Airport/Facility Directory

Meet the pilot's portable library

By Chip Wright

It's the little green book. You'll often see a stack of them in pilot shops, sitting in a display case or on a shelf. It's a treasure trove of information, facts, and figures, yet so often it goes unused. One of the greatest resources that pilots have, and one of the least appreciated, is the FAA's Airport/Facility Directory. Each A/FD—the continental United States is divided into seven regions—lists "all open-to-the-public airports, seaplane bases, and heliports... [and contains] communications data, navigational facilities, and certain special notices and procedures."

Unlike sectional and terminal area charts, which are updated every six months, A/FDs are published every 56 days. Most of the time the changes are minimal, but during certain periods, they can be many and critical. An example might be an airport that is undergoing major reconstruction. For example, if an airport has recently opened or closed a new runway or taxiway, the event may have occurred between the release dates of aeronautical charts, meaning that it isn't on a chart. A new control tower or radio frequency change might show up in the A/FD before being charted.

A/FDs also provide information on navaids and airspace. It isn't unusual for a VOR to have some unusable radials, or radials that are not usable below a certain altitude. Official VOR checkpoints are also published. This isn't the kind of information that you will receive during a standard briefing from Flight Service, so the only source for some of this information may be the A/FD. As GPS becomes more prevalent and nondirectional beacons (NDBs) are decommissioned, the government needs to convey the changes to pilots. It would be a rude surprise to find that the NDB or VOR you wanted to use on a long cross-country was either out of service for an extended period of time or just no longer there.

With regard to airspace, changes in certain published routes, particularly tower en route control routes (TECs). will be listed in the next applicable A/FD, TEC routes are designed to allow pilots flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) to go from one location to another while remaining in contact with an approach control facility. These routing changes may be for major or minor reasons, and if you plan to use one, finding (and filing) the proper routing during your flight planning will save you a lot of time and aggravation. Otherwise you'll find out that it won't work while talking to the FSS briefer, and you'll have to go back two steps in your planning.

Using the A/FD is usually logical and easy. Each one is a great source of information for a specific geographic area, which is depicted on the front cover by a map of the states covered in the book. Each one is labeled with a logical geographic code, such as NE for Northeast, SE for Southeast, etc. On the back cover is a map of the entire United States that shows the areas covered by each volume in the series. As a result, it is easy to buy or borrow (or beg from your instructor) only the editions that you need. Fortunately, because of the way most of them are constructed, you'll often find that one A/FD will contain corresponding information for several sectional charts. Of course, it's also possible that the opposite will happen.

The FAA has packed into the A/FD more information than most people will ever need, and just like the sectional charts, the books are put together in a standard format. As a flight instructor, I have seen that an amazing number of pilots are unaware of just what information can be found in the A/FD. Students especially should sit down and study a copy—for their region, of course—from cover to cover.

Most pilots are aware of the general information about airports—elevation, frequencies, runways, etc. But also included are phone numbers for the FAA, local Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs), and air traffic control facilities. If you are planning to fly a long trip that will take you near or into a large Class B airspace, you might want to call ahead to find out if there are any preferred methods of transiting in such a way that will save you some time and reduce controller workload.

You can expect the A/FD to expand on the information depicted on your sectional. Each sectional has an index on the front flap with the symbols and a brief description of what they mean. One symbol is a parachute which indicates skydiving at an airport. What doesn't appear on the sectional are the hours of operation. The A/FD often will print such hours and the days of the week on which jumping takes place—don't overlook "Parachute Jumping Areas" near the back of this book. That information is subject to some pretty wild fluctuations, especially in the summer, but it's a place to start. The A/FD may also tell you where on the field the jump school is located, allowing you to plan to see the parachutes in a cluster somewhere in a given area. It's better to know before your flight instead of getting surprised; you can use the listed phone number to call the skydiving facility and ask any questions that you may have.

The Airport/Facility Directory is in many ways the FAA's effort to provide easy access information to help you, the pilot. The book is designed to contain information that simply cannot be put on the charts. For example, your sectional will tell you the longest runway at an airport. What the sectional does not show is the grass runway that may also be available. Sectionals only show a grass runway when that is the only runway available. An example of this is the Middletown (Summit) Airport in Delaware (see below). Summit, shown in the Northeast U.S. volume, has a paved runway, 17/35, which is depicted on the Washington sectional. But it also has a grass runway, 11/29. There are no indications on a sectional to show the grass runway, but all the data you need is in the A/FD.

When I was a student pilot, my instructor had to make a change in one of our night lessons. We were out practicing night landings, headed for Cambridge, Maryland. When we got there, the unicom frequency (122.7 MHz) would not operate the pilot-controlled lighting. It was only later I found out that at Cambridge the pilot-controlled lighting is controlled by a separate frequency (121.9 MHz)—a situation that still exists today.

