Mef Sectional Chart

[Madox Valdivia]

SectionalAeronautical Charts are the primary navigational reference medium used by the VFR pilot community. The 1:500,000 scale Sectional Aeronautical Chart Series is designed for visual navigation of slow to medium speed aircraft. The topographic information featured consists of the relief and a judicious selection of visual checkpoints used for flight under visual flight rules. The checkpoints include populated places, drainage patterns, roads, railroads, and other distinctive landmarks. The aeronautical information on Sectional Charts includes visual and radio aids to navigation, airports, controlled airspace, restricted areas, obstructions, and related data. These charts are updated every 56 days.

As it is a TIFF image, based on the image resolution it ended up to be approximately 42" X 60". Which I believe is accurate as when one prints this way, based on the resolution, and the amount of pixels, it calculates the size by itself.

Which is good, however, I am looking for a standard size that the charts you buy come with, so I can verify what I printed. Also, give inputs to my printer, to print that paper size. If any of you have purchased a sectional chart, can you give me the size of it? Or even provide an image of the same.

The answer over there is - 20 3/4" X 59 1/4". However that does not seem to be matching the size (aspect ratio) of TIFF images on the FAA website. It is exactly half of what it supposed to be. So any suggestions would be appreciated. Unless otherwise it is being folded.

This is the circle around any Class B airspace that is 3o nautical miles. It is called the Mode C Veil, which requires any aircraft flying within 30nm of a Class B to have a Mode C altitude encoding transponder. ATC must be able to tell the altitude of your aircraft even if they are not talking to you due to the volume of traffic in the area. If you are required to have the right equipment to enter this space, yet you are not within the Bravo airspace yet and do not need to be cleared into the Mode C Veil area.

This is a Class D airport, it is the blue dashed lines. It also has a VOR at the airport which is the bigger blue solid line with radial marks for the VOR. The Class D is not necessarily a perfect circle, as you can see with this one. Above is the limit of the Class D airspace since there is only one area until like Class B/C airspaces so surface to the number in the box is assumed.

This is a controlled airport because it is blue. The three squares at the East, South, and West points of the circle mean it has fuel services available. The star signifies it has a beacon from sunset to sunrise.

Uncontrolled airport with fuel services and a beacon from sunset to sunrise. It has fuel due to three squares (it would be four without the beacon) and a star on the top signifies an airport with a beacon.

This airport is a bit different than the others you can see it has ASOS vs. an ATIS or AWOS. Also the dotted circle around the airport means it has an Non-Directional Beacon at the airport which you can use to navigate by doing an Automatic Direction Finder (ADF).

This dashed magenta line define the magnetic variation for this area of the sectional. It is also called an isogonic line. This specific one is 15 degrees west. I like to use my E6B to confirm that west you add 15 to the True Course, and east you subtract is from True Course.

This black dashed line is pretty simple. It is the state line depicted on the chart. Here you can see the separation of Connecticut and New York. This one is over the water, but in other sections it will be over land.

This line shows a normal area over water that would be uncontrolled but controlled airspace has been extended to the line. It is used by my airspace for vectoring by ATC into JFK airport. It is considered Class E airspace.

This is the marking of a wildlife refuge. You can see the name of the refuge and the circle with the dots on the inside is the actual area of the wildlife refuge, stay above 2,000ft AGL when flying over this area.

This is a Military Operations Area. Military aircraft maybe operating within excess of 250 knots below 10,000ft. ATC will provide clearance or reroute for IFR traffic in the area. VFR traffic should call the nearest FSS within 100 miles for real time information about what is happening in the area. VFR pilots should exercise extreme caution and should contact the controlling agency for traffic advisories.

Great tutorial, thanks for sharing! I have a question regarding Calverton private airport. From Rocky Point, North of Calverton, and onto Riverhead there is a lightly shaded purple circular line (looks like a purple rainbow). What is the meaning of this purple line?

Just beginning to study sectionals and this was a great help. Thanks for all of your efforts and please keep adding, it will be a continuous benefit to everyone. I live in Brunswick Georgia and I am a member of the Civil Air Patrol. We patrol the coast and barrier islands assisting looking for boaters in distress or other emergencies. We also assist the U.S. the Coast Guard if necessary. Randy

Dear Rob,

Learning Sectionals is invaluable for Private Pilots. I found that getting used to handling the comm radios in any GA airplane, and not being intimidated by Towers, Ground Control, Radar people and Flight Centers is a big step. All these people are there to save our bacon, so to speak, and we all need to learn the jargon, and know when and how to get on the horn.

