Approximately every 180 days, new VFR charts are produced. New
charts are needed because new obstructions get created, changes may occur to
airport information or NAVAIDs, or there may be changes to airspace. Given that these
changes don’t wait until the charts are published we also check NOTAMS. There
is also another source that provides a list of some of the major changes that have
occurred. The AFD, which is updated every 56 days, publishes changes since the
last published chart. There is a section titled Aeronautical Chart Bulletin in
the AFD that contains the major changes. For the San Francisco sectional chart
there are no noted major changes as shown in the excerpt below:
However, take a look at the information listed in the AFD for the Los
Angeles TAC. It shows that the El Monte airspace has changed from what is
published on the chart. The charted airspace extends to 2,800 MSL whereas this
notice amends that to 2,400 MSL. More importantly, the shape has slightly
changed as well. The extension beyond the 4 NM radius actually shifted
about 30 degrees clockwise in the amendment vs what is charted.. You would think with this change that there would be a NOTAM
and FSS would know about this, but when I checked, there were no
published NOTAMs and the briefer I talked to was not aware of this change. This change was only
confirmed by a call to the airport manager that said in fact they had just
received an email from the Tower manager confirming the change was in effect.
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