When Garmin modernized digital aeronautical charts earlier this year with Smart Charts, it promised incremental updates through new features and enhancements. We think the latest feature—the overlay of Graphical NOTAMs on the surface Smart Chart—makes an already good presentation better.
The feature can be turned on (or off) by the user and when it’s on, the color-coded graphical NOTAM helps better identify runway, taxiway, and ramp closures, plus other surface info. On my recent flight to an unfamiliar uncontrolled airport, the feature would have better identified the NOTAM’d closure of a major taxiway (it wasn’t available yet on my Smart Chart downloads from Garmin Pilot) on the field. The feature goes one step further by overlaying current field condition, or FICON, codes on the surface chart’s runway graphic. These FICON codes that are shown on the runway label are color-coded based on the lowest number in the actual NOTAM.
One of the things that makes Smart Charts appealing is the color coding and smart graphics, compared to old charts, and the color is put to good use for NOTAM data. With the Graphical NOTAM feature, it makes perfect sense that closed runways and taxiways are shown in red. You’ll also see a yellow X on each end of NOTAM’s closed runway. For time-based closures, you’ll see a clock on the chart’s runway label. When a surface is conditionally closed, they’re shown in yellow and it’s up to you to study the NOTAM for more details.
Smart Charts, along with the new Graphical NOTAM feature for the Smart surface charts, come standard with the Garmin Pilot Premium app subscription (for U.S. and Bahamas) for iOS devices. Garmin also added Storm Tops to the latest version of the app, which has a yearly subscription price of $209.98.
