| Stay on Top of the Charts / Rose Marie Kern |
A series of incidents over the past couple years has illuminated a potentially dangerous trend. An accident in Los Alamos, an incident in Belen, and a potential for disaster at Albuquerque exists because the pilots involved used old aviation charts and AFDs.
Let’s face it, buying a whole new set of charts and AFDs every few months is downright expensive and for the most part 99% of the information remains the same. It’s the changes that can kill you. Nonetheless, I have heard of pilots who are using charts that are a decade or more old.
A few of years ago two Bonanza V-tails were landing at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Both of them broadcast their intentions on CTAF. One of them was using non-current charts containing old frequency information. They lined up to land on the same runway. In a maneuver so perfect it could never be repeated, one landed right on top of the other.
Fortunately the story ends well. The pilot on the bottom did not realize anything was amiss until he looked to his left and saw a wheel. The pilot on the top thought he was awfully high up to have landed and come to a stop. Neither was injured, though it took a crane to lift the one on top from the cradle of the V-tail on the bottom.
An FAA Airways Facilities Technician based in ABQ was flying his friend’s Citabria. He had all the latest charts and was landing at his home base, Belen, New Mexico. As it was getting dark, he turned on his landing lights and broadcast on CTAF and was lined up on final. Just after touchdown he looked ahead and saw a Twin Aerostar (no landing lights on) touching down at the other end of the runway headed right for him.
Quickly, he slowed and pulled off the runway into the dirt as the Twin blew past him. He saw the other pilot in the FBO. The other pilot had called on an old UNICOM frequency listed on his out of date charts and was rude enough to not even apologize for his nearly disastrous incompetence.
In December of 2008, a new ATC tower opened at Double Eagle Airport (AEG) on the west side of Albuquerque. The new tower’s frequency was 118.3. Almost immediately, problems began to occur because up until nearly four years ago the frequency for the tower at Albuquerque International (ABQ) was 118.3.
Pilots with old charts were calling Albuquerque Tower on 118.3 and getting the new tower and since both airports are in Albuquerque, the new tower controllers have to determine where the pilots really want to land before issuing a clearance. The FAA realized the potential for disaster and changed the frequency for Double Eagle Tower.
The FAA charts are your best bet for the most current information. If your charts are not current and you want to check on the frequencies, ask your pilot weather briefer. Flight service specialists have current information at their fingertips that takes just a few minutes to pull up.
Some of the aviation websites contain good information but they are not always current. A month after the ATC tower at AEG was opened, I visited two of my favorite websites: www.airnav.com and www.flightcentral.net. At that time neither of them had updated the websites to include the new data. I did email the information to both of them.
Although current issues of the FAA Airport Facility Directories are available online from the FAA (Google AFD), the site pulls up whatever information was printed at last issuance and any changes will not appear until the next printing. The AFD information on the tower at AEG is only available in the national NOTAM database until that time.
So use your old charts for something useful – like gift wrapping paper. Incidents like the ones listed above are avoidable. If you can afford to fly, you can afford to fly responsibly. Stay current and stay alive.
Rose Marie Kern has worked in ATC for over 25 years. If you have questions you can contact her at author@rosemariekern.com.
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