Flight Database Update Costs

While that statement naively looks solely at the cost of distribution, ignoring the cost of development and maintenance, theres also some validity to it. After all, with paper were not only paying all the back-end costs, but also the cost of printing and distribution. Shouldnt the data alone be a lot cheaper? And with multiple devices that use that data, why should we have to purchase multiple copies? Shouldnt there be one aircraft data subscription shared across all the devices?

Frank Bowlin

Friday, August 05, 2016 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Garmin has introduced a new "OnePak" solution, significantly reducing the cost of aviation database updates for multiple devices.
The OnePak provides comprehensive data for an entire aircraft (multiple navigators and EFIS) and Garmin Pilot tablet data for a single annual fee of $649.
Garmin also released the Flight Stream 510 card, enabling wireless updates of all aircraft data from a tablet, a development the author hopes will set a new industry standard for affordability and convenience.

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We’ve all railed about the complexity and cost of database updates since the first LORAN. After all, we figured, it’s just data and you can get it electronically, so why does it cost so damned much?

While that statement naively looks solely at the cost of distribution, ignoring the cost of development and maintenance, there’s also some validity to it. After all, with paper we’re not only paying all the back-end costs, but also the cost of printing and distribution. Shouldn’t the data alone be a lot cheaper? And with multiple devices that use that data, why should we have to purchase multiple copies? Shouldn’t there be one aircraft data subscription shared across all the devices?