Page 12 - Volume 11 Number 3

PILOT KA SPEAK
Facelift: Jeppesen
SID/STAR Charts Having
“A Little Work Done”
Instrument procedure charts are not the sole domain of Jeppesen (now a Boeing company). Various governmental agencies and private companies have produced competing charts for decades. Yet, Jeppesen (Jepp) charts have long been the gold standard in Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) procedure publications for turbine aircraft operators the world over. They’ve always presented the detailed textual information and complex graphic depictions inherent to such procedures in well- organized formats that pilots appreciate. While minor tweaks to the basic formats have occurred regularly over the years, major redesigns have been infrequent. However, times are changing and traditional paper charts have now been mostly supplanted by Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs), various tablet apps, and even on-board Multi- Function Displays (MFDs). The full gamut of charting needs can now be neatly stored in such portable and/ or installed computer devices. The advantages of quick electronic revisions and pounds of paper removed from the cockpit cannot be overstated. But, charts designed in the era of paper and ring-binders have sometimes suffered from less than ideal formatting when viewed on modern MFDs, EFBs or tablet devices. This is just one of the major issues that Jepp has addressed in their recent redesign of SID/STAR charts; a project that is now several months into a two-year rollout phase.
Coming to a Device Near You
I first became aware of the newly formatted Jepp SID/ STAR charts on a January flight into New York’s JFK only two days after their introduction. That there had been a formatting change was immediately obvious, but the extent of the changes was less noticeable while completing the chores of a complex STAR into one of the world’s busiest airports. Further investigation was definitely in order.
The new format first appeared in the U.S. within the January 13, 2017 revision cycle, but only at five U.S. airports – Chicago’s O’Hare Int’l (ORD) and Midway Int’l (MDW) and New York City’s “Big Three” of Newark Liberty Int’l (EWR), La Guardia Airport (LGA), and Kennedy Int’l (JFK). Throughout the remainder of 2017 and 2018, the new format will be introduced incrementally across the
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company’s worldwide database of nearly 20,000 SID/ STAR procedures. Jeppesen has also already applied the new format to several airports outside the U.S., and for familiarization and training purposes. One transition aspect that Jepp is committed to, is ensuring that charts for a given airport will all be upgraded concurrently to avoid having a mix of new and old formats at a single airport. Undoubtedly, with each subsequent revision cycle, your odds of being confronted with a redesigned SID/STAR chart will increase (Figure 1).
by Matthew McDaniel
Figure 1: The FLOSI3 RNAV Arrival into Newark, New Jersey (KEWR) was in the initial batch of SID/STAR charts to be released in the new format.
Own-Ship Display Capabilities
One of the biggest changes Jeppesen has made is the use of a depicted-to-scale format. This change is not simply a matter of making the plan view map more user- friendly. Of course, the distances between fixes, navaids, courses and terrain/obstructions is far more meaningful when drawn to scale. However, scale drawing also allows modern electronic charting to overlay moving aircraft symbology on the chart. Anyone who has used this
MARCH 2017