"I am drawn to the new chart with all of its colorful intricacies as a gourmet must anticipate the details of a feast . . . I shall keep them forever. As stunning exciting proof that a proper mixture of science and art is not only possible but a blessed union."

-- Ernest K. Gann, Fate is the Hunter (1961)

A blessed union indeed. 'Human Factors Engineering' just doesn't sound poetic enough! I received instruction in technical drawing and graphical communication while in high school, and when I started flying I was fascinated by all the various charts. I've since studied aeronautical charting from an academic viewpoint, and try to keep the pilot's voice heard in charting decisions by working as a member of the Air Line Pilots Association Charting and Instrument Procedures Committee (ALPA CHIPs). This web page is a small collection of 'charting stuff' that I hope will assist people explore issues in aeronautical charting.

If you would like to display something here I'd be happy to help. If you have found aeronautical charting links or papers that are missing please contact me using [email protected].

-- Dave English

First I have listed some internet resources, then there's a list of articles and books that should be sitting somewhere inside most large university libraries.

Wally Roberts, former chairman of ALPA's Charting and Instrument Procedures committee, has a goldmine of information on instrument flying at his web site.

The most amazing collection of links to the world of maps and mapping is Oddens's Bookmarks. Over 1,200 links, do not miss!

For a detailed introduction to cartography, see Cartographic Communication by Kenneth E. Foote and Shannon Crum, the Geographer's Craft Project, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin.

Here is a Glossary of Cartographic Terms (from: Maps for America. third edition, maintained at the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, the University of Texas at Austin).

Making Maps Easy to Read, a detailed report on research undertaken at University College London, the Royal College of Art and at the University of Nottingham.

Try these sites for an amazing overview of map projections or an amazing overview of geodetic datum's or an amazing overview of coordinate systems (all written by Peter H. Dana, Department of Geography, University of Texas at Austin).

The John R. Berchert Map Library maintains a set of internet links regarding the History of Cartography, or you can take a look at The History of Cartography Project.

"I didn't start the business to make a pile of money. I did it to preserve myself for old age"

-- E. B. Jeppesen.

One of the current leading centers of research is the Center for Transportation Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One of their projects is The Development of Human Performance Criteria for the Evaluation of Instrument Approach Charts, which is being lead by Dr John Hansman. The goal is to develop criteria for evaluation of existing 'paper' charts and advanced electronic presentations of navigational and procedural information. The focus is on charts which depict instrument arrival approach and departure procedures. This work is sponsored by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, US Department of Transportation.

The motherlode for information and references on (pre-electronic) Aeronautical Charting is something called AGARDograph No. 235, "Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Aviation Maps," by V. David Hopkin and Robert M. Taylor of the Royal Air Force. It's 245 pages long and includes an amazing eight hundred and fifty five references (YES, that's right, 855 references). It was published in June 1979 by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (NATO AGARD). ISBN 92-835-1318-5. -- Dave.

If you have a question about any of these references, just email me at [email protected] and I'll do my best to help. -- Dave.

Blanchard, J. W. (1991). Instrument Approach Procedures Chart: A Study of the User Population's Preferences Including Terrain Depiction Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Center for Aviation/Aerospace research technical report CAAR-15410-91-2

Butcher, P. (1994). "Instrument Approach Plates." Flight Training Jan 1994: 38-39

Chichester, F. (1948). "What is the ideal air map?" Journal of the Institute of Navigation

Civil Aeronautics Administration (1944). Air Navigation Radio Aids Flight Information Bulletin No.3, Sept. 1, 1944. U.S. Dept. of Commerce

Cox, W. J. and Connor, C. W. (1987). Report of Safety Survey: Human Integration of Approach Charts U.S. Govt. Report No. DOT/FAA/PM-87-15

Drury, R. (1994) "Kai Tak: The Hong Kong Adventure" Airways Vol. 1, No. 3 (Jul/Aug 1994): 27-38

Esler, D. P. (1996) "JeppView" Business & Commercial Aviation International September 1996: 116-117. (Short review of Jepp's new electronic charts)

Federal Aviation Administration (1980). Instrument Flying Handbook AC NO: 61-27C. U.S. Government Printing Office

Federal Aviation Administration (1979). IFR Pilot Exam-o-grams U.S. Government Printing Office

Federal Aviation Administration (1968). Civil Use of U.S. Government Instrument Approach Procedure Charts AC No: 90-1A. U.S. Government Printing Office

Federal Aviation Administration (1991). Flight Procedures and Airspace FAA publication 8260.19B U.S. Government Printing Office

Federal Aviation Administration (1976). United States Standard for Terminal Instrument Procedures (TERPS) FAA Handbook 8260.3B, also AFM 55-9. U.S. Government Printing Office

FlightSafety International (1989). Instrument Approach Procedures FlightSafety Academy training guide

George, F. (1993). "Jeppesen NavData For NMS" Business and Commercial Aviation March 1993, Vol. 72, No. 3

Hansman, R. J., jr. & Mykityshym, M. (1990). Current issues in the design and information content of instrument approach charts Final Report Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA. Aeronautical Systems Lab. Report No.: AD-A294752; DOT/FAA/AAR-95/1

Hansman, R. J., jr. & Mykityshym, M. (1995). An exploratory survey of information requirements for instrument approach charts Final Report Massachusetts Inst. of Tech., Cambridge, MA. Report No.: AD-A293882; DOTVNTSC-FAA-95/2

Hanson, T. (Dec. 1994). "We Fly MADL's Magic Window" Professional Pilot Vol. 28 No. 12: 78-80

Henderson, D. K. (1996). "From Airways to electrons" Air Transport World Vol. 33 No. 8: 95-97 (Jeppesen's expansion into electronic information and document management).

