Electronic, no paper

[Romeo Tango]

It's all very well having a backup topo chart on paper but it has become effectively impractical to have paper backup approach charts etc. One might consider having paper printed out for the planned destination but much more than that starts to become a weight issue. When I last had a Jeppesen for Europe it just fitted into 6 volumes .... it's probably more now [this is a rant for another day] as well as many hours a month keeping the thing up to date. In practice all one can do is have an up to date panel GPS with approaches, an iPad and maybe a iPhone as last ditch backup.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Originally Posted by BEagle

A couple of years ago, I was on my way to Stapleford aerodrome. As is the norm these days, my GPS was programmed with the destination and I was happily following the magenta line, noting that I would arrive in plenty of time for a coffee before my next activity.

<snip>

A few years ago now I was navigating from Prestwick to Cranfield. Passing Howarden the Garmin Aera decided to lose all GPS signal.

Shrug shoulders, revert to chart and PLOG, carry on, with a few more miles margin on controlled airspace, GPS signal came back about when I passed Sywell.

That trip is my standard reason for continuing to have a paper chart in the cockpit - albeit that it's likely to be an Air Million now.

G