There is no map tab in Pilot EFB, and that is the point: one offline chart engine draws every map in the app, where you need it - your route across the day's briefing, the significant-weather picture, a NOTAM's closure, a station's surroundings. It renders from map packs stored on the device, so the chart you briefed with on the ground is the same chart with no signal at altitude.

Where the chart appears

The engine comes to you inside the modules. The Flight Brief's Overview carries the route chart for the day you planned. The Weather Charts view opens the significant-weather hazard map - that is where the chart's search, ruler and inspector tools live. The NOTAM maps draw closures and affected areas on it, and the station maps frame each field. The Weather and NOTAMs chapters cover what those maps show; this chapter is about the chart itself.

Your route on the chart Pro

Plan a flight in the Brief tab and the briefing's Overview gains a Route map card - your day drawn on the real chart, with the airspace along the way. The card is honest about what it needs: the chart renders only where a downloaded region pack covers the route. Without one, the card shows a plain schematic instead and names the exact packs the route needs, each a one-tap download.

The Flight Brief's Overview pane: the Route map card with an EGLL to EGCC route drawn on the offline chart of southern England, the line Not for navigation, OpenStreetMap contributors, Airspace openAIP beneath it, a Sharpen your brief progress band above and the Offline readiness list below with green dots for METAR, TAF, NOTAMs and winds — The route map card on the briefing's Overview - and its framing line, always beneath it.

Tap the card and the full-screen route chart opens, framed on your route. Three overlays ride it, each with its own toggle chip: per-airport weather categories from the brief's own METARs, NOTAM badges plus any airspace-hazard NOTAM areas that publish a plottable shape, and SIGMET/AIRMET areas. Tap a drawn hazard area's marker to read the NOTAM behind it, raw and verbatim.

The full-screen route chart for EGLL to EGCC: the blue route line across the English Midlands surrounded by openAIP airspace lines, blue airport dots labelled EGNX, EGBB and EGGW, red-bordered NOTAM area pills reading Danger area, Airspace hazard, Model flying and Unmanned aircraft, three overlay chips and the layers, zoom and recenter rail on the right, and the Not for navigation line with the OpenStreetMap and openAIP credits at the foot — The day on the chart: airspace, NOTAM areas, weather and hazards - with the sources one tap away.

Tap an airport - the peek

Anywhere the planning chart draws, tapping a field opens its peek sheet: identity and flight-category chip, the live raw METAR and TAF verbatim with their source and fetch time, key frequencies and a runway summary from the offline database. The sheet's own footing is plain: "Data from OurAirports · Reference only. Verify with current charts." Open airport hands off to the full reference page - the Airports chapter covers what lives there.

The airport peek sheet over the route chart: EGNX East Midlands Airport with an MVFR chip, EMA, Large airport and elevation 306 ft chips, the raw METAR from 24 minutes ago and the full TAF valid for 18 hours in monospace, the line Source aviationweather.gov fetched 11:27Z, and On the field frequency tiles for tower 124 and ground 121.9 MHz — One tap on a field: its conditions, raw weather and frequencies - in place, on the chart.

Choose what the chart draws

The layers button on the chart's rail opens the Map layers sheet. Its rows follow one honesty rule: every layer names its source, and a layer with nothing to draw says so on the row - "Not downloaded. Get it in Settings > Offline maps." - rather than leaving you to wonder whether the sky is really empty.

Aerodromes and navaids - airports, navaids and runway labels, credited "Source: OurAirports".
Airspace - the worldwide openAIP layer, with its export date and a declutter note ("Zoom in for terminal airspace and Class F/G"); over the US, the FAA airspace and airways rows join it.
Hazards and wind - US obstacles and the winds aloft barbs.

