Ingo Noka

Posts Tagged ‘Charts’

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VFR Reporting Points

In Flight Bag, Navigation on February 10, 2013 at 10:33 pm

VFR Reporting Points on the Malaysian Peninsula

28 April 2013: Added waypoints along the east coast and two routes from KL to Kota Bahru.

In Malaysia ATC follows all VFR flights regardless of the classification of the airspace and pilots must submit a flight plan for all VFR cross-country flights.  This practice requires some common understanding of acceptable reporting points between VFR pilots and ATC.  Given the importance of reporting points for VFR flying in Malaysia, there is surprisingly little information and documentation about them.  As I have written in my post about the availability of aviation charts, there is no such thing as up-to-date sectional charts that could be used for flight planning and pilotage navigation.  for small parts of the airspace (Langkawi, Johor, Tioman, KL) I have tried to rectify this by drawing my own maps, but this is a very poor replacement for proper charts.

In addition to drawing my own charts, I have also collected reporting points I have used in my cross-country flying.  And with this post, I am going to share this information (download different versions here V1 V2 V3 V4 V5).  Most pilots own GPS devices and use them for navigational purposes.  Some devices or applications on the iPad or iPhone can import geographical points in certain formats, so I am providing the data in GPX format as well.  I am able to convert this file into other formats, so if you tell me what you need, I may be able to help.  I would certainly be interested in hearing if you have been successful in using the file with your GPS device or application.  I do know for certain that the file can be imported into Google Maps and into the MotionX GPS application on the iPad and iPhone.

Read the rest of this entry »

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KL City Tour

In Flight Bag, Flight Log on February 19, 2012 at 11:10 pm

KL City Tour

On my way back from Langkawi, Captain Aziz (he is based in Subang) was so kind to reveal the secrets of  a proper city tour over Kuala Lumpur.  We flew in loose formation on an anti-clockwise course around the city center with its twin towers, around Batu Caves and back Subang.  The weather was  good and the usual haze  hadn’t descended onto the city yet.  Early morning was “clearly” the right time to marvel at the glory of KL.

From the air, KL doesn’t actually look that big and there are a couple of easy to recognize reporting points. Nevertheless, next time I want to do this on my own and so I created my own  map to remember the reporting points, air spaces and so forth.  As usual the map can be downloaded in the download section of my website. Read the rest of this entry »

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Better Scale

In Flight Bag, Gear on February 12, 2012 at 9:11 pm

Johor Airspace Map

I have updated my “chart” and trimmed it down to A4.  I have also attempted to scale it properly at 1:500,000 (i.e. the Sectional Chart scale).  The actual scale of the printed map depends very much on the printer.  The idea is to print the map on A4 without any resizing.  On my Macbook Pro it works very well with paper size A4 and a scale of 100% (in the printer dialog).

BTW: I have created these maps with Inkscape using an old TPC chart and a couple of other free resources from the Internet.  The maps are available in the source format (SVG), which can be opened with Inkscape and other vector graphic programs.  The other formats are in bitmap formats (JPEG, PNG and PDF) and cannot be edited in the sense that elements of the charts are just bitmaps and cannot be changed in shape etc.

The maps can be downloaded here.

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The one hundred Dollar Fanta

In Flight Bag, Flight Log, Social Life on February 11, 2012 at 10:17 pm

Suyoung, Nigel and Ingo

Is there a good reason to fly to Malacca, have a coffee and a Nasi Lemak and fly back straight away? No! When you find the only coffee shop closed and left with the option to buy a Fanta, there is even less reason to do so.

Is that going to stop us pilots to do exactly that anyway? Of course not.  We do it for the flying and for the surprised looks on our friend’s faces when we tell them that we will fly for a coffee to Malacca on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »

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All Well with Port Weld

In Flight Bag on January 29, 2012 at 10:58 pm

Frederic Weld (1823-1891)

Finally the mystery of reporting point Port Well has been resolved.  We know where Port Well is, in fact we know Port Well does not exist.  If it ever existed it would have been Port Weld, which is a name that is not used anymore.  The actual name is Kuala Sepetang, and it must have been that way for quite some time, considering that our 40 years old maps already use it.  ATC in Malaysia is certainly not changing things around in a rush.

For over a year the fearless aviators of the FRAS flying club had to rely on wild guesses to determine where this reporting point “Port Well” might be.  ATC surely never explained it and no map or AIP document mentions the place.  Nevertheless, without fail, Lumpur Info or Ipoh tower would ask for a report at Port Well.  Until now, our chief flight instructor Captain Singh (Kevin Muk got a job that does not allow him to fly anymore) determined that Port Well must be somewhere between Pantai Remis and Bagan Serai, probably at the border of the Ipoh TMA. Read the rest of this entry »

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Aeronautical Charts of Malaysian Airspace

In Airmanship, Gear on November 13, 2011 at 6:29 pm

Soviet Military Topographic Map

In South East Asia, Aeronautical VFR charts tend to be out of date or non-existent.   As with most General Aviation related services in this part of the world, this sorry state of affairs has to do with the very low demand.  There are simply not enough GA aircraft and pilots in Asia to make it worthwhile for anybody to spend money on many things that are taken for granted by pilots in the US or Europe.

Nevertheless, we make do with what we have and I have not heard of anybody getting lost in Malaysia because of a missing or inaccurate map.  Of course, the airspace is not as crowded as (I imagine) in most parts of the UK or Germany.

To alleviate the situation a bit, I have collected a couple of resources that can help fellow aviators in Malaysia to find their way around.  I would be very grateful if you could send me additional information or help me correct mistakes I may have made.  This blog entry is just an announcement of this new content on my website and any further changes will be made on this page. Read the rest of this entry »