South America VFR Charts for iPad

TwoTwoLeft

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Does anyone know of a good iPad app where I could download the Operational Navigational Charts for most of South America to use off line? Something like the Word Charts that are available on Skyvector would work too.

We'll be taking the Hawker down there for a month or so on a tour starting in early next year. We currently use JeppFD, but it would be nice to have some charts with more topographical shading and local detailed info. From what I can tell, Jeppesen doesn't have VFR charts available for that region. We'll start off bouncing around Mexico and eventually make it as far South as Punta Arenas, Argentina and just about everywhere in between.

Also, if anyone has any handy aviation weather apps that will show SIGMETS and AIRMETS as well as any good radar sites I'd appreciate it.
 
Does anyone know of a good iPad app where I could download the Operational Navigational Charts for most of South America to use off line? Something like the Word Charts that are available on Skyvector would work too.

We'll be taking the Hawker down there for a month or so on a tour starting in early next year. We currently use JeppFD, but it would be nice to have some charts with more topographical shading and local detailed info. From what I can tell, Jeppesen doesn't have VFR charts available for that region. We'll start off bouncing around Mexico and eventually make it as far South as Punta Arenas, Argentina and just about everywhere in between.

Also, if anyone has any handy aviation weather apps that will show SIGMETS and AIRMETS as well as any good radar sites I'd appreciate it.

You can have all of them in Digital online for free, I have all of them somewhere, then just save them in the ipad, that's what my former company did. They are kind of useless as they are so outdated (most date back to the 70s), there are no airspace or navaids info. I have a paper copy of the area I fly in, an area about half the size of Florida, it took me a week to get all the info out of the AIP and add them manually to the chart. Nobody flying IFR uses those charts, they don't really show any more info then an IFR chart, the TPCs are a bit better if you want accurate terrain info, but again this charts were mostly made before cellphones showed up, this days they have antennas all over the place, even in the jungle.

I can't find the webiste I got mine from, but found this one http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/onc/latin_america.html it was a Brazilian website and they were digitalized very well.

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Just to give you an idea how bad this charts are, those two big lakes connected together on the west side of the country don't exist and never did. There was a plan to make a dam there right at the same time the surveyed the area so they decided to simulate the lake on the map, well the dam was never built...there is an airport right in the middle of the blue there...ahah
 
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I just use intellicast.com everyday when I go South. The satellite and infared are pretty good at getting an idea of storms over the Amazon and the Northern part of South America. There is rarely anything on the west coast going to Chile or Argentina in terms of weather.

When I first got here, I just studied some topographical maps and used google earth to see my route. I've never seen a VFR chart since I've been here...
 
Awesome Thanks!

It's mainly detailed terrain and obstruction info around the airports is what we're looking for. We'll be going into places like Cali, Columbia, Quito, Ecuador and some other places more off the beaten path. It would just be nice to get a mental picture of the what we're in for when we have to arrive and/or depart at night. We subscribe to APG, so we have that data available for most of our departures.

The word charts on Skyvector are pretty nice. I was wondering if those were available for download anywhere else?

I guess I could just load it on the iPad, zoom where I want and take a screen shot?
 
I just use intellicast.com everyday when I go South. The satellite and infared are pretty good at getting an idea of storms over the Amazon and the Northern part of South America. There is rarely anything on the west coast going to Chile or Argentina in terms of weather.

When I first got here, I just studied some topographical maps and used google earth to see my route. I've never seen a VFR chart since I've been here...

I use wundermap and just look up METARs and TAFs on AWC

I actually never saw an AIRMETs or SIMGMETs for Brazil or the Guyanas, I don;t think they use them, all I have ever seen is Area Forecast TAFs and METARs.
 
Awesome Thanks!

It's mainly detailed terrain and obstruction info around the airports is what we're looking for. We'll be going into places like Cali, Columbia, Quito, Ecuador and some other places more off the beaten path. It would just be nice to get a mental picture of the what we're in for when we have to arrive and/or depart at night. We subscribe to APG, so we have that data available for most of our departures.

The word charts on Skyvector are pretty nice. I was wondering if those were available for download anywhere else?

I guess I could just load it on the iPad, zoom where I want and take a screen shot?

