Annotating IFR Charts

[@Gantiz]

I have been sharing this with fellow pilots. I find it a great tool and helps with focusing on the things I need, especially at unfamiliar airports

[@BruceAirFlying]

I'm glad you find it helpful. I encourage pilots to annotate charts because the process helps them slow down and review important information during preflight planning, and it makes approach briefings more effective and efficient.

[@jhopp64]

Great video. I hadn't thought of the color-coding (green for radio nav, magenta for GPS). I use and teach annotations for - NOTAMs (in the SF Bay area, lots of raised minimums because of all the construction cranes!) - circling restrictions (red hatching on the airport inset) - hold entry on the missed - calculated VDP - yellow highlighting for important notes

[@martinpauly]

Nice video, Bruce. Anotating charts is something I have so far not done while briefing a procedure; you have given me some good ideas on what to use it for. I'll give it a try! - Martin

[@BruceAirFlying]

Thanks, Martin. As I point out in the presentation, annotating charts is most helpful as you prepare for a flight. The process helps ensure that you review charts before you take off and then makes setting up, briefing, and flying procedures easier.

[@JimHausch]

This is great. Thanks for posting. I can see myself using this technique, at minimum, as a process for briefing an approach.

[@lyingcat9022]

I did it for a while when first learning but after many hundreds of briefed procedures I actually find markings on my plates to be annoying and distracting. It seems your brain gets very good at pattern recognition and just glancing at a chart your brain instantly knows exactly what and where all information lives on the plate. It takes very little mental energy to parse the plates now and a bunch of clutter all over it actually slows down my brain’s ability to quickly extract information. At this point I’d only consider marking something very out of the ordinary I wanted to catch my eye. But I really do like your point about marking it up on the ground or in flight as a means of physical forcing yourself to carefully read every relevant section. I would prefer to delete all markings after I briefed it to have a clean reference for inflight. But that’s just me.

[@BruceAirFlying]

Whatever works for you. I find that annotating charts helps new IFR pilots, and noting and marking some details, such as changes caused by NOTAMs (altered minimums, runway/taxiway closures), non-standard PCL frequency, etc. is also helpful even if you have a good method for parsing a chart. Annotating can also declutter a chart--such as an a STAR, ODP, or SID description and help you focus on the route you will fly.