European pilots wending their way down the Rhine have an easier way to keep track of their location with Jeppesen’s announcement that its VFR charts are now available on the Garmin GTN 750 GPS navigator. The introduction makes the famed Bottlang charts available across all Garmin systems that support digital charts in Chartview, including the G1000, G2000, G3000, and certain handhelds.
The original Bottlang paper VFR charts date back decades. Jeppesen bought the product line many years ago and now calls it VFR Manual charts and has been updating and expanding it ever since, including converting it to digital for use on electronic devices such as the GTN 750. The system covers 2,200 airports in 29 countries and includes visual approach, landing, and area charts.
On the GTN 750, the VFR Manual charts are laid overtop the moving map, improving situational awareness for flights throughout Europe.
Jeppesen made the announcement at AERO Friedrichshafen in Germany on April 20, also announcing that European pilots can now choose a single installation of the iPad-based Mobile FliteDeck electronic flight bag. Previously pilots were required to purchase a more expensive option that allowed for installation on multiple devices. The new option includes the ability to switch between VFR and IFR data on a real-time, data-driven en route map. In addition, European routes can be imported from multiple third parties, including RocketRoute, AvPlan, and FltPlan.com.
Pilots using Mobile FliteDeck VFR can now receive visual and audio alerts related to critical airspace and waypoint crossings. The audio alerts are transmitted from the iPad to Bluetooth-compatible headsets.
