ForeFlight now includes an enhanced track log that any pilot–but especially flight instructors and pilots in training–will find useful when reviewing and debriefing flights.
The new Track Log Review feature is available in ForeFlight release 11.5. Here’s the ForeFlight video that explains the feature. (ForeFlight has published a series of how-to videos on its YouTube channel.)
On June 20, 2019, FAA began publishing telephone numbers that pilots can use to call ATC for IFR clearances and cancelations (see FAA Completes ATC Phone Number Plan). The numbers appear in the airport listings in the Chart Supplement.
Leidos FSS has posted ARTCC clearance/cancelation phone numbers on its website, here.
If you use ForeFlight, you can also find those ATC numbers in the airport listings. As the screen capture below shows, the information is on the Frequencies tab. The number will be either to an approach control facility or an enroute traffic control center, depending on which facility controls the airspace overlying the airport.
The June 20, 2019 update to the Aeronautical Chart User’s Guide explains the new MON designator added to basic airport information displayed on IFR enroute charts
The new label is added to airports that are part of the VOR Minimum Operational Network plan that FAA is implementing as it gradually decommissions about 30 percent of the existing VOR network. (To review the latest update on the MON plan, see Next Round of VOR Shutdowns here at BruceAir.)
Effective June 20, 2019, IFR US Enroute Charts will symbolize VOR Minimum Operational Network (MON) airports with the
designator placed above the airport name in reverse negative text. The intent of the MON designation is to alert pilots, in the event of a GPS outage, of those airports that have retained ILS and VOR instrument approach procedures for safe recovery during such an outage.
More information about the VOR MON program and MON airports is in AIM 1-1-3 (f) VHF Omni-directional Range (VOR):
The VOR MON will retain sufficient VORs and increase VOR service volume to ensure that pilots will have nearly continuous signal reception of a VOR when flying at 5,000 feet AGL. A key concept of the MON is to ensure that an aircraft will always be within 100 NM of an airport with an instrument approach that is not dependent on GPS…If the pilot encounters a GPS outage, the pilot will be able to proceed via VOR-to-VOR navigation at 5,000 feet AGL through the GPS outage area or to a safe landing at a MON airport or another suitable airport, as appropriate.
Garmin has updated the free GTN Trainer app for the iPad. The new version reflects system software 6.62, which includes features added since version 6.5, such as vertical navigation, along track offsets and more.
You can find a detailed discussion of some of these functions at New Garmin GTN 750 Features.
At the April 24-25, 2019 session of the Aeronautical Charting Meeting, FAA noted that the following VORs will be decommissioned in 2019 (to see each VOR on a VFR chart at SkyVector.com, click the links below):
1. [ASP] Au Sable, in Oscoda, MI – June 20, 2019
2. [CSX] Cardinal, in St. Louis, MO – June 20, 2019
3. [LSE] La Crosse, in La Crosse, WI – June 20, 2019
4. [MTO] Mattoon, in Mattoon/Charleston, IL – June 20, 2019
5. [BQM] Bowman, in Louisville, KY – Aug. 15, 2019
6. [CZQ] Clovis, in Fresno, CA – Aug. 15, 2019
7. [FRM] Fairmont, in Fairmont, MN – Aug. 15, 2019
8. [GRV] Grantsville, in Grantsville, MD – Aug. 15, 2019
9. [GTH] Guthrie, in Guthrie, TX – Aug. 15, 2019
10. [HUB] Hobby, in Houston, TX – Aug. 15, 2019
11. [IKK] Kankakee, in Kankakee, IL – Aug. 15, 2019
12. [ISQ] Schoolcraft County, in Manistique, MI – Aug. 15, 2019
13. [TPL] Temple, in Temple, TX – Aug. 15, 2019
These shutdowns are part of FAA’s Minimum Operational Network (MON) plan to decommission 311 (about 35%) of the existing VOR network by 2025, leaving some 585 VORs in operation. As of early June 2019, 42 VORs have been shut down.
You can review the latest update from the MON program office here (PDF) and find general information in AIM 1−1−3. VHF Omni−directional Range (VOR), paragraph f. The VOR Minimum Operational Network (MON).
More details about the FAAs plans are available at BruceAir: VOR Status–Another Update
A key part of the MON program is increasing the service volume of remaining VORs to 70 nm at 5000 AGL, as described in the program update.
Pilot Workshops has published updated versions of its Pilot-Friendly manuals for the Garmin GTN 750 and GTN 650 touch-screen navigators. More details and samples here.
Full disclosure: I was the primary author of the new GTN editions, with a lot of help from the editors and graphics staff at Pilot Workshops. I also contribute to the company’s IFR and VFR training scenarios.
The books are available both in spiral-bound print editions and as PDFs.
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