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Paper Charts

Yes & no...yes, I keep one in the cockpit (goes back to my primary CFI & always keeping options open when whatever navigation gizmo you’re using doesn’t work for whatever reason) but no, I do rely primarily on said gizmo.


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I like to have a chart out at all times. My favorites are those state issued aviation charts. Usually free or available for a nominal fee. Sectionals are really expensive.
 
Yes & no...yes, I keep one in the cockpit (goes back to my primary CFI & always keeping options open when whatever navigation gizmo you’re using doesn’t work for whatever reason) but no, I do rely primarily on said gizmo.
+1 I keep current charts and AFD (green book) in the plane, but rarely use them. They've become a backup resource. Garmin Pilot on the tablet has become primary.
 
Paper. Pyongyang cannot hack paper.

Before I earned my wings I asked a well seasoned pilot why his charts were not current. He said, "The mountains don't move."
 
No. Too much trouble and money to keep current. Between two panel mounts, a 696, an iPad or two, an iPhone, and maybe a passenger’s iPhone, I think I’ve got the redundancy thing covered!
 
What Oldcrowe said. Right now for instance you can get paper nautical charts. You go to a chart dealer and he inserts a big piece of paper in a big HP printer and out comes your chart. There is no difference between digitized charts and paper charts. The paper ones are printed from the same file. I suspect in the future the same thing will happen to paper charts in aviation. The biggest point of error is not the digitization but the drawing of instrument procedure charts from the text version. When the FAA creates an instrument approach procedure it is textual, not charted and that text becomes part of Part 97. Cartographers then take that text and turn it into a chart. Sectionals are still completely drawn, but digitized for future printing.

I use strictly electronic charts both personally, professionally and on my boat. I just make sure I have at least two devices, with two power backups for those devices. One power source is the vehicle itself and the other is a portable battery brick. Anker batteries are my best friends.
 
Digital. Garmin Pilot is my primary resource but I have other Ipad and iPhone map apps with downloaded topo maps for when I get to where I’m going. Foreflight on iPad offers the Alaska Supplement downloads in book form. Last I knew the iPhone version didn’t support that download (I let Foreflight go.) The primary advantage of digital for me is that my Garmin Pilot app automatically updates charts so I don’t have to think about it. My charts are always current, and when kept current they are not GPS/cell/wifi dependent. These devices and apps are amazing.
 
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Let's not have technology eliminate sectionals I like to see the big picture. Kids these days don't even look at maps. When I ride with people they dink around with their car navigation screen to go like 200 miles in a straight line on an interstate. I just shake my head, mutter WTH under my breath and long for simpler times. Maps are cool but soon forgotten. Another victim of progress.
 
Even though I have an iPad and gps I still prefer paper (even if they're a little dated) a phone call over a text and a hand shake and smile over lol. Call me old fashioned.
 
Electronics are primary for me, with a paper backup for local flying.

On a recent trip from Idaho to Alaska, I found I would need roughly two dozen charts and several books - too unwieldy for a Cub cockpit. So, I went with 3 electronic devices: Garmin GPS in the panel, iPhone, and an iPad, with all charts and books downloaded ahead of time.

BTW, XM weather works fine in Idaho, but was mostly useless in Canada and Alaska. I think the satellites were just too low on the horizon. I had to turn off the feature to stop the annoying loss of signal warnings. Perhaps repositioning the puck antenna would have helped, but not something I wanted to mess with during the trip. I'm curious if others have the same trouble.
 
I'm not a complete cave man. I'm rockin' a Magellan 315. It's a good back up to my free state aviation charts. I usually leave my flip phone in the car when I fly.
 

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I haven't had a paper chart since Foreflight came on the market. I'm a Garmin Pilot guy now as their VFR Map has better resolution then Foreflight, and Garmin's Smart Airspace is well....smarter. I do still have Foreflight for fuel prices in Canada and Hotel/Restaurant distance from airports and their contact info. But next time my Foreflight subscription is up for renewal I'll drop it.

For you paper chart aficionados try and find my airport, 04AA, on the Anchorage sectional. It was approved on 9/26/2017 and shortly after in both Garmin Pilot's and Foreflight's database so shows up on all their maps, but still isn't on the Anchorage sectional almost four months later. Of course paper charts can be used to help start a fire, but that's the only use I see for them. :)
 
I just make sure I have at least two devices, with two power backups for those devices. One power source is the vehicle itself and the other is a portable battery brick. Anker batteries are my best friends.

Much less stuff to keep organized on a back country trip than the three or four paper charts I might need.

I will now pull out the ipad if I am traveling a long ways, (as in days), but will keep old charts with me. Much easier to open a chart to look 200 miles away and get the lay of the land than try to scroll in rough weather.

One electronic and paper back up is a great thing- or paper primary with electronic back up!

One consideration that should be discussed is how often do we even use a chart? I might pull my chart out once a week when flying full time, only to check something. Most of us I bet fly the same areas so don't need to look at the chart all the time.
 
Foreflight... Still like to use paper charts to check a route the night before but when flying in the 12 it is much easier to use the iPad.
 
Electronic with one exception....I always have one sectional available (doesn’t have to current) to keep the sun out of my eyes.

Lou
 
Good to hear of so many paper chart users. I like to keep it simple especially when I fly the J-3. Just earplugs and no electronics and the paper chart. We need to preserve fundamentals and show “the children of GPS” we can still fly some where without a TV in their face. My Super Cub has a Garmin 496 and the paper chart.
 
I use my garmin 795, I do carry charts for whatever part of the country I am flying. Mostly because my wife like to follow with them as we fly. I have had to use them once when I lost power on a flight home from the Brooks Range.
DENNY
 
Paper and plastic. Sort of memorized Alaska a few years ago but the non-terrain numbers change.

Still have some Navy silk handkerchief charts my dad had during WWII flying PBY's in Melanesia - New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and New Hebrides now Vanatu. Easy to fold for a pocket and durable.

Gary
 
Used to subscribe to Duracharts until they went belly up. They have nice grade paper that's hard to tear. I've kept all of them that cover most areas I fly. My primary baby is an Aera 660. But Avare is installed on my Android phone and tablet. But I always keep an old Sectional handy, including a TAC while flying thru the Wash., DC SFRA.

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I use Avare 100% of the time. First used it on my droid phone and then later purchased a $129.00 (on sale) Samsung pad A at Costco. Use that on an old salvaged yoke mount for the bigger screen. All free and updated automatically by wifi at home. Even if the GPS system quits the pad still has the sectionals on it. Got it on wifes phone and the new pad a I got her for Christmas ;-) It eats batteries so I purchased a $60 Costco backup USB battery for longer flights. Generally have 4 devices running in the plane at a time so I don't worry about not having access to a sectional at any point.

Pilots come in where I work and describe how excited they are with their Iphone/foreflight stuff and I have not heard of any real world advantage that it has over the free Avare? Most have no knowledge of Avare.

I still carry out of date paper charts for some reason?
 
ForeFlight on the iPhone, iPad and desktop.

For many years reading paper charts was one the joys in my life. Lay them out on a table to study then flip and fold while flying. I may be crazy but I enjoyed it.
Now I get a different joy by toggling between sectional view, satellite images and topo view while exploring on the desktop.



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Anyone observe anomalies related to the GPS outage/interference warnings that get published by faasafety.gov? They published 4 in Jan. so far. Might be another reason to keep an old chart handy.
 
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