During navigation, CHART checks are used after set heading, Top of Climb (TOC), At turning points, beginning of diversion and also at top of descent (TOD).
C Compass- Make sure it is alligned with DI( Direction Indicator) and the heading bug set to next leg if you have the heading bug available.
H Heading- Check your track orientation with the features in your map.
A Altimeter- Set correct QNH. Make sure of the next airspace you are going to enter and its height. Find out whether you need to climb or descend. Also, check if there are rising high terrain in which case you need to climb.
R Radio - Check the next frequency you are going to use and set in on standby com. Make sure you are transmitting on the right frequency. Make a position report as to where you are as you could be heading to a busy aerodrome and you might want to hold on way due to busy traffic on circuit.
T Time - Check whether your ETA is coming close and it has not passed. If your ETA has passed by 10 minutes and you havent arrived to your pin point then there is something wrong.
CHART check could be carried out to help increase a pilot’s overall situational awareness and increase safety measures. It especially helps in navigation exercises.
Firstly http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/forum/t-99218/ab-initio-incidents-general-discussion#post-879900 In this post she could have used the CHART check. H stand for heading. She could highlight the heading for next leg she was going to fly or she could have written the actual heading or put a tick next to it so she does not get confused with the the airspeed or any other figure.
Secondly http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/forum/t-99293/ab-initio-pressure-induced-incidents#post-289437 This post shows that he ended up busting airspace. Although this was due to stress, it could have helped him if he carried out CHART check where A stands for altimeter. He could have asked himself what is the next airspace boundaries and prepare likewise. He could have avoided filling out the incident form.
Lastly another example from forum http://aviationknowledge.wikidot.com/forum/t-99221/ab-initio-navigation-incidents#post-292970 “Turned out I was breaching Ohakea airspace. The heading I was reading was wrong, I read the heading of the next leg instead of the one I am supposed to.” In this story air space was busted too. If CHART check was carried out and if the student pilot highlighted the heading with marker, or put a tick on current heading, it could have helped him from busting airspace. I do agree there are so many numbers in the flight plan log and it is easy to get mixed up with the other numbers.
Not all training organistaions have got this CHART check for their navigation training. It could help student pilots if they integrate one of these as a check list during their flight.
| C | COMPASS |
| H | HEADING |
| A | ALTIMETR |
| R | RADIO |
| T | TIME |
