Matt Whiting wrote:

You can't spend $8 on a WAC chart? G Your school or FBO doesn't
have one on the wall that you can use for free?

Yes, and yes. However, I was going to do the flight planning tomorrow
and I can't get a WAC that quickly (the "local" FBO doesn't stock them)
and the FBO is 35 miles away and I'd rather not drive 70 miles with gas
prices at $3/gallon if I don't have to.

Maybe I'm being a little silly here, but I'm thinking a commercial pilot
should be up to a higher level of flight planning. Your boss is going to
say, "I need to be in XYZ for a 9:00 AM meeting; get me there". It's your
job to figure out a good airport that's close to XYZ, has approaches
appropriate for the weather, all needed services available, ground
transport arranged for, and worked into the schedule, etc. Nowhere in that
scenario does "the dog ate my chart" seem like a useful thing to say.

Of course, the PTS doesn't require any of this, it's just the way my
instructor treated me when I was training for the commercial. He wanted to
see me thinking and acting like a commercial pilot, not just learning how
to fly a bunch of silly maneuvers and do a slightly-warmed over repeat of a
private pilot X/C.

All that being said, you can find on-line sectionals at
http://skyvector.com/

PS, I've only trained one person for the Commercial, and for the X/C we
decided to fly to Montreal. I figured learning how to deal with
international flight plans and customs was appropriate for a commercial
pilot. We blew a lot of money on dinner (and the cab rides into Old Town
Montreal), but the meal we had sure beat the heck out of any airport coffee
shop I've ever eaten in. We flew VFR both ways, and my student's flight
planning was excellent. At one point, we were over a broken deck, and were
spotting landmarks through holes in the clouds dead-on when his flight log
said we should. We flew back at night, and by that time it was crystal
clear. In the wilds of upstate NY, we were seeing airport beacons 50 miles
out. The entire trip, both ways, was done 100% pilotage and DR. We almost
didn't find ALB, and were just getting ready to break down and tune in the
VOR when we spotted the airport and managed to save the shutout.