Printed Airport Directories

[mike.smith]

I spent 15 years using the little brown "Flight Guide" airport directory (by Airguide Publications).
http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Airport-Fr ... 0911721142
It was the PERFECT small size in a 6-ring binder format so that each page could be removed and put on my knee board. I still have one that I use, but it's woefully out of date. Well, they are apparently out of business, so I'm wondering if anyone knows of a suitable replacement?

1. Digital is completely out. I already have digital everything on my panel, and I can't be exiting one app to go to another. I need something on paper that I can put on my knee board, and rotate to orient to the landing runway and taxiways.

2. Small format preferred, though the larger Jeppesen approach plate-size would not be the end of the world.

3. 3, 4, 5 or 6 ring-type binder preferred so pages can be removed and reinserted. No "bound" books like the AFD.

There probably isn't anything out there, but I thought I'd ask.

[vigilant104]

Mike,
It's not an answer to your question but---I hand-draw a little ugly sketch for each place I go. List out the needed freqs, field elevation, TPA, etc. And I always customize it by adding a line perpendicular to the runway(s) and labeling the azimuths (so I can tell, without any math, which runway is favored by the winds just by reference to the perpendicular line). It doesn't take long to make, and I save them.

Yes, it's definitely hillbilly.

Maybe access an electronic version of the directories and print out what you need? They'd be current.

Perhaps someone will have a real answer. . .

Mark

[Gripdana]

I use the AOPA website. here is a link to the "airports" page. You do not have to be a member to access the information. You can find airport diagrams, approach plates and a kneeboard format print out that is loaded with information for the airport selected. http://www.aopa.org/airports/

[Rynoth]

AC-U-Kwik.

https://shop.acukwik.com/2015-north-ame ... -directory

We used this book before switching to digital. Most FBO's carry it. Unfortunately it is bound, though.

[Fastcapy]

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[daleandee]

FWIW ... I use an iFly 720 and it provides all the airport information, will give an extended runway approach, and displays where you are on the airport after you land. If there isn't an airport diagram for a smaller airport it will being up a photo from Google Earth (or whichever service they use) and show you on there where you are. Helps greatly with finding my way around multiple taxiways at larger airports.

But more to your question ... for redundancy I go to Skyvector.com and bring up the airport I want and then highlight the "Airport/Facility Directory" tab. I can then either print the page or screen shot it and then print it. As another poster noted; the ones I use often can then be laminated or punched to fit into a binder. Admittedly I don't do this as much as I should as I, like others I'm sure, get a bit too dependant on the GPS sometimes.

Dale
N319WF
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYHTtb2C_ko

[mike.smith]

Thanks for the input. Nothing floats my boat, so to speak. Sounds like there just isn't anything out there anymore. The small size and utility of the paper directory was, and apparently is, unmatched. I had the entire eastern US in (literally) the palm of my hand. No flipping digital screens, no oversized pages, everything on individual pages, and tons of information at a glance. I don't have a page for posting images, so I put a sample on my Kitlog site:
http://www.mykitlog.com/users/display_l ... 8831&row=1

The page is 5"x4.5", which is literally smaller than my open hand. Call me a curmudgeon (can a 49-year-old be a curmudgeon), but there are some things paper does far better than digital. For me this was one of them. Sigh... :-(

[Bryan Cotton]

Mike,
I'm only 48 so not a curmungeon yet. The iPad mini with foreflight ruined paper for me forever. I use it in place of my kneeboard. I use my old charts to mask for painting.

[MichaelFarley56]

Tough call Mike. As others have said, I would say you do have a few options for printing stuff out (AOPA website, www.airnav.com and others) but if you want a complete, printed paper selection then (to the best of my knowledge) you can try the AC-U-Kwik like Ryan suggested or you may be stuck going digital. In my flight department we carry a copy of the AC-U-Kwik in each of our airplanes, mostly to figure out where FBO's are located before we arrive. For all of our enroute and approach procedures we carry a full Jepp package but it's normally 8 or 9 books full of plates; not real practical in a Sonex! I will normally print off copies of the airport diagram from www.airnav.com if I'm training someone, but otherwise I pretty much stick with the iPad and Foreflight.

Sorry we can't help!

[cmiller]

Pilots Guide, from Optima Publications in Paso Robles, CA is a good replacement, but only for western states. Maybe we could all encourage them to branch out and replace those little brown airguides.