With all that being said, there is nothing as comforting as knowing how to read a Sectional Chart, and know where we are in the sky, and knowing the details of where we are going, and how to communicate with the people on the ground where we are either passing through, or where we are going.

Wow! Very cool. I have been a Private Pilot now for 37 years, and I actually never thought to look on a Sectional Chart for a wildlife area. My concerns have mostly been to identify the destination point, and/or points of interest or necessity (Restricted Air Space, for example) along my route.

Thanks for the informative site. I did notice that the first chart image under the Military/Restricted Airspace heading is not in fact Camp David, as mentioned in your description. Camp David is covered by P-40, which is overlaid by R-4009 on the Washington Sectional, and is (mostly) present on the Baltimore-Washington TAC as well.

This is extremely helpful! Love the PDF. For some reason a few of the images are swapped around to the wrong explanations when viewing this on my iPad. Perhaps a bug with the formatting for a mobile browser?

I noticed a mistake, airports with a runway of 8,069 feet or less is circled, NOT 1,500. and airports with a runway greater than 8,069 feet are depicted by the outline of the runways. Notice the length of the longest runway on some of those circled airports. think about it, where are you landing that has a runway of 800 feet?? no where.

A sectional chart shows topographical features that are important to aviators, such as terrain elevations, ground features identifiable from altitude (rivers, dams, bridges, buildings, etc.), and ground features useful to pilots (airports, beacons, landmarks, etc.). The chart also shows information on airspace classes, ground-based navigation aids, radio frequencies, longitude and latitude, navigation waypoints, navigation routes.

Sectional charts are in 1:500,000 scale and are named for a city on the map. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States publishes over 50 charts covering the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. Sectional charts are published by the National Aeronautical Navigation Services Group of the FAA. A number of commercial enterprises, notably Jeppesen, produce compatible, certified sectionals.

The sectionals are complemented by terminal area charts (TACs) at 1:250,000 scale for the areas around major U.S. airports, and World Aeronautical Charts (WACs) at a scale of 1:1,000,000 for pilots of slower aircraft and aircraft at high altitude.

The first sectional chart was published in 1930; in 1937 the full series of the lower 48 states was completed. These early sectional charts were smaller (most covered two degrees of latitude and six of longitude) with the map on one side; after 1950 the legend and index to adjoining charts was on the reverse. The first of the present two-sided charts appeared in the late 1960s.

The Minnesota Aeronautical Chart can be downloaded as a PDF to be viewed on your computer, iPad or other mobile device. The chart is a WAC scale chart with some additional information normally found on sectional charts. Also included is a Minneapolis-St. Paul area chart.

Download FAA charts and publications, such as current Instrument Approach Procedure charts (IAP), Departure Procedure charts (DP), Standard Terminal Arrival charts (STAR), and Airport Diagrams. Also included are Take-Off, Radar, and Alternate Minima textual procedures. Only airports with instrument approaches are listed here. The most complete source for airport diagrams for Minnesota airports is still the Minnesota Airport Directory.

Due to the presence of the spiney water flea, an emergency closure was implemented at Voyageurs National Park effective May 10, 2007. Seaplane operations are prohibited on all lakes within Voyageurs National Park until further notice except: Kabetogama Lake, Namakan Lake, Rainy Lake, Sand Point Lake. For more information contact Voyageurs National Park at 218-283-6600.

Hi guys, so I fly out of Whiteman Airport (KWHP) for flight training. I have Van Nuys (KVNY) airport within a 10 mile vicinity to the west of the field and there is a Class E section that extends, or at least, connects to the Van Nuys Class D. There is a small box to the left which states "CAUTION VNY ILS 3800'" located at the top left of that Class E area (Southwest of Santa Clarita). I was wondering if someone could explain what exactly that means? Am I to assume that I should remain clear of that area? Generally speaking, I'm not sure if the caution states to stay above 3,800' or if that simply means that the ILS extends up to 3,800'. Whatever the case, I am completely ignorant to this caution and would like to receive some knowledge on what to do in this area. My current knowledge only extends to VFR flying and I am not familiar with IFR, much less ILS procedures. Please advise. It would most def be much appreciated. Thanks!!

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