A World Aeronautical Chart (WAC) was a type of

aeronautical chart An aeronautical chart is a map designed to assist in the navigation of aircraft, much as nautical charts do for watercraft, or a roadmap does for drivers. Using these charts and other tools, pilots are able to determine their position, safe alt ...

used for navigation by

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s of moderate speed aircraft and aircraft at high altitudes in the United States. They are at a scale of 1:1,000,000 (about 1 inch = 13.7 nautical miles or 16 statute miles). WACs were discontinued by the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) in 2015.

Description

These charts are similar to

sectional chart In United States aviation, a sectional aeronautical chart, often called a sectional chart or a sectional for short, is a type of aeronautical chart designed for air navigation under visual flight rules (VFR). In Australia, Canada and some other ...

s, and the symbols are the same. However, there is less detail at the smaller scale, so it is seldom used for

visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) is a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better tha ...

flight at slower speeds or for local flights. WACs show

topographic Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

information, airports and radio

navigational aid A navigational aid (NAVAID), also known as aid to navigation (ATON), is any sort of signal, markers or guidance equipment which aids the traveler in navigation, usually nautical or aviation travel. Common types of such aids include lighthouses, ...

s. They are useful for strategic flight planning, where a view of the entire flight area is useful. These charts are revised annually, except for several

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

n charts and the Mexican/

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

charts which are revised every 2 years.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n WAC charts are amended every 3 to 5 years. A set of 12 WACs covered the continental United States and 8 others covered Alaska.

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

airspace is covered by a set of 18 WACs. The 43 Australian WACs are indexed according to a geographic name or a corresponding 4-digit number. Unlike sectional charts, North American WACs are named according to an international "grid system" having a combination of letters and numbers. For example, WAC CF-16 covered the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, and E-15 covers the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

area. Letters progress from A at the

north pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

to U at the southern tip of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The numbers generally progress from 1 at the

Greenwich meridian The Greenwich meridian is a prime meridian, a geographical reference line that passes through the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in London, England. From 1884 to 1974, the Greenwich meridian was the international standard prime meridian, ...

and increasing to the east, to a maximum of 29, depending upon the number of charts required at that

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

Discontinuance

On June 23, 2015, FAA officially stopped providing the World Aeronautical Chart due to a decline in interest and technological advances. Charts: CC–8, CC–9; CD–10, CD–11, CD–12; CE–12, CE–13, CE–15; CF–16, CF–17, CF–18, CF–19; CG–18, CG–19, CG–20, CG–21; CH–22, CH–23, and CH–24 ceased to be printed beyond September 17, 2015. Charts: CH–25; CJ–26, and CJ–27 production ended upon their next scheduled printing dates of December 10, 2015; February 04, 2016, and March 31, 2016 respectively.

References

Source: FAA Pilot's Handbook

External links

World 1:1mil AAF Aeronautical Charts – McMaster University

World 1:1mil AAF Aeronautical Charts CWHM – McMaster University

Airservices Australia Online Store

Discontinuation of World Aeronautical Charts (WAC)
Aeronautical charts Air navigation World maps {{aviation-stub

Description

Discontinuance

See also

References

External links