Hands-on: Making Charts Smart

Wading through a pile of discarded charts between the bookcase-like stacks of them marked my first day at Jeppesen, back in August 1997. I was on the official tour with another new colleague who would remain a friend—Mike Pound. He went into the communications division, while I joined the Guided Flight Discovery (GFD) editorial team in Aviation Courseware Development (ACD).

ACD was the offspring of Sanderson Films, the aviation training materials provider that became the latter half of Jeppesen-Sanderson, for those who recall the marriage and its hyphenated liaison. My first remit was to write chapters for the GFD Instrument-Commercial Manual, incorporating all of the then-new technology, such as in-panel TSO’d GPS units, such as the BendixKing KLN 94, and the first digital charts, which Jeppesen’s Nav team was busy bringing to life and delivering to electronic flight bags (EFBs).

Now, I know this all makes me a relic to many readers. But it was an exciting time, because the visualization of the aircraft’s position in space was on the cusp of leaving the abstract and becoming a picture displayed for the pilot on a screen in the cockpit. Where we once took info from a scan of analog “round dials,” engine instruments, and VOR, ILS, and ADF needles, we suddenly had a GPS-generated fix and the sighting of our position, the first “ownship”—at that time, just a moving dot on the tiny display.

For the GFD ICM chapter on aeronautical decision-making that I was tasked with writing, I recall vividly sketching out three layers of information for an illustration of the components to that visualization process: the underlying terrain, the aircraft in space along an airway between fixes and/or VORs, and the heading, altitude, airspeed, and attitude data. What I was trying to get the pilot to do was to think of themselves in three dimensions and picture it in their mind.

Flash forward 28 years, and we have multiple ways of obtaining that visualization for us on either flight deck multifunction displays, or in the palm of our hand on an iPhone or iPad running one of two popular apps: Garmin Pilot and ForeFlight.

Both have launched significant situational awareness tools over the past few years, but the biggest recent leap has come this summer with the latest version of Garmin Pilot. It has truly taken intelligent digital charting to the next level.

Garmin SmartCharts

With SmartCharts, Garmin builds on a strong portfolio of ever-improving tools on the ground and in the air—such as SafeTaxi, which has been reminding me of runway crossings for several years now.

The pilot taps into SmartCharts starting in one of two places on the Garmin Pilot app. The first path is via the Airports tab under charts at the top, where you need to ensure you have the SmartCharts option selected.

Or you can begin within the chart section, where charts can be stored along with other flight planning elements in a Smart Binder for that flight. Charts are grouped according to type (approach, arrival, departure, or airport info) for another way to streamline the selection process and go right to the phase of flight you’re searching for.

For demonstration purposes, the easiest way in is the Airport tab, where you can start by reviewing the airport diagram. This is where the expansion to SafeTaxi ground operations functionality—as you’d see in the GTN 750 or integrated flight decks—becomes apparent, with added features including airport lighting systems, hold short lines (and other aircraft markings), windsock locations, and hot spots highlighted for that airport.

The goal was to pack all of the relevant information onto one page to reduce the amount of flipping back and forth to glean the critical information—such as noise abatement procedures—that might otherwise be missed. Other information under the “Operational” header pulls details from the airport/facility directory. Notams are found elsewhere along the top of the airport page, or on the map page in the lower right corner of the plan view.

From the airport page’s Runways tab, you can select the runway you plan to use from a list for its specifications and any notes, and on the Charts tab, you can preview any of the instrument approach procedures. The “Show with Minima” procedure sorting feature allows pilots to identify approaches by the lowest minimums available, for example, and approach lighting. Rather than having to guess at which approach would deliver the lowest legal minima, pilots can have the app deliver procedures sorted in that order, saving time.

You’ll first sort these by aircraft category (A through E or Heli A) and, at a glance, see the decision height or MDA, visibility minimums, and what lighting system to watch for out the front window (with any luck). There’s even one more “smart” detail built in: since most general aviation pilots flying with Garmin Pilot use aircraft in Category B (90 to 120 knots), that’s the default as opposed to Category A (less than 90 knots).

You can also sort by the need for altimeter setting, inoperative lighting, or flight director or HUD considerations.

Briefing and Flying the Approach

The part I think most pilots will find beneficial starts when you select an approach to brief from the list. Garmin has been able to take a lot of data—its proprietary database, by the way—and declutter it so that we see only what we need for a specific trip and instance.

The app displays only the waypoints, crossing restrictions, and segments relevant to the procedure and entry point and method, clearing up the display and highlighting important notes that might otherwise get lost in the crowded chartspace. You obtain this by selecting the transition fix in the drop-down, with initial approach fixes denoted with an “i” ballflag.

COMs, Brief, and Missed (approach) buttons take you right to that information so you can set up and brief the approach quickly and accurately. The Brief button brings up a dedicated box, so instead of making your approach briefing feel like an IFR knowledge test, you get just the info you need, and you don’t have to go hunting for arcane details—and that could cost lives if ignored or missed.

This is especially true when things change during the last segment of a flight, and you can drill quickly to the fixes you need to cross, and the altitudes and speed(s). Critical details such as decision altitude/height and required visibility stay at the top of the chart for quick reference based on the category, again, and whether it’s a circling approach.

Further refinements are found under the Minimums tab on the top left, and the Adjustments field at the bottom of the pop-out box. This is for the stuff you’d normally find in the Notes section on the chart. It shows you if you can’t do the procedure at night, or if you don’t have current ATIS information, you’ll need to increase your minimums by 50 feet. So now, instead of having to sit there with a piece of scratch paper while flying in the clouds, you can click on one button and it automatically updates those details.

At any time, if you want to refer to the chart itself, the digital AeroNav (FAA) chart pops up for review. This keeps the base map free from the chart itself, which, depending on your preference, you may find useful or distracting once you’re comfortable finding all of the info on the SmartCharts layout and menu system.

As you’re utilizing the SmartCharts function in flight, you will see several cool features, including the superimposing of the minimum safe altitude range ring on the map, centered on the airport for reference.

If you’re flying a circling approach, you can view the circling range arcs based on your aircraft category—and instantly see which obstructions or terrain sit near those arcs, for an additional level of situational awareness. You’ll also see, when zoomed out, both magenta and cyan highlighting on points where there is more detail available when you zoom in. This helps keep you from missing key bits of info.

Another real wow feature? For me, it has to be the first-in-the-industry geo-referenced profile view with an active ownship. Your approach path pops onto the profile view once you load the approach with the selected IAF or transition.

In practice, the actual blue aircraft icon may show as below the glide path when you’re on target because Garmin’s engineers coded the position using GPS data from the tip of the aircraft’s nose as opposed to a central point. The reasoning was to place the POV from the flight deck—and it shows off the incredible accuracy of today’s GPS. One note: if you use baro-nav in your airplane, it may register differently from our discussion here.

Where Can You Get Smart?

SmartCharts are available now through a Premium Garmin Pilot subscription, for the U.S. and Bahamas, on iOS devices, currently $209.98 per year. One license allows an individual to use the Garmin Pilot mobile app on up to three compatible devices. Each licensee can choose their device platforms and types. Unfortunately for Android users, that device’s app version does not yet support SmartCharts. If you want to try it on for yourself, Garmin has made a free trial available to all pilots at garmin.com/aviation/garminpilot/downloads.