In the 1930's the first aeronautical charts were created covering the entire lower 48 states. Today we cover all of the lower 48 as well as Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands with 87 seperate charts. They're all maintained by the National Aeronautical Charting Office or NACO.

If you're flying under Visual Flight Rules, odds are, you'll be using one or more of these sectional charts. Even if you've moved on to GPS systems, you'll want to always make sure you're sectional charts are up-to-date and you know how to navigate with them. An electrical failure could put your GPS out of commission and this is all you'll have to go by.

There are so many different symbols and designators on each sectional. Covering them all in one hub would be next to impossible. So, with this hub, I plan on covering the airport symbols only. Learn these extremely well and know them without having to reference the legend. Of course, if you have to do so, it's always there on your sectional.

Most flight schools and FBO's will have the latest sectionals on hand. Make sure you're are up to date. You may want to look into a sectional subscription service so you know you always have the latest.

A quick reminder, each inch on the sectional chart represents approximately 7 nautical miles. You may want to measure this out on a pen, pencile or even your index finger. It will get you close in an unexpected diversion.

Anything other than a hard surfaced airport is shown with a simple circle on your sectional maps or in the case of a seaplane base, you'll see a small anchor inside of the circle. These are NOT colored in but they do follow the normal blue and magenta color scheme.

The soft fields could be grass fields or even dirt or gravel.  Make sure you're using your soft field landing techniques when using these airports.  Some FBO's frown apon you using their rentals on soft fields, so make sure you clarify before landing.

Of course a seaplane base goes beyond softfield and you'll obviously need to have an airplane equiped to land here.  You also have to be certified for water landings.

Even though I refer to these as "small" airports, they can be up to 8069 feet long. That's a pretty big strip runway. There are some small multiple landing strip airports which don't use this designation and we'll cover those in the next section.

These airports are between 1500 and 8069 feet in length.  Anything less than 1500' isn't really going to be usable for most aircraft, so don't worry about that.  These airports may be in a tiny little town along a country road, or just a few miles away from a major international airport.  They can be very convenient if  you're going somewhere other than a large city.

These are going to be your largest airports on the sectional.  They're larger airports to accomodate larger aircraft with more people.  So it only makes sense these are going to be larger cities with bigger populations.

Keep in mind, if you're flying a small single engine aircraft, you'll be flying in with larger aircraft, so you'll want to make sure you're well aware of issues with wake turbulance.  But, don't let these airports scare you off. They're here to serve you as a pilot and typically welcome general aviation traffic.

These are the same types of airports as we covered in the previous section, but they have different types of navigational aids. VOR, VOR-DME or VORTAC beacons will be located on or very close to these fields. 

You'll find the navigation communications information very near the airport data blocks which I'll be covering in a seperate hub.

These are the other types of airports you're going to see on your section. Private, military, ultralight and even abandoned airports are listed.  Odds are you're never going to use one of these airports, but they're still very helpful when it comes to navigation. 

If you get lost or disoriented, one of the easiest landmarks to spot from a few thousand feet up is an airport.  Even if it's been abandoned for years, you'll be able to find it on a sectional and instantly know where you're located.  That could be a lifesaver for you. 

Also, remember, even though you wouldn't use these in normal situations, you'll always do better landing on some sort of airstrip in the event of an emergency.  Other than an active avialable airport, it's the next best thing.

Those little tickmarks at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock on the airport designator let you know there are airport services available.  In addition to fuel It doesn't tell you exactly what services are there, but at least you know you can fill up your airplane.

Remember, normal business hours are considered to be 10:00am to 4:00pm.  Of course, many airports have services well beyond that, so you'll want to check your A/FD (Airport and Facilities Directory).

The other little item you'll find very helpful is that tiny star you may find just about an airport designator.  This lets you know there's a rotating beacon on the field.  If you're flying at night, these beacons can be found from a pretty good distance and can help immensely with navigation verification.