VFR Sectional Chart Tips and Example Examiner Questions

Hello, members. A presentation that you've been asking for for quite some time. A lot of people have said, hey, you know, when can you do something on VFR charts? So that's what I'm doing for you now. And we're going to break it down. We're going to use the iPad with foreflight, and I'm also going to use a sectional chart. I would say at this point in the game, you want to be versed in both. Just did a recent checkride commercial and CFI and two different examiners, and they're still saying at this time, you still need the paper charts for the checkrides. May change in the future. Will the paper charts ever go away? I don't know. Maybe at some point. But as of right now, charts are hard to get. So when you get close to checkride, make sure you get these things ahead of time. On the CFI checkride, we called the examiner because we realized a day or two before it was going to expire, like the day before the checkride, and she had up to date foreflight, and we said, hey, they're on backorder. We tried getting one, da, da, da, da. And he said, you know, that's okay. One day we can make an exception for that. I understand they're hard to get. She literally had tried getting one. So, you know, what are you going to do over time with this problem? I don't know. For right now, order these things ahead of time and have them until they say that you can use iPads, you know, great. But for right now, I would be studying and using both. So first I want to tell you how I studied back in the day, struggled through all my ratings. Here's the infamous notebook. Back cover is gone. As I talk about, this thing's beat up. I don't pull it out very much anymore. But what I did when I was struggling to learn all this stuff, I took the legend, I cut it off an old sectional chart, and I taped it to the back cover of my notebook. So when I would sit down and study, I could easily just open it up, sit there and study the legend. That's one thing you're going to want to do, is study the legend. Because there's so much on this chart and it is really, really confusing. So you have to practice with this. I'm going to go over as much of it as I can. You know, what's a lot of the common things kind of what examiners ask on checkrides, but you got to spend some time with this. You Got to work through the legend. You guys sit down and practice with the sectional chart and we're going to show you that stuff. So anyway, that's what I did, put the legend in the back of my notebook. So first let's go to this actual sectional chart itself. Every checkride I've done, examiner always says, alright, well let's pull out the check, let's pull out the sectional chart. So pretty much any checkride I've ever seen, here's what they do. They come in and go, okay, you are about right here, 700ft AGL and you want to get in this little airport. Where are you at? Right there at 700 or whatever the case may be. But they're going to give you scenarios. They're going to go out and they're going to say, right about here you're at 1100, what airspace are you in? So that's one exercise that I'm telling you. You're going to want to sit down and do and just practice by yourself and just close your eyes and go boom, like this and think, okay, I'm going to look for a spot at 800ft and go down, look and figure out and it's always going to be mainly inside or outside. Class G is a big one. Every examiner is going to always ask you about class G. Inside the magenta surface to 700, outside the magenta surface to 1200, they're going to ask that every single time. And then another good one is there's so many different things on here to identify is you just pick a spot and find like that and go, okay, what do I see there? Like I'm looking at an antenna, I'm looking at Latin, long lines, just different areas around the map. Just put your pen down, go to it and if you know what it is, great. If you don't know what it is, go to the legend and check it out. So study the legend. Practice by just picking points on a map. Then the next thing I want to point out to you is the legends along the bottom. Very important. You need to become familiar with this section down here, along the bottom, because this is special use airspace, unsexional chart, restricted. It gives you the information about the certain different special areas, who to contact times that are open, frequency, so on, so forth. So spend a little time going over that too. Not just the legend in the front, but also along the bottom. And depending whether you're going for private commercial cfi, the more the higher level of rating you're going to, the better you're going to need to know these sectional charts. But of course, the big one, they always ask, how do I know it's valid? Well, you have to look at the front. This is an old expired chart I'm using for training, but you can see right in the front. Effective from like this one's 4-2-2015 to 17th of September 2015. So you always have to know, you know, is the chart valid? They're always going to ask you that every single time. So next we'll go to the iPad and we'll pull the screen up and look at some stuff. Okay, first, one of my tricks for breaking down the air spaces. And I've used this for years and I really like it. I've even had, you know, 135 check rides when I was flying EMS. You know, even on a 135 checkride, you're an experienced pilot, they still pull out the VFR chart check. Airmen will pull it out and they'll start asking you about airspace. So you know, you're learning it as a new pilot. Every rating, you're going to need it. Your 135 checkrides out in the real world, you're going to need it. Airspace is tough to learn. We got to just keep going over it and over it and over it. And I showed this to a Czech airman one time. It was really a really tough one and he really liked this. He gave me, he goes, yeah, I've never seen that before, but I really like that. So to break down the controlled airspaces, not A, because A is not on a chart, A is 18,000 and above. This is for B, C, D. And then we'll find an E in a little bit. But for the towered airports, if you think of Chicago, this makes sense. You've got B, Bravo, big is o', Hare, you've got C, Charlie, Midway, and then you have a smaller class D down here, Gary. So most people are familiar with Chicago. So I like using this one again because it's a quick way to break down the towered