In most countries outside the US, VFR arrivals at airports are mostly non-standard, if you look up the AIP of each country online under maps they will have a VFR approach/departure "plate" for each airport, it will display the latests obstacles and terrain.
 
I just use intellicast.com everyday when I go South. The satellite and infared are pretty good at getting an idea of storms over the Amazon and the Northern part of South America. There is rarely anything on the west coast going to Chile or Argentina in terms of weather.

When I first got here, I just studied some topographical maps and used google earth to see my route. I've never seen a VFR chart since I've been here...

While down in Mexico I've been using the Intellicast HD app. It looks like a pretty good source. I've been using it to track hurricane Raymond while we've been down here.

In most countries outside the US, VFR arrivals at airports are mostly non-standard, if you look up the AIP of each country online under maps they will have a VFR approach/departure "plate" for each airport, it will display the latests obstacles and terrain.

Perfect! 90% of the time we'll be IFR and flying the approach anyway in the non radar coverage areas. It would be nice to know what the local/VFR traffic is probably up to. I'd be willing to bet most won't be transmitting in english...
 
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I'd be willing to bet most won't be transmitting in english...

It depends on the airport, if it gets mainly domestic traffic, local companies will speak the local language with ATC, at the bigger intl ones mostly English. If you go into a busy airspace, let's say something like a class C or a busy D there will be pretty much no VFR traffic, however there are still a lot of NDB approaches with Circle to land.
 
A big advice I can give you is that many airports are shared civilian/military, so make sure you taxi into the right ramp, there isn't really many FBOs or actual GA ramps, so it can get tricky understanding where to park, just make sure you don't enter the military area or you will be stuck there for a while.

In Brazil they have FBOs, but then don't have a ramp, usually you park at the cargo ramp or at the local boneyard and a Van picks up everybody. 135s have their own facilities down here.
 
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A big advice I can give you is that many airports are shared civilian/military, so make sure you taxi into the right ramp, there isn't really many FBO or actual GA ramps, so it can get tricky understanding where to park, just make sure you don't enter the military area or you will be stuck there for a while.

In Brazil they have FBOs, but then don't have a ramp, usually you park on the cargo ramp or at the local boneyard and a Van picks up everybody. 135s have their own facilities down here.

HA! Yeah, I heard some good stories like that from the last crew that did this tour. We're trying our best to lean from their mistakes! It looks like we'll be spending the majority of our time in Mexico and Argentina. There are quite a few smaller "day only" airports on the list in Argentina. It's tough even getting accurate runway info on most of these places to see if going there is even possible.
 
HA! Yeah, I heard some good stories like that from the last crew that did this tour. We're trying our best to lean from their mistakes! It looks like we'll be spending the majority of our time in Mexico and Argentina. There are quite a few smaller "day only" airports on the list in Argentina. It's tough even getting accurate runway info on most of these places to see if going there is even possible.

If you want detailed info on Argentina send me a PM I will put you in touch with a good friend of mine that flies MEDIEVAC there in a Lear, he is fluent in English and knows a lot about local GA aviation.
 
Does anyone know of a good iPad app where I could download the Operational Navigational Charts for most of South America to use off line? Something like the Word Charts that are available on Skyvector would work too.

We'll be taking the Hawker down there for a month or so on a tour starting in early next year. We currently use JeppFD, but it would be nice to have some charts with more topographical shading and local detailed info. From what I can tell, Jeppesen doesn't have VFR charts available for that region. We'll start off bouncing around Mexico and eventually make it as far South as Punta Arenas, Argentina and just about everywhere in between.

Also, if anyone has any handy aviation weather apps that will show SIGMETS and AIRMETS as well as any good radar sites I'd appreciate it.

For whatever it's worth, what I do it take scanned ONCs, chop 'em up, and enter them into Foreflight in the order dictated by my planned route. Use caution, as ONCs are no longer published, so any you may have or find will be woefully outdated. Also, they contain suspect areas. But, for the most part, the mountains don't move that much.
Also, before departing, I hand enter into Foreflight my desired enroute waypoints. Then I use the Foreflight World Map or Terrain Map for navigation. On the World or Terrain maps you won't be able to see any airways (expect ones you've chosen) or other aeronautical data, but you'll have a pretty good idea about where the rocks are. You CAN pull up the airports in the World Map.
Wx is very sketchy. The best all around tool I found for Wx is WxUnderground's WunderMap. I'm assuming you have radar in your plane. There is very little Wx radar down South. South of Chile/Argentina can get tricky. If you want a local contact for the South of Chile who is very wired-in down there and knows the territory like his backyard, talk to me on PM.
 
