VFR map folding
 

Hi,

You guys got any tips on folding these huge half mil maps?

First clear a BIG space on the floor to start.
I then fold it in 3 N/S, For the Southern one you can usually fold a lot of the Channel into the bit that will be hidden for much of the time. Then concertina it trying to leave the bits you use most visible and away from the creases.:ok:

Havent got around to trying it yet but this looked good last time this topic came up.

http://www.nodomainname.co.uk/duncanof.htm

I use Duncan MacKillop's method, as linked to by Fuji, and find it perfect.

It takes a lot less effort to do than it might appear at first read-through.

Best way is to fold it as best you can so that all the creases are good and flexible and that you have a small enough area so that it fits on Kneeboard. Then simply select an airfield that is on the bit of the map you can see when it's all folded up and base your aircraft there! :ok: :}

(sorry think this might have been a reply here before, but it made me laugh and I couldn't resist reposting!)

The McKillop method works well provided you home airfield isn't on the join between a vertical and a horizontal crease.:ugh:
Safe (and fold-free) flying
Cusco;)

Cut off the half you spend least time in, pop that in your nav bag, fold the other half.

The Mckillop method. It's vg.

Is there a particular reason the CAA don't issue unlaminated charts? My Aussie PPL was done with paper charts - much easier to fold and refold, they fold smaller, easier to mark with pencil, easier to add notes for each flight, easier to add permanent highlights where necessary. I'm finding these laminated charts really hard work.

I've been taught two methods:

(1) The RAF method. Before flight, tear or cut out the section of the map you're going to use for that flight. Throw the rest away. Repeat for each flight - no folding necessary.

(2) A method an examiner or CFI (I forget who exactly) explained to me a few years ago:

(a) Fold the map. Somehow. Anyhow. At random.
(b) Choose an airfield roughly in the middle of the visible part of the map.
(c) Move there, and use that as your base.

neilia:

Don't worry about it too much: the trend seems to be to force you to buy a new one every six months

Safer flying

Cusco:rolleyes:

d) use an electronic version of the chart

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4. .

My original flying instructor simply cut out a section of chart that extended about 50 miles on each side of our home base. As far as I know we nevr fell off the edge.

It worked for him, but I have never quite had the courage to follow suite.

My original flying instructor simply cut out a section of chart that extended about 50 miles on each side of our home base. As far as I know we nevr fell off the edge.
It worked for him

This being the quality of PPL instruction, we wonder why nearly all PPLs chuck flying in permanently within a year or two... they come out with a license which has close to zero utility value, and the fun value extends little beyond flying a local burger run.

It's true though; most PPL instructors have rarely ventured beyond the nearest crease in their chart.

don't fold
 

I bring the map down the local print shop and get the whole thing reduced to
A4 size (black and white cos its cheaper).

Then fold it twice (quarters) and it fits neatly into my shirt pocket.

If you want to throw caution to the wind and push the boat out, laminate it.

Hope that helps.

JTK

Irrational yet highly practical Shrinkage Captain
 

I bring the map down the local print shop and get the whole thing reduced to
A4 size (black and white cos its cheaper).

It must be really legible when shrunken down so much, I'll bet it doesn't strain the eye at all, and what's more the black and white monochrome will get rid of any confusion between all those complicated colours. Why has nobody else thought of this before. What a really good idea.

Spock

thanks Spock
 

It's hard being a cultural, educational and religious genius,but its a cross i have to bear.

Live long and prosper Spock

Much easier to get one of those fancy GPS thingies. If you can press the right buttons in the right order it folds and unfolds the right part of the map for you all the time as you fly along.....

I just fold my chart to suit the trip I am flying and used to take it home after work so the wife could iron out the creases. She stopped doing that when I forgot to clean off those heavy chinagraph lines after a very busy week and she got nasty brown stains in all the underpants she ironed afterwards.
(Lucky escape for Upland Goose, who tried to steal my chart yesterday := ).

P.S. What's all this about new charts sometimes being issued? I never heard that one before and I've been flying since 1972.

Cutting aeronautical charts
 

Is the act of cutting an aeronautical chart illegal, even the area of chart you take in flight represents the area which you know you will definitely be flying within?

Serious question.

NSW.

Okay, serious answer. I think the law only states that you have to take notice of all the relevant information that is available to you to safely prepare and execute the flight as planned. I think this is commonly interpreted to mean that you have to have valid maps on board of the route you're going to fly, including the route to the alternates. By implication this would suggest that you only require that portion of the map which shows your planned route and the alternates. The rest you can cut away and leave at home.

Whether that would be wise is another matter. I would make sure I have at least all the map material for anything 20-50 miles or so left and right of my track. Or make sure you have an original, uncut map in your flight bag somewhere. Pilots do get lost...

And you have to have seen the notams, weather and so forth, but that's not relevant to the discussion here.