Yes, true, maybe i was unclear. That is why mention the Deutscher Wetterdienst subscription. For instance, if you only need weather for 3 days you have to pay 66,80 EUR for 1 year weather subscription. And then 34,50 EUR for 1 month Iridium service. 9 EUR for the 3 days of data you actually need. (+VAT on all). If i have understood correctly. Would be great to reduce the weather subscription cost to start with.
I fear there is some confusion. The recurring costs you have with the ADL units are:
1) Annual license for the weather data. 66,80 Euro + VAT. Once you have that you can download weather data on the ground via WiFias much as you like independently from any satellite subscriptions etc.
Lowering this fee will be very difficult. In fact it is a bargain. Quality European radar data is very expensive and all alternative ways of legally accessing it will be much more expensive. The only way would be me buying a global license and splitting this among all customers. But this would require a very wide customer base to work out.
2) You have to pay some kind of base charge in order to activate the satellite service. This can be plan A, plan B or a trip kit.
3) Finally you will have to pay for transmitted data in data packet units at 0,29 Euro + VAT each packet.
At the bottom of this webpage you find some sample calculations for the annual budget. Obviously it is not free but especially if you use the trip kits the total annual costs will be very reasonable.
Jonas wrote:
Yes, true, maybe i was unclear. That is why mention the Deutscher Wetterdienst subscription. For instance, if you only need weather for 3 days you have to pay 66,80 EUR for 1 year weather subscription. And then 34,50 EUR for 1 month Iridium service. 9 EUR for the 3 days of data you actually need. (+VAT on all). If i have understood correctly. Would be great to reduce the weather subscription cost to start with.
You have to pay for the DWD. Then you choose Plan A, Plan B OR the trip kits. 34.50 is plan B or you can do a 3 day trip kit for 9. I am a fairly big user of the service and it is one of the cheapest services in aviation given how useful it is.
Peter wrote:
instead of the “classical” approach where you get the destination ATIS and then divert
You know that you can ask the ATC about weather, right 
You know that you can ask the ATC about weather, right
Sure, but try that with any busy IFR sector in Europe and post the .mp3 here 
(it will be a very short file, usually containing no audio after the initial call).
With a second pilot, it can be done by calling up the regional FIS on the second radio; Ryanair do that quite a lot, reportedly to save the cost of ACARS.
But in any case, getting wx for a number of options is a lot of radio time.
I did that a few times: asking weather with ATC, because it would be changing the choice of staying high or go low. Never got any problem with that and always got the metar in a few ( or 10) minutes.
Despite that, I find this new one very interesting, also for clubuse: the pilot/club takes a tripkit every time he wants to use it, and the fix costs are not that much for the club if you compare it with a yearly garmin update, the yearly jeppesen subscription,…
Never got any problem with that and always got the metar in a few ( or 10) minutes.
That’s usually true for VFR controllers or an FIS service (e.g. London Info). You will probably never get wx data from say London Control.
Also some controllers are so marginal on their ELP that asking them for a metar for XXXX is pointless, and if they did get it for you it may be illegible. Some ATIS recordings are almost illegible, for example.
Having a satellite data feed and being able to get e.g.
Metar
EGKK 041550Z 26012KT 9999 FEW034TCU 05/01 Q0991
EGKA 041550Z 27008KT 9999 VCSH FEW024 08/02 Q0991
EGHI 041550Z 24011KT 210V270 9999 VCSH FEW013 SCT028 FEW040CB 04/M01 Q0990
EGHH 041520Z 36007KT 9999 VCSH FEW020 BKN034 06/00 Q0990
EGKB 041550Z 24008KT 200V290 9999 SCT040 06/M02 Q0990
LFQQ 041530Z AUTO 31005KT 9999 FEW010 SCT056 09/M01 Q0992
LFAT 041530Z AUTO 25007KT 210V300 CAVOK 07/M02 Q0992
TAF
EGKK 041149Z 0412/0518 24006KT 9999 FEW030 PROB40 TEMPO 0413/0419 5000 SHRASN BECMG 0504/0507 8000 BKN007 TEMPO 0506/0510 3000 -RASN BKN002 BECMG 0509/0512 35010KT 9999 TEMPO 0510/0518 7000 -RA PROB40 TEMPO 0510/0518 RA BECMG 0512/0514 SCT015 TEMPO 0514/0518 BKN010
EGKA 041403Z 0415/0420 24009KT 9999 FEW030 PROB40 TEMPO 0415/0420 4000 SHRASN
EGHI 041403Z 0415/0423 23008KT 9999 FEW030 PROB30 TEMPO 0415/0418 4000 SHRASN
EGHH 041405Z 0415/0424 29005KT 9999 SCT030 PROB30 TEMPO 0415/0418 7000 SHRA BKN014CB
EGKB 041403Z 0415/0421 24009KT 9999 FEW030 PROB30 TEMPO 0415/0418 5000 SHRASN
LFQQ 041100Z 0412/0518 30008KT 9999 BKN030 TEMPO 0504/0506 5000 BR TEMPO 0511/0518 4000 SHRA BKN020CB
LFAT 041400Z 0415/0424 27007KT CAVOK
in one go, in seconds, is priceless, when you are heading back to the UK on a 6hr flight and the fuel totaliser is forecasting 20USG on landing…
costs are not that much for the club if you compare it with a yearly garmin update, the yearly jeppesen subscription,…
Yes; I am surprised at how much more reasonable the cost is today compared to the options say 2 years ago. It is probably comparable to what I spend on my Thuraya satphone, though I have had a few “mishaps” with it which wasted the whole $160 prepayment (that’s fixed now), and it’s a difficult thing to get working well.
Jepp is of course very expensive. But most private pilots who use it are sharing the data with others Which, in turn, is why Jepp have crippled the output options (printing to anything, printing to a PDF especially) on their Ipad products… What cannot be shared is data for panel mount products, or handheld aviation GPSs.
Sebastian,
5 Trip kits for one week 75,00 EUR
Does this mean each trp kit is for 1 weeks duration for 15 EUR/Trip Kit?
Last time we talked Radar coverage ended in Austria. Does it cover Italy and the Balkans Greece?
There is another way.
“This is London Volmet Main….”
C210_Flyer wrote:
Does this mean each trp kit is for 1 weeks duration for 15 EUR/Trip Kit?
Click on the link he posted earlier. There are several options but a 1 week trip kit is €15.
