half mil maps
Our 1/2 m charts are very nice but also very expensive at about 18 quid a pop. To be strictly legal, I'm required to carry the most current chart but if, for example, I'm planning a trip to, say, the North of England next week, I will have to buy a chart for that area. No problem with that, but then the 'current' chart for that area may be going out of date in a couple of weeks, at which time the chart for which I've shelled out £18 will (legally at least) become useless and then I will have to buy another one!
UK charts are works of art but with high production costs. I have to ask, do we really need this sort of quality? I can't see why we can't just copy the US and issue non glossy paper sectional charts, costing the equivalent of about £5 a pop which we can just throw away when they become too tatty, or when a new one is issued. Being so much cheaper, it's more likely that pilots will have the latest version, and won't feel ripped off if they need to buy a chart for a short one-off trip.