For whatever it's worth, what I do it take scanned ONCs, chop 'em up, and enter them into Foreflight in the order dictated by my planned route. Use caution, as ONCs are no longer published, so any you may have or find will be woefully outdated. Also, they contain suspect areas. But, for the most part, the mountains don't move that much.
Also, before departing, I hand enter into Foreflight my desired enroute waypoints. Then I use the Foreflight World Map or Terrain Map for navigation. On the World or Terrain maps you won't be able to see any airways (expect ones you've chosen) or other aeronautical data, but you'll have a pretty good idea about where the rocks are. You CAN pull up the airports in the World Map.
Wx is very sketchy. The best all around tool I found for Wx is WxUnderground's WunderMap. I'm assuming you have radar in your plane. There is very little Wx radar down South. South of Chile/Argentina can get tricky. If you want a local contact for the South of Chile who is very wired-in down there and knows the territory like his backyard, talk to me on PM.

Do you ever fly down on the east coast? Guyanas?
 
Also, if anyone has any handy aviation weather apps that will show SIGMETS and AIRMETS as well as any good radar sites I'd appreciate it.

These might be helpful for you:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.smn.gov.ar/" target="_blank">Argentina National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.senamhi.gob.bo/index.php" target="_blank">Bolivia National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.inmet.gov.br/" target="_blank">Brazil National Weather Service</a>&nbsp;(R)</li>

<li><a href="http://metaer.meteochile.cl/" target="_blank">Chile National Weather Service</a>&nbsp;(R)</li>

<li><a href="http://www.meteoaeronautica.gov.co/jsp/index.jsf" target="_blank">Colombia Aeronautical Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.inamhi.gov.ec/html/inicio.htm" target="_blank">Ecuador National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.hydromet.gov.gy/" target="_blank">Guyana National Weather Service</a>&nbsp;(R)</li>

<li><a href="http://www.meteorologia.gov.py/db97.html" target="_blank">Paraguay National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.senamhi.gob.pe/" target="_blank">Peru National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.meteorologia.com.uy/" target="_blank">Uruguay National Weather Service</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.meteorologia.mil.ve/siafavm/frontend/" target="_blank">Venezuela National Weather Service</a>&nbsp;(R)</li>
</ul>
 
Do you ever fly down on the east coast? Guyanas?

I have, but given the stuff I'm usually flying in, I tend to be wimpy. Being over 100nm feet wet in singles es demasiado miedo. And calling it "feet dry" when over the Eastern jungles seems a tad euphemistic, if you know what I mean. Remember that Frost poem, "Fire and Ice"? I think there should be a poem called "Ocean and Jungle". Given the unenviable choice of ditching in the ocean or going down in the jungle, I'm likely to take the ocean almost every time. Thar be snakes, and fish with sharp teeth, and gorrilla-bears, and every which sort of cat with a gun down in dem jungles.
 
I have, but given the stuff I'm usually flying in, I tend to be wimpy. Being over 100nm feet wet in singles es demasiado miedo. And calling it "feet dry" when over the Eastern jungles seems a tad euphemistic, if you know what I mean. Remember that Frost poem, "Fire and Ice"? I think there should be a poem called "Ocean and Jungle". Given the unenviable choice of ditching in the ocean or going down in the jungle, I'm likely to take the ocean almost every time. Thar be snakes, and fish with sharp teeth, and gorrilla-bears, and every which sort of cat with a gun down in dem jungles.

Are you trying to say that I'm crazy for flying here? ahaha
 
Not yet, just got back into town. We should be getting the list of wishful thinking (airports) for our trip here pretty soon. The clients really don't know what constitutes as a "good" airport for us. They just know where they need to go and pick the closest one... I'll shoot him an email, say hi, and to warn him that I might have a few questions for him in the near future.
 
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