The Map layers sheet over the route chart: a Chart style control with Auto, Day, Night, Slate and Midnight, a Ground imagery control set to Off with Blue Marble and Daily true colour options, then rows for Airports and Navaids each credited Source: OurAirports, Runway labels, Airspace world credited Source: openAIP updated 2026-08-03Z with a zoom-in note, and Airspace US with the amber line Not downloaded, get it in Settings, Offline maps — Every layer with its source named - and an honest line when a pack is not on the device.

The sheet also holds the chart's look: five chart styles (Auto, Day, Night, Slate, Midnight - red-light mode overrides them all with the red-on-black cockpit chart), and an optional ground imagery underlay (NASA's Blue Marble, or a daily true-colour image). The imagery row says exactly what it is: "Streams online from NASA GIBS - not stored in offline packs. With no connection the chart simply draws without it."

At the foot of the sheet, the route chart adds its Data sources block: provider and fetch time for each overlay, how many airspace-hazard areas actually drew, and the standing caveat that those areas come only from NOTAMs with a plottable published shape - not complete route coverage.

The Map layers sheet scrolled to its foot: the Airspace world row with its openAIP credit, Airspace US and Airways US rows with Not downloaded lines, Obstacles US and a Winds aloft toggle switched off, then the Data sources block reading WX aviationweather.gov slash SADIS UK Met Office 11:27Z, NOTAMs nms-api 10:39Z, SIGMET AIRMET NOAA AWC plus SADIS 11:34Z, 19 airspace hazard areas drawn, 1 more without plottable geometry, and the caveat that hazard areas draw only where a plottable area is published — The sources block: what fed each overlay, when - and what could not be drawn.

Find, measure, inspect

The significant-weather chart (Weather Charts, then the expand button on the hazard map) is the chart at its fullest: the whole region's airports, airspace and live SIGMET/AIRMET areas on one canvas, with the chart tools on its rail.

The full-screen significant weather chart over the UK and northern France: blue airport dots with ICAO labels from EGPD down to LFRB, a red SIGMET polygon off the Cornish coast with a hazard marker, the rail with layers, zoom, recenter, search and ruler buttons, the source line NOAA AWC plus SADIS fetched 11:17Z with a freshness pill, the Not for navigation and credits band, and the Key and 216 active hazards pill at the foot — The full-screen chart: the region's picture, the tools on the rail, the key one tap away.

Search finds any airport or navaid in the offline database and flies the camera there - type a code or a name, tap "Fly there".

The on-map search sheet with EGKK typed into the field: one result row reading EGKK London Gatwick Airport, London, LGW with an airplane icon, the keyboard open beneath and the chart of Scotland visible above the sheet — On-map search: code, name or city - one tap flies the chart there.

The ruler Pro measures between any two points you tap - distance in nautical miles, true bearing - drawn as a dashed line with its readout on the chart.

The significant weather chart with a ruler measurement drawn: a dashed blue line across southeast England with two readout chips reading 131.2 nautical miles and 120 degrees true, the airport dots and rail unchanged around it — Two taps, one answer: 131.2 NM, 120 degrees true - reference only, like everything here.

Tapping airspace on the chart opens the inspector: every zone under your finger with its class and type. The published floors and ceilings row inside it is Pro. A long-press anywhere gives a plain coordinate readout.

Winds aloft on the chart Pro

Flip on the Winds aloft layer and the chart draws wind barbs - your cached station winds offline, and online a full model field for the visible area at the flight level you pick from the chips. The header names the source and its valid time; levels with nothing to draw say "no data" instead of drawing calm.

The significant weather chart covered in wind barbs at flight level 180: the header reads Winds FL180, Source NOAA GFS model, 1 second ago, model field valid 1200Z, with level chips for FL180, FL240, FL300 and FL340, the barbs flowing across the UK and France between the airport dots — The GFS wind field at your chosen level - source and valid time stated in the header.

