place of not knowing, then, learn as we go. Ultimately, the objective is to know where you're at, know where you're going and don't get lost in between. And let's not forget the chart is just a form of data storage, where the inforrmation is kept so you can refer to it - above all else, you need to be looking out the window, only referring inside from time to time as necessary.

You can hold it between your bloody teeth if it makes you feel more on top of your job!!

[rudestuff]

Ok enough! My sides hurt!
Of course I knew you were talking about the whole post - Apologies for playing dumb and pushing your buttons Bravo73, I couldn't resist.
Please also excuse the patronising and condescending nature of my post -
It was merely a childish attempt to 'stirthingsupabit'
I've never seen anyone use this 'track up' method with a paper chart, you see - so its an alien concept to me that people actually fly around with their charts (potentially) upside down. It's obvious to me now that apparently they do. Is this a UK thing?
PS: (pedantics - as 90% of pprune degenerates into) If you read my first post you'll see exaclty where I keep my chart!

[Bravo73]

Of course you were, rudestuff. :ugh:



Add rudestuff to Your Ignore List (http://www.pprune.org/forums/profile.php?do=addlist&userlist=ignore&u=125985)

Ahh. How the little things can sometimes be so satisfying. :ok:

[ShyTorque]

I've never seen anyone use this 'track up' method with a paper chart, you see - so its an alien concept to me that people actually fly around with their charts (potentially) upside down. It's obvious to me now that apparently they do. Is this a UK thing?


Military pilots are taught to orientate the chart track up; for low level ops you would find it difficult to find the correct valley, re-entrant contour or target without doing this.

Having flown using both methods, I can do either, but still prefer to have my moving map track up. Many civvy trained pilots I've flown with very often prefer it north up but seeing as I'm usually single pilot I please myself and even use the co-pilot's seat to lay out my charts ;)

[rudestuff]

Please re-read my post Bravo73. Could I have made it any more tounge-in-cheek? - Ignore list? now thats not exactly playing fair is it?
I didn't mean to make you look silly. I honestly didn't know that people did it that way, (possibly because I fly in the US?) - hence my remarks. No need to get personal.

On the subject of cultural differences - next time you're in the company of a Yank - try and explain pancake day - they'll never believe you!

[heliski22]

"...as I'm usually single pilot I please myself and even use the co-pilot's seat to lay out my charts"

Got it in one!!!!