Print a collection of plates- with less steps/clicks

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Bradley Yates

Filing Flight Plan
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Feb 8, 2022
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So it may be a foreflight feature, but seems not- as I am wanting paper to back up the foreflight pack of plates; and its more of a training centric issue.

When preparing for a IFR lesson, there are maybe 10 airports we hit for approaches. and each of these usually have multiple options (ILS/RNAV/DME (a)/ etc etc.

as it is now, when the last plates go out- i need to print sometimes 25-40 plates. its a bit tedious.

would it not be nice if FF, had an option out of the 'pack' to also print all relevant plates?

and more to the question- is there no way to set a route- and print in one click all the associated plates?
 
I go to Airnav, download what I need, then print all at one time. Even more tedious but it works.
 
Is there a reason you cannot use the digital approach plates saved in your ipad ?
I carry a spare ipad with FF just in case .
 
At "25-40 plates" it might make more sense to just buy the appropriate gov't chart book, especially if the ones you need are all in the same region/booklet...just a suggestion.
 
So good discussion. Yeah i can buy the book- but its not 'ergonomic' i prefer single sheets. and as mentioned in the original post- yes, i do have ipad and carry that too- but CFII noticed that at my progress in the process here- ipad gives me a bit of distraction, and i do better with paper just now- eventually will be ipad.

it was just a question to see if the collective wisdom had a better mousetrap here. thanks.
 
I was the same as you. Paper worked better until I got better. AirNav. Print on half sheet. Turn paper around, print on other half. Then flip over, do the same on other side. Repeat. Should end up with 6-10 pages. Repeat in 28 days, or at least check for updates.
 
Download the one PDF that has the plates in your sector (e.g. SE4) from the FAA website. Scroll to the plate you want and hit "Print". Or "Print." (Whatever the grammer police think). or think.)
 
kgruber said:
Neither can I.
Periods Come Inside

With only one exception, the period always comes inside closing quotation marks. This rule applies even if only one quoted word ends the sentence.
Click to expand...
Not always. It’s definitely a regional thing. For example, Brits put their “full-stops” outside the quotation mark.
 
Bradley Yates said:
So good discussion. Yeah i can buy the book- but its not 'ergonomic' i prefer single sheets. and as mentioned in the original post- yes, i do have ipad and carry that too- but CFII noticed that at my progress in the process here- ipad gives me a bit of distraction, and i do better with paper just now- eventually will be ipad.

it was just a question to see if the collective wisdom had a better mousetrap here. thanks.
Click to expand...
upload_2022-2-9_9-4-6.jpeg
 
Are you printing the same 40 all the time? Or are you doing different airports and approaches?
 
Bradley Yates said:
So it may be a foreflight feature, but seems not- as I am wanting paper to back up the foreflight pack of plates; and its more of a training centric issue.

When preparing for a IFR lesson, there are maybe 10 airports we hit for approaches. and each of these usually have multiple options (ILS/RNAV/DME (a)/ etc etc.

as it is now, when the last plates go out- i need to print sometimes 25-40 plates. its a bit tedious.

would it not be nice if FF, had an option out of the 'pack' to also print all relevant plates?

and more to the question- is there no way to set a route- and print in one click all the associated plates?
Click to expand...

If you go to FF on desktop, I believe the summary includes all airports and unsure if it includes approaches or not but I imagine there should be a feature to do so. If not, email FF support, they respond quickly and are helpful.

Alternatively get the plates online, save as PDF, then you can use any combine PDF free tool online to have one PDF. You can then share to iPhone/iPad “books” app to have it available anytime you need it. Also you can print, whether it’s 1 to a page, 2 or 4, and double sided, up to you. Here’s a good link to combine multiple PDFs into one file quickly and it’s free.
https://smallpdf.com/merge-pdf
 
To print a bunch of plates for an airport with few clicks, try AOPA’s airport directory, on their website. Choose an airport, scroll down to the list of instrument procedures, click the ones you want, then click to download them all in a single pdf, which you can then print

hope that helps.
 
I agree that buying the bound book (and cutting out the pages) will be a far easier method if you're having to print 25-40 approaches for a given training flight.

But really, 25-40 approaches ready-to-go? 10 airports in one IFR training flight? How long are these flights, 5 hours? When I do IFR training, we typically hit about 3 approaches before the student's ready to be done. Generally we know the runways in use, and especially if it's early in training I will tell them the type of approach we'll be doing ("we're working on RNAV procedures today"), or even the exact approaches, so that limits the number. Later on I will usually throw something unexpected at them like a change in airport or runway or procedure type, but that's where having the iPad (or the approach book) is the solution for the unexpected.

Even pre-iPad, I didn't print out separately (or cut out of the book), every possible approach at every possible airport I flew past. That's just too much. I would often have the most likely approaches at the departure and arrival airport ready to go, but if anything else came up I'd just break out the book.

They did used to print the approaches in loose-leaf format, but some quick research showed me that's no longer an option.
 
WDD said:
Download the one PDF that has the plates in your sector (e.g. SE4) from the FAA website. Scroll to the plate you want and hit "Print". Or "Print." (Whatever the grammer police think). or think.)
Click to expand...
Just don’t “hit”. Or “hit.” You can “select”, “click”, or “press”, (or would that be “select,” “click,” or “press,”) depending on the application, but violence isn’t the answer. ;)
 
RussR said:
I agree that buying the bound book (and cutting out the pages) will be a far easier method if you're having to print 25-40 approaches for a given training flight.

But really, 25-40 approaches ready-to-go? 10 airports in one IFR training flight? How long are these flights, 5 hours? When I do IFR training, we typically hit about 3 approaches before the student's ready to be done. Generally we know the runways in use, and especially if it's early in training I will tell them the type of approach we'll be doing ("we're working on RNAV procedures today"), or even the exact approaches, so that limits the number. Later on I will usually throw something unexpected at them like a change in airport or runway or procedure type, but that's where having the iPad (or the approach book) is the solution for the unexpected.

Even pre-iPad, I didn't print out separately (or cut out of the book), every possible approach at every possible airport I flew past. That's just too much. I would often have the most likely approaches at the departure and arrival airport ready to go, but if anything else came up I'd just break out the book.

They did used to print the approaches in loose-leaf format, but some quick research showed me that's no longer an option.
Click to expand...
The CFII for my IR threw a good curve at me once. He decided that a freak marine layer popped up and socked in the entire coast all the way in to the foothills with below mins weather. I got to go a page flippin' and a chart foldin' and planning a divert to an airport I had never even considered before. Up to that time I had never had to brief an Approach from scratch while in the air and under the hood.. I had already had everything within our normal area pretty much memorized and was just going through the motions when briefing Approaches.
 
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