"You've got JeppView on an MX20 and you're still carrying paper charts?" Jim Miller asked. "Why?"
Jim Miller is executive vice president of Flight Options, the company that offers fractional shares of new and pre-owned business jets. Flight Options went "paperless" by providing the pilots of its fleet of 200 airplanes with electronic flight bags (EFBs) that are essentially Fujitsu pen tablet computers modified by Advanced Data Research (ADR). The EFBs eliminate most paper, including paper approach charts and, perhaps more important, the need to insert the periodic revisions into the manuals.
I didn't have a good answer to Jim's question. And frankly, I wasn't sure whether it was legal or not to fly without current paper charts. With the advent of GPS navigators with extensive databases and moving map displays, it's a question that frequently turns up in chat rooms on aviation websites. It turns out that for most Part 91 operations there's nary a mention of charts in the regs. "Yeah?" you ask, "What about FAR 91.503 (Flying Equipment and Operating Information), which states very clearly that pilots have to carry charts?" True, but that's in Subpart F and applies only to pilots of "large and turbine-powered multiengine airplanes."
According to Part 91.503, "The pilot in command of an airplane shall ensure that the following flying equipment and aeronautical charts and data, in current and appropriate form, are accessible for each flight at the pilot station of the airplane." Among other items required, it specifies under paragraph (3) "pertinent aeronautical charts" and under paragraph (4), "For IFR, VFR over-the-top, or night operations, each pertinent navigational en route, terminal area and approach and letdown chart."
It can be argued that since the FARs clearly specify the need for charts in 91.503 but don't in any of the sections of Subpart C (Equipment, Instrument, and Certificate Requirements) then charts aren't required for small airplanes.
So, according to the FARs, if we're flying a "small" airplane under Part 91, there's no specific mention of a requirement to carry charts. Nevertheless, there are two sections that might be construed to suggest the need for charts. FAR 91.103 (Preflight Action) states, "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight. This information must include ... for a flight under IFR or a flight not in the vicinity of an airport, weather reports and forecasts, fuel requirements, alternatives available if the planned flight cannot be completed, and any known traffic delays of which the pilot in command has been advised by ATC ..." The rule goes on to indicate that the pilot must be familiar with runway lengths at the airports of intended use and takeoff and landing distance requirements. While it does indicate specific information that's required, the rule does not specify that the pilot carry charts, current or otherwise.
The other section of the FARs that a fussy bureaucrat might cite is the catchall 91.13 (Careless or Reckless Operation), which warns, "No person may operate an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another." But that regulation probably won't be called into question unless something goes seriously wrong, and in that case it's doubtful that the lack of a current chart will be cited as a causal factor.