That was a lesson I never forgot, and to prove the value of the little green book, I try to entrap my students with the same kind of scenarios. Those who have done their homework aren't fooled; those who haven't learn a valuable lesson in the safe environment of a training flight.

The A/FD also has a host of codes and symbols to tell you which services are available on a given field. It covers, to name a few, the fuel grades available (100LL, Jet A, etc.), type of maintenance available, navaids on or near the field, and phone numbers. In the winter, some FBOs keep shorter hours, which may or may not be listed. If not, you can call and ask. You can also ask if that grass runway is wet or dry—or even open. Traffic pattern altitudes, right-hand versus left-hand patterns—it's all in the A/FD. It's also a place to find information on airports that are not shown on a sectional (South River Seaplane Base in Edgewater, Maryland, is one). However, in such cases, a phone call before the flight would be wise.

Recently the FAA has been emphasizing the prevention of runway incursions. To avoid leaving pilots in the lurch, the FAA started to include in the back of new A/FD volumes diagrams of the busier and potentially more confusing tower-controlled airports. Even veteran airline pilots can attest to the fact that no matter how many such airports you visit, you can still get confused, and it is easy to unintentionally cause an incursion. These charts are a big help, and they should be heeded. In the past, the only way to get them was to borrow or buy the appropriate IFR charts, or download the airport diagrams.

For all of its benefits, the A/FD does have a few flaws. It isn't always in the easiest format to read, and like weather reports, takes some getting used to. Not all of the airport listings include diagrams, and some of the smaller diagrams can be difficult to use. The business and commercial information is not always accurate, and phone numbers change, but the meat-and-potato information is usually pretty reliable.

In times of rapid change, like the now-you-see-them-now-you-don't temporary flight restrictions of the post-September 11, 2001, environment, updates and changes may not come as quickly as you want or need them. The information in the A/FD must be supplemented with a good briefing from a flight service specialist. If you find something that is amiss, take the time to call the appropriate flight service station or flight standards district office and pass it on.

Speaking of changes, in the back of each A/FD is a list of sectional and terminal chart amendments. They are listed as lat/ long coordinates, and technically, you are supposed to plot them. This is almost never done because it is such tedious work, but the information is there for you. Sometimes, the information in the amendments is good to have. For instance, in the April 18, 2002, publication of the Northeast edition, users of the Washington sectional were told to eliminate the Melfa NDB, add in its place the Accomack NDB, and make note of a frequency change. The chart updates will cover all manner of airports, navaids, and airspace, and the A/FD itself will see three updates during the six-month life of a single sectional; there is a note to that effect on the front of each sectional.

The A/FD is designed for both the VFR and the IFR pilot. It is expected that you'll be able to use it proficiently on a checkrides. You should take the time to study the format and layout, and become familiar with the index and as many of the abbreviations as you can. Each sectional has a note at the top of the legend that reminds you to "[c]onsult [the] A/FD for details involving airport lighting, navigation aids, and services." You need to be able to do so quickly and accurately. While the A/FD is not always the easiest tool to use, it is one of the most useful.

More information pilots need

AOPA's Airport Directory data goes beyond A/FD

Like the A/FD, AOPA's Airport Directory contains operationally critical information for most airports in the United States. But there are some significant differences.

Much of the airport and navaid data in AOPA's Airport Directory and AOPA's Airport Directory Online comes directly from the FAA, some of it from the A/FD itself. This includes most operational information: airport identifiers; runway length, width, surface, and magnetic heading; elevation; traffic pattern; magnetic variation; common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF) and unicom frequency; nearby navaids; and similar data. It's updated in the online directory every 56 days, just like the A/FDs.

AOPA's Airport Directory includes information on FBOs and other airport businesses that is much more comprehensive—and updated much more frequently—than similar information in the A/FD. The AOPA directory also includes information not listed at all in the A/FD, such as restaurants, hotels, rental-car agencies, and attractions located on or near the airport.

Can you use AOPA's Airport Directory on your checkride? You should stick with the A/FD, since it's the official government source. Like your aeronautical charts, make sure your A/FD is current—it's published every 56 days, and AOPA's Airport Directory is printed every other year.

But once you are a certificated pilot, AOPA's Airport Directory Online can play a significant role in your flight planning. Data online is updated every business day, and the online directory offers links to AOPA's Internet Flight Planner and free downloadable instrument approach charts.

Chip Wright is a 5,500-hour airline transport pilot and a regional jet captain for Comair. He is a flight instructor with instrument and multiengine ratings. In his spare time, he is building a Vans RV-8 kit airplane.