airport. So let's zoom in just a little bit. And I'm amazed. It even at add on pilots, people show up to do a rating and that's the first thing I do when they're an add on pilot and they tell me they're ready to go and they're good, I pull out a VFR chart, start asking them airspace questions and you'll be amazed at how many people over time just aren't very good with charts anymore. Especially if you're an instrument pilot, get a lot of fixed wing instrument guys or girls that they've been flying instruments for a long time. They come to do an add on helicopter. So you go start asking them airspace stuff. They haven't flown VFR in a long time. They're always on the instrument flight plan, looking at instrument charts. Their VFR skills go out the window. And this is one that they mess up is the class airspace is especially around a congested airspace. So again, o', Hare, we know it's one of the largest airports in the world. Big blue, busy. Right here is Midway. Most people have heard of Midway as well. Not quite as big as o'. Hare. Still a pretty good sized airport. It's a class Charlie. Then down here to class Delta at Gary still has a lot of jet traffic. It's in the Chicago area. Still kind of a busy airport and kind of a big airport. But it's not near as big as Midway. So then that's an example of a class Delta. So there you go. B, C, D, o', Hare, Midway and Gary. So these are things you really do got to spend some time with and really dissect these for the areas you're going to be in for the sectional charts you're going to be using on a checkride. Because you know the examiner is going to go to one of these areas that's complicated and he's going to ask you some questions about this stuff. And you have to look at where certain air spaces overlie other airspace. Like here, you got Bravo, then you got Charlie, you got G down by the surface. So you got to spend a little bit of time going through these and really kind of get good with it. And you're going to do it through practice, sit and working with it. It's really the only way that you're going to get good at it. So let's just pick on class B for a minute. Let's slide in here to o' Hare and let's check out the information about o'. Hare. No svfr. That means no fixed wings. No fixed wing can get a special vfr. Can you still ask for a special VFR as a helicopter? Yes, you can. Will they give it to you? Mmm, depends on the airspace. O', Hare, I don't know. That's pretty congested airspace and they have routes set up and you know whether you're going to get it with o'. Hare, you know, that really depends. Here's your title for the airport. Chicago, o' Hare ORD Control tower Information, atis, elevation See all these crazy runways here. It's marked in blue. These just towered blue, Big busy. Notice these red flags. Those are reporting points. So when you're going to go into that area, you're going to want to be familiar with those because if you're talking to a approach or talking to a tower, they may very well reference one of these red flags. Mode C transponder ring out here. They like asking you what that is. You know, another big difference on the Bravo Charlie and Delta. You can see the Bravo being big has all these layers. It's the upside down wedding cake. Charlie's the same way, but it's not as many layers, it's smaller. And then Class Delta is only one layer, more of a cylinder shape. So next I want to move out to like a Class G area. So let's just go back here to my home. Class G inside and outside the magenta circle. So here, Class G inside the circle from the surface up to 700. Outside this circle, it's the surface to 1200. So a lot of class G airports are just, they have their own single circle like that. And that's a little easier to determine when you go to a bigger area. Let me find one. Well, we'll just move here to the north to South Bend. If you look at this one, look how this magenta goes up and around and here and it's going this way and how it keeps moving around these airports. So Class G outside of this magenta all the way around, surface to 1200. When you're on the inside, this whole thing, it's class g service to 700. And I don't know why this one's so difficult. I'm sure I struggled with it in the beginning like everybody else does, but I can just tell you the class G, it really is a problem. And it's a problem for a lot of people. Brand new add on pilots. I'm amazed over and over how many people screw up the Class G inside and outside. Since we're here, I see a Class Echo Airport. Let's check that out. There's an example of a Class Echo has a dotted magenta line around the outside. That is a Class Echo Airport examiner question on this one. They love asking about Class E. Okay. We know the cloud clearance and visibilities are different between Class G and Class E. Okay. So if you want to get into a Class E airport and the weather is below a VFR minimum, the question is, can you get in there? The examiner is going to post something. You're out here? You want to get in there? And he'll say, like, ceilings, 902 miles visibility, and you want to get in there. Can you get in there? The answer is no, which is kind of a wrong answer, but a good answer because it's a safe answer. You can't just go busting in there. Can you get in? You can, but you have to get clearance from the controlling agency, which could be an airport nearby. This one you could probably call South Bend. It's probably going to be the closest approach because South Bend's right here. Charlie, you could talk to them and ask for a special VFR to get into that airport. Now, you'll see these class echoes out in the middle of nowhere. And examiners like to go, well, you're out in the middle of nowhere. There's no approach, there's no big airport nearby. What are you going to do when you see one out in the middle of nowhere? Look for a small box somewhere near that Class Echo with the letters rco. And that stands for Remote Communications Outlet. By using that frequency, you can talk to the controlling agency to get permission to get into that class Echo. Super, super, super important. And while we're on the subject, basic vfr. What is it, three miles and a thousand feet? That's just basic vfr. For any field to be vfr, it has to be three miles and a thousand feet. Amazing how many people screw up basic vfr. Believe me, it happens over and over and over again. Be familiar with what this is right here. Compass