Hopkin, V. D. and Taylor, R. M. (1979). Human Factors in the Design and Evaluation of Aviation Maps RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine NATO AGARDograph No. 225

Huntley, M. S. & Osborne, D. W. (1993). Design and Evaluation of Instrument Approach Procedure Charts In Proceedings of the 7th international symposium on aviation psychology April 26-29 1993, Ohio State University. p 93-97. (Introduced the Volpe/ATA Briefing Strip format, 4 refs)

International Civil Aviation Organization. (1985). Aeronautical Charts: International Standards and Recommended Practices Annex 4 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. ICAO 8th ed. July 85.

Klass, P. J. (1994). "New Approaches" Aviation Week and Space Technology Aug. 15 1994: 57

Mangold, S.J., Eldredge, D., & Lauber, E. (1992). Human Factors Design Principles for Instrument Approach Procedure Charts Volume One: Readability Final Report U.S. Govt. Report No. DOT/FAA/RD-93/16.1

McDonald, Group Capt. J. A. (1980). Aircraft Automatic Landing. Navigation: Journal of The Institute of Navigation. Vol. 27: 1, p 23-29.

Multer, J., Warner, M., et al. (1991). Design Considerations for IAP Charts: Approach Course Track and Communication Frequencies U.S. Govt. Report No. DOT/FAA/RD-91/19

Mykityshyn, M. G. & Hansman, R. J. Jr. Electronic Instrument Approach Plates: The Effect of Selective Decluttering on Flight Crew Performance. In Proceedings of the 7th international symposium on aviation psychology April 26-29 1993, Ohio State University. p 33 37.

Nolan, M. S. (1994). Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control. International Thomson Publishing

Nordwall, B. (1995). "Lasers Improve Night Landings" Aviation Week and Space Technology Jan. 2 1995: 56-57

Ocker, W. C. (1930). "Instrument Flying to Combat Fog" Scientific American Dec. 1930: 430-432

Osborne, D. W., & Huntley, M. S. (1992). "Design of Instrument Approach Procedure Charts: Comprehension Speed of Missed Approach Instructions Coded in Text or Icons Final Report" Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 36th Annual Meeting Oct. 12-16, 1992: Vol. 2: 1455-1459

Rosenkrans, W. A. (1978). "Aeronautical Chart Servicing" Journal of Navigation 31, 1: 39-51

Schmidt, G. (1974). "The Materik Instrument Landing System - For Course and Glidepath Determination" Technischökonomische Informationender Zivilen Luftfahrt Vol. 10, No 2: 70 (4)

Taylor, R. M. (1985). "Colour design in aviation cartography" Displays Technology & Applications 6: 187-201

Thom, T. (1990). The Pilot's Manual/Instrument Flying Center for Aviation Theory

Waters, R.H. & Bishop, E. W. (1952). "The Design of Aeronautical Charts" Navigation 3: 73-78

Warwick, G. (1996) "Lockhead Martin tests pre-production APALS" Flight International Vol. 149, No. 4506, 9

Weems, P. V. H., & Zweng, Charles A. (1940). Instrument Flying Capital-Gazette Press

Welsh, K. W., Vaughan, J. A., & Rasmussen, P. G. (1976). "Readability of Approach Charts as a Function of Visual Acuity, Luminance, and Printing Format" Aviation Space and Environmental Medicine Vol. 47, No. 10: 1027-1031

Williams, J. E. D. (1992). From Sails to Satellites: The Origin and Development of Navigational Science Oxford University Press

| Map Scales & Paper Chart Equivalents | Pitfalls of paper |

"I didn't start out to chart the skies; it's just no one had done it before."
-- Captain Elrey B. Jeppesen. Read about Jepp receiving civil aviation's highest award.

Exploitation of Intellectual Property by Electronic Chartmakers: Liability, Retrenchment and a Proposal for Change. (1995) by Edward J. Obloy and B. Helen Sharetts-Sullivan of the Defense Mapping Agency. (Captain Jepp has admitted that the main reason he sold the business was the possibility of a liability lawsuit that would cost him and his wife Nadine everything they had worked for. Although Jeppesen was never sued as a result of an accident involving his charts, insurance companies refused to write a liability policy for the company.)

In Operation Desert Storm, B-52s missed targets because they initialized their INS at Diego Garcia on a different datum from the one used to reference the target location. The datum shift exactly equaled the miss direction and distance. To add further confusion, 11 different datum's covered the theater of operations. Years earlier, in Lebanon, naval gunfire from the USS New Jersey used WGS 72 coordinates while Marines ashore used European Datum coordinates. Read about Datums, Grids, And Cockpits.

"[Maps] are simply intellectual patterns for interpreting reality"

-- Robert M. Pirsig, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991)

"To the IFR cognoscente, it's a serious misunderstanding of instrument flying to think of an approach plate as a mere map for dropping out of the clouds in search of a runway, at the very least, a plate is a work of art and for the true zealot, it's a symbol of man's continuing struggle against the forces of nature."

-- Paul Bertorelli, IFR Magazine

Aeronautical Charting Stuff

"I am drawn to the new chart with all of its colorful intricacies as a gourmet must anticipate the details of a feast . . . I shall keep them forever. As stunning exciting proof that a proper mixture of science and art is not only possible but a blessed union."

"I didn't start the business to make a pile of money. I did it to preserve myself for old age"

| Map Scales & Paper Chart Equivalents | Pitfalls of paper |

"[Maps] are simply intellectual patterns for interpreting reality"