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Deciphering the FAA’s wildly complex aviation maps

Fast Company: “Among all of the visual information published by the U.S. government, there may be no product with a higher information density than the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) aviation maps. Intended for pilots, the FAA publishes free detailed maps of the entire U.S. airspace, and detailed maps of airports and their surroundings and updates them frequently. The density of the critical information layered on these maps is staggering, and it is a miracle that pilots can easily decipher these maps’ at a glance. But they can. My father was a private pilot, and I first saw these maps folded up with my Dad’s training materials when he was studying for his pilot’s license when I was a kid. I was overwhelmed with the ordered chaos of these maps, and they made an impression on me. There are several categories of aviation charts that the FAA makes available for download on their website. Let’s walk through some of the most used maps…”

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