One of the bigger aviation stories as 2011 wound to a close was the fact that the FAA was going to start charging for access to digital versions of its chart products: sectionals, en route charts, approach charts, the AF/D, etc. Details were revealed in a meeting with vendors that described a $5 million hole to be filled with subscription fees on apps like ForeFlight and use of websites like RunwayFinder.
Several of us in the industry are digging into the real numbers behind this, but not because we object to paying fair prices for digital versions of the charts we willingly bought on paper. We’re just searching for the real costs behind the prices—something the FAA has been monolithically unhelpful in providing. FOIA requests are in the works.