Offline maps: what ships, what you download

Settings > Data & storage > Offline maps is the chart's pantry, and it starts with what you already have: a world basemap (about 43 MB, coastlines to place names worldwide) and the navaids database ship inside the app, so every map has a backdrop with no download and no signal. The screen says so in as many words - "Informational only, never for navigation."

The Offline maps screen: a Built into the app card listing the World basemap at about 42.65 MB with coastlines, borders, water and place names worldwide, and Navaids with 11,008 VOR, NDB, DME and TACAN stations from OurAirports, then a Downloaded to this device card reading 1 region downloaded using about 60.34 MB, a Map packs last checked line with a Check now button, and the top of a Suggested for you card offering Western Europe — What ships in the app, what you added - and a live check for pack updates.

Everything else is a download, in two tiers. World map data adds worldwide detail in small packs - terrain shading, the openAIP airspace boundaries, real runway pavement, and over the US the FAA airspace and obstacle sets - each row carrying its source and date.

The World map data section of the Offline maps screen: a Suggested for you card offering Download Western Europe 632 MB with a Not now button, then downloaded rows with green ticks for Terrain shading about 37.63 MB from NOAA ETOPO 2022, Worldwide airspace about 15.32 MB from openAIP dated 2026-08-03, and the top of the Runway pavement row from OpenStreetMap, each with a Delete pack button — The world extras: small packs, every one with its source and date - and a suggestion computed from your own flying.

Regions are the big one: 17 regional packs with pin-sharp local chart detail, from about 58 MB (Alaska) to about 632 MB (Western Europe). The UK & Ireland pack in the shot is about 60 MB, with an optional hi-res terrain add-on per region. The app also helps itself sensibly: on Wi-Fi it fetches the free world packs automatically, pulls your home-base region silently when it is small, offers it once when it is not, and suggests the region your own airports fall in - computed on the device, from your data. On mobile data nothing big starts without telling you the size first. If iOS ever evicts a pack under storage pressure, the app notices and offers the re-download rather than quietly degrading.

The Regions section of the Offline maps screen: UK and Ireland about 60.34 MB with a green tick, downloaded 25 Aug 2026, an Add hi-res terrain option at about 1 MB citing NOAA ETOPO 2022 15 arc-second, a Delete pack button, then Western Europe about 632 MB and Eastern Europe and Balkans about 623 MB each with a Download button — Seventeen regions with real sizes up front - your region downloaded, the rest one tap away.

Free, Pro, and the 3-day preview

The split is simple. Every download on the Offline maps screen that is not marked Pro is free - the world extras and all 17 region packs included. Reading the aviation chart is Pro: on the free tier the chart surfaces show a blurred preview with an unlock prompt, and the maps that need a live picture - the NOTAM and hazard maps - offer Apple Maps instead, which streams and so needs a connection. A one-time, explicitly started 3-day preview unlocks the full chart to try, winds aloft included. The US airspace and obstacle packs, per-region hi-res terrain, the ruler and the inspector's floors-and-ceilings row are Pro proper - Free vs Pro has the whole picture.

The chart on iPad

On the 13-inch canvas the same full-screen chart simply gets room to breathe: the whole of northwest Europe in one frame, terrain shading under the airspace, every ICAO labelled, the rail and the key pill in easy reach.

The full-screen significant weather chart on iPad: northwest Europe from Ireland to Sweden with terrain shading, hundreds of blue airport dots and ICAO labels, red thunderstorm SIGMET polygons off Biscay and Iberia and an amber turbulence area over the Pyrenees, the layers, zoom, search and ruler rail top right, the Not for navigation and OpenStreetMap and openAIP credits band, and the Key and 188 active hazards pill bottom left — The chart at full bleed on iPad - the region's whole picture in one frame.

Where next

Weather - the hazard picture this chart draws, and the charts segment it opens from.
NOTAMs - the closure and area maps that ride the same engine.
Airports - where the peek sheet's "Open airport" lands.
Free vs Pro - the full free-tier and Pro split, priced.

Aviation Map