AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2023 - 20

ON COURSE
Chart circles
Collecting destinations near and far
BY KOLLIN STAGNITO / Editor in Chief
AOPA Foundation Legacy Society member
IF IT 'S A SATURDAY OR SUNDAY, my friend Bryan has a plan.
Weather permitting, he is going to fly his Piper Arrow-and at
least one friend-to bag a chart circle.
A what? Bryan explains that about 10 years ago he taped an
outdated Chicago sectional chart to his hangar wall, for decoration.
After admiring the chart simply as art for a time, he had
the idea to circle each airport he had visited with an orange
highlighter. Although he circled a decent number of airports,
he eventually needed to expand his display to include Green
Bay, St. Louis, Detroit, Cincinnati, New York, and Washington,
D.C., sectionals, since he had landed at airports in those areas.
Contemplating the circles thinly spread out across seven sectionals
made him realize there were hundreds of airports he had never
visited within flying range of the Arrow. This fueled his desire to
collect more chart circles.
Bryan rarely flies his airplane without a specific destination in
mind-or alone. He flies to eat (gotta eat lunch somewhere), and
he flies for camaraderie. Although he has a copy of John Purner's
book The $100 Hamburger: A Pilots' Guide in his hangar, his go-to
source for restaurants-located on airport property or nearby via
FBO courtesy car-are the friends he invites to fly along. Seasoned
pilots, new pilots, and nonpilots alike share in the fun of picking
an airport to which they have never flown, making phone calls
or searching online to identify the most interesting restaurant.
The eager fliers eat lunch at a location up to 150 miles distant
in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, or Michigan and are back
home by 3 p.m.
Upon returning to Bryan's hangar at the end of the adventure,
the now-familiar airport is found on the huge expanse of sectionals
on the wall, and the airport is circled with a highlighter. The brilliance
of chart circles is that Bryan has gamified his recreational
flying. After nearly three decades as pilot in command, chasing
chart circles and sharing the experience has kept Bryan's passion
for general aviation burning bright. In fact, multiple younger
pilots-recently graduated from college-have adopted his chart
circle challenge and even introduced it to their friends. It's ironic
in this age of social media that something as tangible as printed
sectional charts can still be proudly displayed by young and old for
all to see the many places they've traveled as pilots.
20
AOPA PILOT / March 2023
Beyond the search for a good restaurant, there are many other
reasons to collect chart circles. AOPA Pilot's annual Destinations
issue is intended to inspire pilots to fly to airports (near and far)
that are a gateway to interesting places. Every year, the AOPA
Pilot staff seeks destinations that mirror the diversity of options
that general aviation affords us: some destinations are close,
convenient, affordable; some are remote, rugged, and expensive;
most are something in between. All allow pilots to dream
a little about how much we're going to enjoy the destination-
and the journey.
For some of us, planning the journey is almost as much fun
as the trip itself. As we spend time rubber-banding routes in
iFlightPlanner for AOPA (or your favorite electronic flight bag)
and looking up potential refueling spots along the way, we realize
there are so many opportunities to collect new chart circles
en route. I encourage you to bypass some of your normal stops
and visit new ones to help keep the journey fresh and exciting-and
isn't that why we started flying in the first place? A
few of my favorite airports were discovered when I was not
looking for, or wanting to land at, someplace new. But sometimes
unwanted diversions and unplanned chart circles make
the best memories.
With enough planning, you can tackle just about any distance
and apparent obstacle to fly to your dream destination-even
if it's in another country. You can find an incredible amount
of travel advice on the AOPA website in the Travel and Pilot
Resources sections. If you can't find what you're looking for,
you can call AOPA's Pilot Information Center at 800-USA-AOPA,
Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, for
expert help from our team of pilots and CFIs. If for any reason
flying to your destination just isn't possible, renting an airplane
once you've arrived is often an option.
So, you flew to your destination (perhaps one featured in
this issue), spent a week relaxing
or exploring, and visited
several new airports along the
way. Where will you display
your well-earned chart circles?
kollin.stagnito@aopa.org
KOLLIN STAGNITO,
AOPA senior vice
president of media and
marketing, has nearly 200
chart circles. Each one
holds a great memory.
AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2023
