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The relevance of VACs - Visual Approach Charts - for VFR?

Not all countries publish these. Some publish the data but not as charts e.g. the UK here. Germany charges for its VFR AIP.

Jeppesen then take the AIP data and draw up their own VACs. In years past this was sold as the Bottlang Touring Guide. Today it is sold electronically-only as VFR-Europe.

What I wonder about is why someone might think a VAC chart is really important. I mean, there is a runway, so you fly there, talk on the radio as necessary, and land on it… The circuit details, if any are desired, will be in the AIP or the airport description. And many/most VACs are just empty e.g. LGKC. Even my local EGKA has nothing on it which is not in the AIP or on the VFR enroute chart, and every pilot should have already briefed from these two.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

On many british/german airfield websites, the pattern is displayed on pictures and maps. The VAC is just the same info. In France, you never consult the airport website, nor call for PPR/briefing. Everything is in the VAC and Notams.

LFOU, France

You forget the information on the back plus the advantage of one source, standardized presentation. The Jeppesen VFR manual is still available in printed form

Last Edited by Peter_Mundy at 13 Aug 19:22
EHLE / Lelystad, Netherlands, Netherlands

VACs are not standardised across Europe, and often they don’t exist at all – unless you use the Jeppesen VFR Europe package. Hence I wondered what the value assigned to them is.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Noise sensitive areas, circuit direction, circuit altitude, PPR requirement, glider circuit to avoid, frequency, helicopter procedures, touch n go rules, RC activities, fuel availability, engine run-up area, I can keep going.

It would be really irresponsible to fly without consulting a VAC.

Sample: https://landskronaflygklubb.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Karta2.png local copy

ESME, ESMS

Let me give an example from the UK – Wellesbourne EGBW. It publishes these two PDFs via EAD:

EG_AD_2_EGBW_2_1_en_2019_06_20_pdf
EG_AD_2_EGBW_en_2020_05_21_pdf

so you get the aerodrome chart as a graphic but e.g. noise abatement routes are described textually.

The Jeppesen data for it shows a bit more graphically but still a lot of data is textual:

VFR Approach chart
VFR Aerodrome Chart
VFR General Aerodrome Info

Would e.g. France or Sweden publish all above on a single page? And is that available from EAD?

There is no suggestion of flying without briefing from the available sources.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

Would e.g. France or Sweden publish all above on a single page?

Sweden doesn’t have a VFR AIP. Basic data about VFR airports are published in tabular form in the regular AIP. The remaining information published by Jeppesen is collected directly from the airport operators or possibly from the VFR manual published by the Royal Swedish Aeroclub.

Last Edited by Airborne_Again at 14 Aug 07:14
ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Does EAD not carry the required info?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

As I have said before, in France there is an App for all VACs and eAIP’s. Easy to download from google play and easy to use.Or you can go to the SIA.website, it’s also free. Why make things difficult? It’s all there to help you and you couldn’t get any cheaper.

France

What is EAD? What does it stand for? Is it the British AIS?

To try to answer your question, the French AIP contains only some major airports but no information on smaller airfield. The VAC is the only place where you can find information On these airfields. For info there are also the ICarus charts that are made by the FFA which give more details about VFR procedure and noise abatement procedures.

For the German AIP, I don’t know exactly If there are several source of information as everything is to be payed for. I only have seen the VFR VAC atlas with AIP. I found the VAC charts to be not always up to date regarding procedures and also not as clear as the Jeppesen ones..

EDMG, Germany
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