Printing off approach plates on demand?

Hello,

I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can subscribe to Jepp
or some other service and print off approach plates and airport
diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every month, see
if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems easy, so I
imagine its available... any links and costs would be a great help.

Thanks,

-dr

Jep offers subscriptions, you can get government charts for
free from the AOPA or directly from the government also for
just your tax money.

http://www.jeppesen.com/wlcs/index.jsp
www.aopa.org
http://www.naco.faa.gov/index.asp?xm...s/ifr/ifrchart



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


wrote in message
oups.com...
| Hello,
|
| I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can
subscribe to Jepp
| or some other service and print off approach plates and
airport
| diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every
month, see
| if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems
easy, so I
| imagine its available... any links and costs would be a
great help.
|
| Thanks,
|
| -dr
|

wrote in message oups.com...
Hello,

I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can subscribe to Jepp
or some other service and print off approach plates and airport
diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every month, see
if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems easy, so I
imagine its available... any links and costs would be a great help.

Thanks,

-dr

www.jeppesen.com
I use Jeppview for the Apollo MX20, and I was going to put the link here,
but it is an unreasonably long and unwieldy link.
Better you should search for it, or look under "Products and Services",
and then under "Charting and Navigation Services".

In article .com,
says...


Hello,

I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can subscribe to Jepp
or some other service and print off approach plates and airport
diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every month, see
if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems easy, so I
imagine its available... any links and costs would be a great help.


It's not easy at all - that's the problem. You can get all the charts you
want, current and free online from several sources - but going through
them to "see if something has changed" and printing "all" the charts you
may need for any given trip is very laborious and error prone. Just an
example, if you didn't happen to notice that the tower frequency had
changed at an airport you were not expecting to fly to anyway, when your
plans change because your intended destination is below minimums, you're
in for some embarrassment and confusion (hopefully nothing worse)because
you don't have the current info.

That's why people still pay for subscriptions, when all the
information is available for free, and still lug huge volumes along with
them - you're paying someone else to do the work (an expert no less) and
when you have to pull a plate you didn't expect to need, you are sure you
have it.

GF

On 05/10/06 01:39, Greg Farris wrote:
In article .com,
says...


Hello,

I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can subscribe to Jepp
or some other service and print off approach plates and airport
diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every month, see
if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems easy, so I
imagine its available... any links and costs would be a great help.


It's not easy at all - that's the problem. You can get all the charts you
want, current and free online from several sources - but going through
them to "see if something has changed" and printing "all" the charts you
may need for any given trip is very laborious and error prone. Just an
example, if you didn't happen to notice that the tower frequency had
changed at an airport you were not expecting to fly to anyway, when your
plans change because your intended destination is below minimums, you're
in for some embarrassment and confusion (hopefully nothing worse)because
you don't have the current info.

That's why people still pay for subscriptions, when all the
information is available for free, and still lug huge volumes along with
them - you're paying someone else to do the work (an expert no less) and
when you have to pull a plate you didn't expect to need, you are sure you
have it.

You can be (reasonably) sure you have the latest published chart, but not
necessarily the latest info. Checking the NOTAMs for airports you have
no idea you'll be going to is difficult.

With the subscription you can reduce the window for potential errors, but
not remove it. After all, there can be a tower frequency change which didn't
make it into the current published charts, so even the subscription may be
out of date.


--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA

Mark Hansen wrote:

On 05/10/06 01:39, Greg Farris wrote:


With the subscription you can reduce the window for potential errors, but
not remove it. After all, there can be a tower frequency change which didn't
make it into the current published charts, so even the subscription may be
out of date.


NACO will continue to print an incorrect chart again and again when a
temporary FDC NOTAM is in effect for the chart.

Jepp may or may not, depending on a judgment call at Jeppesen about the
probable duration of the FDC NOTAM.

Jeppesen got burned bad a few years ago so they will never print a
change in a missed approach procedure that is issued by a temporary FDC
NOTAM.