rose. And that compass rose is around a vor. I'm going to grab something I can use as kind of a gigantic pencil for getting lost or for finding a quick direction. Let's imagine this is a very big, thick pencil. If you're looking at your chart in the aircraft and you're trying to figure maybe a diversion. He's giving you a diversion on the checkride, and you want to figure out a heading real quick in your mind. Take your pencil, and if you say you're wanting to go from here to here, just put your pencil to get that angle, slide it over here, and you can go, okay, that's about 060 heading to get the direction that I want. So a quick, quick idea. Compass rose is good to use to help find an actual direction in number of degrees. Information for your VOR is right here in this box. Going to tune in the VOR on this frequency. You're going to identify it by listening to the identifier, which is going to be a long dash Small dot, dot, dash, dot, dot, dash. That's how you check to verify VOR South Bend approach. A lot of times for a Class Charlie, you will see the approach frequency you need to use when approaching a Class Charlie. And a lot of times they'll have two different ones. Like here's a box down below, there's also a box above. So depending on the direction you're going to be entering that Class Charlie, there could be a different frequency depending on which way you're coming in. Sometimes they're not marked. So if they're not marked on the sectional chart, you could go back to the legend on the sectional chart. You could use maybe your iPad. If the frequencies are on there, you could look it up in the AFD Airport facility directory. That is now called what chart supplement I think is what it's called. They've changed that. Okay, next, let's talk about pick and check points on a cross country trip. Let me zoom this out a little bit or zoom it in. Here's a line on a recent trip we did. And when you're picking your checkpoints, you get good at checkpoints. With practice you'll find out when you're doing cross country planning and you're picking your checkpoints along your route, sometimes what you think might be a great checkpoint turns out to be a rotten one. And sometimes things that you don't think would be good would be a really good one. So, you know, like here is a town, okay, Towns are usually pretty good. Here's railroad tracks. I like using rivers, lakes and ponds. Those are always really good checkpoints to use. So when you're picking your checkpoints on your cross country planning for and using these charts, make your best guess on what you think is going to be a good Check a checkpoint. And then when you get out there and start flying it, you'll figure out pretty quick whether it was a good checkpoint or whether it was a good bad checkpoint. And always remember, if you're looking for your checkpoint, you can't find it. Climb up 500ft. It's amazing the difference of what you can see just by increasing your altitude by 500ft. Antennas. Antenna is a big deal for us. Flying antennas, flying into wires, a lot of fatalities. You got to be aware of the towers that are along your route. What are the tallest towers along your route? You know, towers are everywhere. And I can't help but think about the King videos. Like let's use this for an example. There's a tower right here. Zoom in on it. As corny as this is, I'll never forget Martha King saying, when you're looking at the tower, you look at these numbers. This is what you'll read on your altimeter as you're flying along and you hit the top of the tower. This number right here, 260, that's the number of feet that you're going to fall to the ground. Kind of a. Kind of a crude deal, but I remember that and it's always stuck with me. Military operations areas. Look at this mess here. 12 mile east, moa hilltop. Moa. A lot of times in a helicopter, we're low enough that we're not even going to be bothered by it. But you're still going to want to be aware of what the moas are when they're operating. Make sure that you're going to be below that Military operations area. This subject is so huge. I'm just trying to pick out things I'm thinking of that I've heard examiners ask, you know, these small airports, what's that little star means? That means it has a beacon. What do the little tick marks mean? The tick marks mean that that airport has services. It really is amazing the amount of things that are on these sectional charts. I can remember starting out and just sitting down and being overwhelmed. And even today, if I go to fly in an area that I'm not familiar with, you know, it can. It can really suck. I mean, if it's my home area, I know the area and it's not hard for me to figure it out. But if I go fly somewhere else, I have to pull a chart out and sit and look at it and go, oh, yeah, what are those? And go back and look up. Things happens all the time. You know, nobody remembers everything, but you want to know the basics. You want to be good with it, you know, you want to know how to quickly find the answer for what that thing it is you're looking at on that chart. So I hope that helps. I could go on and on and on for the next hour, picking stuff, finding things, showing you what they are. But that's a quick rundown on how to prepare, how to study what examiners do with pulling out a sectional chart and sticking down a pen, you know, studying with the legend, sitting down, open it up, just picking a spot and just going, what's that? What's that? Hopefully that helps. Again, this is the first one I've really done on charts in all these years. A lot of you members have asked for it, so hopefully this is a good starter. Put your comments down below. Let us know what you think of this one. All the other new content coming in, the new layout of the private pilot site. We're going to be organizing the commercial CFI section as well. We have a lot of stuff going on that's really, really cool. I'm having a blast. So let us know what you think about this. What else you would like to see added to VFR charts? Because I'm sure there's going to be a lot of feedback and people are going to say, hey, why didn't you cover this? Why didn't you cover that? But this is a quick rundown on how to study, how to kind of prepare, how to work with it, kind of expect how examiners going to ask you questions and some different tips about sectional charts. Put your comments down below and we'll see you in the next video.