Old School Plot Twist: Charts?
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In an interesting plot twist, here’s a worrying aspect to the prospect of flying virtually recreated relics such as the F28 & BAe146 in the latter day world.
Flight planning beacon hopping routes is still plausible as VOR & NDB beacons are still featured on navigational route planning charts (even though NDBs are being actively phased out).
The rub is that finding old school SID/STARs and APP plates featuring VOR, VOR/DME, and/or NDB navigation is becoming harder each day.
These legacy charts and the ability to properly fly old radio navigation is an art form that is fast disappearing.
Digitally driven GPS/GNSS RNAV/RNP has taken over, so does anyone have any thoughts on where to find repositories of bygone charts?
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@woolies I have a copy of SimPlates X Ultra by Dauntless Software.
I bought the first iteration of this software a very long time ago prior to switching to Navigraph. I paid $10 during a sale, and I ended up with a free upgrade to the current version.
It is and never will be a substitute for Navigraph; whilst it provides a wider variety of airport charts it has none of the associated navdata or mapping features of Navigraph charts.
I mention this only because it holds some charts not present within Navigraph, though I cannot recommend the software because it is over priced (especially their mobile version).
Of course, the web has many old charts dotted around here and there, but again it’s random and a question of often fruitless searching.
Those who need old school charts would ideally need Navigraph to again make available any old legacy charts, perhaps outside of the general Navigraph suite of applications, perhaps simply as an additional web listed bundle, such that we can sift through and access what is needed. -
The best way to go about this is to search for old airway manuals on eBay. They can be pricey, but it would not take much collective effort if a few people bought some and scanned them.
Some examples of what you can find:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/354844447343
https://www.ebay.com/itm/234642772494
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325707381489
https://www.ebay.com/itm/374813101018This is realistically the only way this information can be found, gathered, and preserved. The only online resources you will find with this stuff is places where people have already done this.
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Ha, nice, didn't think of looking on good old eBay for that sort of item. Just browsing found this also lol
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@woolies Interestingly, I believe this is just someone who got this from an estate sale and doesn't know it's a reproduction:
You can order this from Essco, printed, for $60
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We've been investigating this for a while as it does pose an issue for our classic airliners and so many other aircraft in MSFS, from GA to military and commercial. We are looking at various options and have been speaking to Navigraph too. We can't promise anything but will try to come up with some options for the future.
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@martyn Thank you Martyn.
I posted a similar topic under Navigraph Charts forum, but they replied saying that their EULA with their chart SP absolutely did not cover bygone charts.
Sadly, Navigraph cannot help in this regard.
This is not a problem for users of GPS, RNAV, GTN, FMC, etc, more so for those who wish, occasionally, to to fly terminal procedures by the book using VOR, DME, and NDB.