Permanent FDC NOTAMs are a different matter. Both NACO and Jeppesen
will always chart those, i.e. "amendment 2 changed to 2A."

On 5/9/2006 9:21 PM, wrote the following:
Hello,

I'm new to this IFR stuff and I'm wondering if I can subscribe to Jepp
or some other service and print off approach plates and airport
diagrams at my liesure? Ideally log into a web site every month, see
if the plate changed, and if so, re-print it. Seems easy, so I
imagine its available... any links and costs would be a great help.


I have used a couple of software packages that help you organize and
print the plates you need:

Seattle Avionics (seattleavionics.com) had a product called
SmartPlates that was very nice. Now it is incorporated somehow in
their Voyager flight planning package. I am not clear how, as I have
SmartPlates, but not a full Voyager package, grandfathered in. The
product is a monster, based on Microsoft's ugly dot-net package. If
you like buying memory for your computer and watching hourglass
symbols you will love this app. I no longer use it.

A guy named Greg Siemon has written (singlehandedly I think) a nice
package called Aviator Trip Pack. You can look at it he
http://www.cmensys.com The interface is a little quirky but it runs
very fast. Greg has recently added a bunch of DUAT/DUATS stuff and
flight planning features, but I have not used them.

I use Greg's package with a utility called FinePrint
(www.fineprint.com) which allows me to easily print booklets of
plates, nicely sized to half page, page numbered, date stamped for the
printing date, and two sided. This makes life very easy as I just
print a new booklet every time I need one.

For backup, I carry paper plates from Air Chart Systems. Their system
is much cheaper than an NACO subscription and is entirely adequate as
a backup.

Finally, take a look at ChartCase Pro
(http://www.flightprep.com/rootpage.php?page=HomeEFB) if you want to
see the extreme of what can be done with the NACO plates, sectionals,
low and high altitude charts. Those guys have them all georeferenced
and set up for use on tablet computers with GPS receivers. It's
really slick. (Truth in Advertising: I was a beta tester for them.)

HTH

Those Flightprep folks certainly seem to have a good system with the
GPS, WX, and Plates complete with the computer. Just plug it in and
go. HOw was your experience with this system. Does the computer run
windows? Can i use it for something other than avaition stuff (ie:
play a DVD)?

-dr

On 5/10/2006 2:51 PM, wrote the following:
Those Flightprep folks certainly seem to have a good system with the
GPS, WX, and Plates complete with the computer. Just plug it in and
go.

Yes. When start it up it even calls and gets all the METARs (assuming
you have an open internet connection) and displays them as color coded
dots on the map so you can see current conditions on your route of
flight as you plan it. Its birth was as a DUATS interface, so it is
very strong on accessing internet resources as you do your planning.

HOw was your experience with this system.

It is very solid in terms of crashes. IMHO there is still some
interface tuning needed in the in-flight readability area but I think
it's at the head of the class already with big easy-to-hit buttons and
the very slick architecture of their page system. I do not have the
XM weather so can't comment on that specifically.

It is great fun to watch your little airplane on an approach plate or
a runway diagram. It also records the flight by default, so you can
look at practice approaches, holds, etc. after the fact and see how
you did.

Does the computer run
windows? Can i use it for something other than aviation stuff (ie:
play a DVD)?

Yes. Yes. I am using an HP TC1100. The display is marginal in
bright light but that is not the fault of the application. The Motion
Computing boxes with the View Anywhere display are the hot ticket.
FlightPrep sells the LS800, which is a better size too. The TC1100 is
a tad big. I am waiting for the 1024 x 768 version of the LS800 and
then I will snap for it together with two docks. One for home and one
for our lake place, where I have full sized monitors and keyboards
plus other hardware connected. It will then be my only computer, used
for everything, just as the TC1100 is now.

HTH

Go to MyAirplane.com They have all the NACO plates online for free...
in vector PDF format. They also sell DVDs of the charts for a decent
price.