Visual Approach Charts (VAC)

A visual approach chart (VAC) tells a VFR pilot how to arrive at and leave one particular aerodrome by visual reference: which reporting points and routes to fly, at what altitudes, through which airspace, on which frequencies, and how the aerodrome circuit is flown. It is the VFR counterpart of the instrument approach chart, and the first document to study before flying to an unfamiliar aerodrome.

ICAO Annex 4 lists a visual approach chart among its standard aeronautical charts, but each State draws its own. This article takes the French charts as its example: the French AIP defines VAC as "visual approach and landing chart", and its chart legend, AIP GEN 2.3, sets the symbols described below.

What a VAC is

In France the Service de l'Information Aéronautique (SIA) publishes the charts as part of the AIP, aerodrome by aerodrome, in the VAC atlas; heliports have a separate atlas, and the conditions of use of mountain altiports are given on their VACs. The set for an aerodrome usually has three parts:

• the visual approach chart (VAC APP), covering the area around the aerodrome: airspace, reporting points, VFR routes, radio aids, obstacles and activity areas;
• the visual landing chart (VAC ATT, from atterrissage), at a larger scale: the runways, the circuits for each kind of aircraft, the runway table, the lighting and the areas not to be overflown;
• text pages (TXT): arrival and departure procedures, circuit rules, restrictions, radio failure and night procedures, and the description of each reporting point.

The chart and the text form one document. Much of what a pilot needs, such as the joining procedure when the tower is closed or the hours when training circuits are banned, appears only in the text pages.

FAA pilots find the same information in other places: the sectional or terminal area chart for airspace and visual checkpoints, and the Chart Supplement for runway data, pattern altitude and remarks.

Chart layout and data

The header gives the aerodrome's name, its status, such as Usage restreint / Restricted use at La Ferté-Alais, which is reserved for aircraft based there, and two figures used in planning:

• ALT AD, the aerodrome elevation, with its pressure equivalent: "538 (20 hPa)" at Toussus-le-Noble means the field is 538 ft above sea level, a height worth about 20 hPa, so the QFE is about 20 hPa below the QNH. With a QNH of 1015 hPa, expect a QFE of 995 hPa.
• VAR, the magnetic variation, for converting a true track measured on the chart: at Toussus, VAR 2°E turns a true track of 250° into 248° magnetic.

Every page carries its reference, which includes the ICAO location indicator (AD 2 LFPN APP 01 for Toussus), its date and its amendment number, which is how a pilot checks that the chart in hand is current. Vertical figures follow a few conventions:

The landing chart adds the runway data. Its table gives the declared distances, so equal TORA, TODA, ASDA and LDA mean no clearway, stopway or displaced threshold; a clearway is drawn as a dashed rectangle beyond the runway end. It also gives the approach slope of the PAPI, a runway designator in a circle marks the preferred runway direction, and an altiport chart adds a runway profile: at Megève the runway rises 133 ft over 548 m.

Entry and exit points and VFR routes

Reporting points are named by one or two letters, such as S, NA, WH or MS. A filled triangle is a compulsory reporting point, reported without being asked; an open triangle is a point on request (position reports). Many are located from a radio aid, and the text pages describe each by its coordinates and a landmark. Toussus's point S lies on the 171 radial of the TSU VOR, so the track from S to the beacon is 351°; it sits on the northern hill of the Chevreuse valley, and arrivals identify it by flying between two red-and-white high-voltage pylons.

At aerodromes inside controlled airspace, some of these points are the VFR entry points and exit points of the control zone. At Toulouse Blagnac, an arriving pilot reads the ATIS, makes first contact with TOULOUSE Information at least five minutes before the entry point and waits for a clearance; the arrival routes NA 1, WH 1 and EN 1 are flown at 2,000 ft AMSL maximum, and departing pilots name their exit point to Delivery and leave on the same routes at 1,500 ft maximum unless cleared otherwise. At Nantes the clearance into the class D airspace is requested at least five minutes before the entry points, which are flown at 1,500 ft AMSL. An exit point can also be a clearance limit: at Lyon-Bron, a pilot leaving via MS for the Saint-Exupéry control zone without an explicit clearance holds over MS, keeping its own separation from other holding VFR traffic.

The VFR routes between the points are drawn in a code:

The track for each direction is printed beside the point it leaves, and the distance in the middle: on WH 1 at Toulouse, 115° from WH, 295° from WF, 6.1 NM between them. A zigzag in a track means the leg is not drawn to scale.

Circuit patterns and altitudes

The landing chart draws the aerodrome circuit on the side of the runway where it is flown, with its circuit altitude above mean sea level and, in brackets, its height above aerodrome level (AAL). At Toulouse-Lasbordes the airplane circuit is marked 2000 (1500): about 1,500 ft on an altimeter set to QFE, 2,000 ft on QNH. ICAO sets no standard circuit height, and the chart often shows several:

• airplane circuits are drawn in black, helicopter circuits in green, microlight (ULM) circuits as a dashed line, and glider circuits carry a sailplane symbol;
• Cannes-Mandelieu has a single-engine circuit at 1000 (1000) and a twin-engine one at 1500 (1500);
• Saint-Cyr-l'École flies airplanes at 1200 (800) and helicopters at 900 (500).

