PLT101: Aeronautical Charts
What code PLT101 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Aeronautical Charts before your checkride.
Recall aeronautical charts - pilotage
What this means for your checkride
Pilotage is navigating by matching visible landmarks, rivers, roads, and towns, to the sectional chart. It relies on chart symbology and staying oriented, and it pairs with dead reckoning for cross-country flying.
Pilotage is a core VFR skill and the reason chart reading is tested, so the FAA checks that you can identify features and symbols and keep track of position.
Beginners fixate on one landmark. Good pilotage cross-checks several features and the clock, so a single misidentified town does not send you off course.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.