Having been flying around Western Europe recently, I’d like to share some observations about different presentations of the ‘standard’ ICAO chart.
Some obvious differences:
- Controlled airspace is depicted in different colours in different countries
- French and German airspace is much simpler than UK airspace – none of those complicated slivers of airspace which we have in the UK, with poor altitude notation which just beg to be infringed.
- German charts fold out east-west in panels about A5 size. So if you are travelling north – south, you need lots of charts
- French charts are bigger and generally on flimsy (but easily folded) paper.
- Our laminated UK charts are huge and require pre-folding before getting in the cockpit!
Personally, I find the French and German charts much easier to read than our UK charts.
Some less obvious differences:
- French charts do not show VRP’s around airfields – you need to look at the airfield plates in the AIP for these – or use SkyDemon
- French and German charts show the frequency to use for a Flight Information Service (our UK charts do not), and the sector boundaries for the frequency. And that frequency is typically also the one to use for a class D clearance, so the RT can be seamless. The font and lines are green in France and blue in Germany, and depicted on the chart itself.
- The Dutch chart shows FIS sector boundaries on a little inset map.
- On the back of the German chart is a handy diagram showing how the air-space structure works .
- French and German charts do not have RPS (Regional Pressure Setting) regions.
- On French charts, magnetic variation is shown on a little schematic map – you won’t find the isogons on the chart itself. In the UK and Germany, the lines are on the main chart.
- In France and Italy, the charts show obligatory VFR routes (some require radio, others not) – in France these are typically out to the islands including the Channel Islands.
As with all things in flying, a little study beforehand is always worthwhile!