Chart Supplement (formerly Airport/Facility Directory)

The Chart Supplement is the FAA's directory of detailed operational data for the nation's airports and aeronautical facilities. It was renamed from the Airport/Facility Directory, universally abbreviated the A/FD, and many experienced pilots and instructors still use the old name interchangeably. Where a sectional or IFR chart shows you the airspace, terrain, and navigation picture in graphic form, the Chart Supplement fills in the text-and-table detail that will not fit on a chart: the specifics you need to actually plan and conduct a safe arrival, departure, or diversion.

For each listed airport the Chart Supplement carries a dense, structured entry. Typical contents include field elevation, runway lengths, widths, surfaces, lighting, and declared data; airport and approach communications frequencies, including CTAF, tower, ground, ATIS, AWOS or ASOS, approach and departure control, and Flight Service; available navigation aids such as VOR, NDB, and ILS with their frequencies and identifiers; and the services on the field, including fuel grades, oxygen, and the fixed-base operators (FBOs). Just as important is the remarks section, which captures the local knowledge a chart cannot show: noise-abatement procedures, right-traffic runways, deer or bird activity, unmarked obstructions, PPR (prior permission required) notes, and hours of operation. Beyond the airport listings, the volumes also contain special notices, communications and frequency data, navigation aid directories, and other aeronautical reference material.

The publication is organized geographically. The Chart Supplement U.S. is issued in seven regional volumes covering the conterminous United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, with separate Chart Supplement Alaska and Chart Supplement Pacific volumes for those regions. The entire series is revised on the FAA's 56-day cycle, the same production cycle used for visual charts, which means a paper copy has a hard expiration and must be replaced every eight weeks to remain current. This currency requirement is exactly why the Chart Supplement is increasingly consumed digitally. The FAA publishes a Digital Chart Supplement (d-CS), and the data is integrated into the major electronic flight bag (EFB) applications pilots run on tablets, so the current cycle is available at a tap without managing a shelf of paper booklets.

In practice the Chart Supplement is a planning document first and an in-flight reference second. During flight planning a pilot uses it to confirm runway suitability and lighting for the expected conditions, to note the correct CTAF or tower frequency and pattern direction, to identify fuel availability and FBO services for fuel stops, and to read the remarks for any local hazard or restriction. It works hand in hand with the sectional chart, with NOTAMs (which carry the time-critical changes that occur between 56-day editions), and with the applicable terminal procedures for instrument operations. No single source substitutes for it: the sectional shows the big picture, NOTAMs show what changed today, and the Chart Supplement supplies the standing operational detail for the specific field.

For a flight school, the Chart Supplement is a teaching tool as much as a planning reference. Student pilots meet it early, on their first real cross-country flights, when an instructor expects them to build a navigation log that includes the correct frequencies, runway data, and field services for every airport on the route. Learning to read a Chart Supplement entry, and to cross-check it against the sectional chart and current NOTAMs, is a foundational skill that examiners probe during the oral portion of a checkride. A school that ingrains disciplined use of the supplement produces pilots who arrive at unfamiliar fields already knowing the pattern direction, the CTAF, and where the fuel is.

The 56-day cycle also creates a small but real operational discipline for the school itself. Whether the school still keeps paper volumes in its aircraft or has moved to an EFB-based workflow, someone has to ensure the data pilots rely on is the current edition. Standardizing on a digital Chart Supplement inside the school's EFB program removes the risk of a student flying with an expired booklet and simplifies the pre-flight currency check for every aircraft on the line.

Aviatize's Smart Planning & Booking module gives instructors and students a shared view of aircraft, routes, and cross-country assignments, so flight-planning tasks that draw on the Chart Supplement, such as choosing suitable fuel stops and alternates, sit alongside the booking itself rather than in a disconnected worksheet. That keeps the planning conversation, and the instructor's review of it, in one place.

Aviatize's Digital Data & Records module preserves each student's completed cross-country flight logs and the navigation planning behind them as part of the training record. When an instructor signs off cross-country experience or prepares a student for a checkride, the history of how that student planned real flights, including the airport and facility data they researched, is retrievable evidence of competency rather than paperwork that gets lost between lessons.