chflyer wrote:
The FF circuit info on the above screenshots is a standard part of the Europe subscription coverage. No need to pay any extra “DFS” charge to get it.
And it also includes the Jeppesen VFR/Bottlang text equivalent, e.g. look up the “AIRPORT INFO” procedures for EDFE, which AFAIK is a verbatim copy of the text of the Jeppesen VFR/Bottlang, which in turn is based on the DFS AIP VFR text. For EDFE, this is a 5-page document.
Must have been a £70 lunch in town, or you fly an Antonov
£42 landing fee at Shoreham for an SR22, two people for lunch – not difficult.
Not a fair comparison though. I paid £60 for a taxi on the Isle of Wight, to Cowes. Does that entitle an airport to charge £60 to listen to its ATIS? And, yes, over 1.5T a lot of landing fees are a lot higher. Throw in some food for a few people and for sure you are spending way more than some aviation subscriptions. This doesn’t affect the principle of the matter which is that essential data like this should be accessible.
Also I would not trust re-drawn presentations like the one in SD or FF. If there is a mistake, you have no defence or recourse. SD in particular has a long history of just leaving essential stuff out if it is too difficult (Italy was one I recall; previous posts here). Jeppesen I would trust, because they have far more users and a solid QA process appropriate to their IFR charts which have the potential to kill somebody.
FF is Jeppesen (now Boeing) and before they were acquired they used Jeppesen Data.
For forty years I’ve had to use somebody’s redrawn data – Jeppesen, Aerad, Thales, Lido, FF and SD. None it has been free, even government published maps and charts. We have more data and more accessibility than ever before and in real terms it’s never been cheaper – in the 1980s my Jeppesen paper chart subscription was significantly more expensive than that available today. For what they provide I believe that SD and FF offer some of the best value in aviation today.
Peter wrote:
Also I would not trust re-drawn presentations like the one in SD or FF. If there is a mistake, you have no defence or recourse. SD in particular has a long history of just leaving essential stuff out if it is too difficult (Italy was one I recall; previous posts here). Jeppesen I would trust, because they have far more users and a solid QA process appropriate to their IFR charts which have the potential to kill somebody.
Peter, is that the one?
DFS German VFR AIP Subscription (one year)
SkyDemon has got reduced price to £53.20.
Although you were right: if you add 7 countries in that SD list of extra VFR info, you already get £280 per year…
For the owner of a small aircraft share that would be more than two hours of flying in terms of variable cost.
£280 p.a. is cheaper than what the Bottlang / Jepp trip kit used to be.
Not to mention you don’t need a wheelie bag to carry it around anymore or waste countless hours updating it.
if you add 7 countries in that SD list of extra VFR info
I’d be quite interested in which those seven countries were, that weren’t publishing VFR data. One is Germany.
Switzerland is not free – or used not to be free. Austria ? And yes – FF=Boeing=Jeppesen
Peter wrote:
I’d be quite interested in which those seven countries were, that weren’t publishing VFR data. One is Germany.
Pooley’s UK Flight Guide or AFE UK Flight Guide
Pooley’s Ireland Flight Guide
DFS German VFR AIP
Skyguide Swiss VFR Manual
Avioportolano Italian Flight Guide
Databáze letišť Czech Republic and Slovakia Flight Guide
Rogers Data VFR Trip Kit Austria
KSAB Swedish Airfields Trip Kit