Under SERA, circuit turns are made to the left unless otherwise indicated or instructed by ATC, and the VAC is where a right-hand circuit is published. The direction follows from the side of the runway: at La Ferté-Alais the circuit lies south of runway 10/28, so it is left-hand for runway 28 and right-hand for runway 10; at Nice it is always over the sea, left-hand for runways 22 and right-hand for runways 04.

The text pages add the joining rules. At Toussus without ATC, pilots arrive at S at 1,300 ft and join the outer base leg if they know the runway in use from the air-to-air calls; if not, they arrive at 1,500 ft, fly over the aerodrome to identify it, then join at the beginning of the downwind leg. Some aerodromes also limit training circuits: Lyon-Bron reserves them for based aircraft, at most three at a time and only in published hours.

Frequencies and services

The frequency panel lists each service with its frequency: ATIS, approach, tower, ground, delivery, AFIS and the flight information service (FIS), whose sectors are labeled SIV, secteur d'information de vol. Numbered notes tie a frequency to its use. At Lyon the FIS line reads 135.200 (1) and 135.530 (2), and each sector label on the chart carries the matching number, so in "SIV 3 LYON (2)" a pilot calls on 135.530. At Nice, note (3) gives the frequency for the transit between SA and EA.

The panel also says what happens when the services close. "Absence ATS: A/A (120.755) FR seulement / only" at Toussus means that pilots then announce themselves air-to-air on 120.755 MHz, in French only. Where an aerodrome without air traffic services has no assigned channel, France uses the common self-information frequency, 123.500 MHz. At Lyon-Bron an AFIS can be provided outside the tower's hours on 12 hours' prior permission.

The approach chart also shows the airspace. Each controlled volume carries its class in a box and its limits: "CTR BLAGNAC D 2000" is class D from the surface to 2,000 ft, so a VFR flight needs a clearance and two-way contact to enter, while "TMA 3-4-5 PARIS [A] 2500 - FL 065" is class A, closed to VFR flights, so a VFR flight beneath it stays below 2,500 ft. A radio mandatory zone (RMZ) requires an initial call before entry and a continuous listening watch inside (airspace classification).

Restrictions, noise abatement and special procedures

Regulated areas use the legend's magenta symbols: P with cross-hatching for a prohibited area, R and D with single hatching for restricted and danger areas, and small figures for parachuting, aerobatics, model aircraft and drones. A magenta square with a circled dot marks a site, such as a prison or a hospital, whose low overflight is prohibited.

Noise-sensitive areas appear in two ways. A plain blue circle marks a built-up area whose overflight must be avoided, and the circuits are drawn around these circles. The text pages then set the rules, which can be strict:

• at Toussus, overflight of most blue-circled areas is prohibited, except for safety or when an ATC instruction requires it; on VFR arrival and departure, speed in the circuit and the surrounding restricted area is limited to the higher of 100 kt and 1.45 VS;
• at Cannes-Mandelieu, multi-engined aircraft fly the circuit at 1,500 ft, reverse thrust is prohibited except in an emergency, and after takeoff from runway 17 no turn is made before 800 ft to the right or 600 ft to the left;
• some aerodromes have silence periods or limit circuit training by the aircraft's noise class, and some publish a preferred runway "due to environment", as Chambéry does for runway 36.

The text pages also cover special cases. Megève is reserved, for airplanes, to pilots holding a mountain rating or a site authorization, and landings there are made uphill on one runway direction only. Radio failure procedures are local too: arriving at Lyon-Bron during tower hours, the pilot squawks 7600 and either complies with the last ATC instructions or flies overhead above circuit altitude, at 2,500 ft maximum and avoiding the runway axis, then joins at the beginning of the downwind leg with lights on; flashing threshold identification lights serve as the landing clearance. For noise rules in general, see noise abatement procedures.

Using a VAC in flight planning

A VAC is planned, not read for the first time on downwind. A sound sequence:

1. Check that the chart is current. It is part of the AIP, so permanent changes come by AIP amendment, the operationally significant ones on AIRAC dates, and temporary ones by AIP Supplement or NOTAM. Compare the page dates with the current edition and read the NOTAM for the destination.
2. Read every text page, including restricted hours, prior permission, fuel and radio failure procedures.
3. Choose the entry point that suits the route, and note the track, distance and altitude limits of the route from it, the obstacles along it and the airspace it crosses. On WH 1 at Toulouse, a mast topping at 1,106 ft stands at WH, so 2,000 ft clears it by about 900 ft.
4. Write down the frequencies in order of use, and the point at which to make first contact, often five minutes before the entry point.
5. Note the circuit altitude on QNH and work out the QFE, so that either setting can be used.
6. Plan the departure the same way, with the exit point and its altitude limit, and prepare the same for the alternate.

View full schematic

The weather must allow the arrival. Under SERA, unless ATC authorizes otherwise, a VFR flight may not enter the aerodrome traffic zone or traffic circuit, or take off or land at an aerodrome inside a control zone, when the ceiling is below 1,500 ft or the ground visibility below 5 km. See VFR cross-country flight planning and aerodrome traffic and circuits.

Library articles are written for study and exam preparation. They do not replace your aircraft's approved documentation, your operator's procedures or the regulations themselves.