pcorman
Pre-takeoff checklist
Found this article in this month's California Pilots Association Newsletter.
The entire article can be found at: http://calpilots.org/newsletters/Jan-Feb 2012.pdf. I'm pretty concerned about this unrealistic business model.
The FAA's AeroNav charting division told vendors this week that it proposes to
charge end users of digital charting producers about $150 a year to close a $5 million shortfall in its budget due to declining paper chart sales. The new fee, if adopted, would presumably more than double the cost of some popular iPad and Droid applications such as ForeFlight and WingX. Plus, vendors selling through Apple's application channels would face additional charges. "To me, it's pretty clear that these prices are a nonstarter. I know pilots aren't going to pay $150 for these products without screaming about it," one vendor told us. And because AeroNav's incremental pricing favors large-volume vendors over smaller ones, the pricing change may effectively kill smaller application writers and/or free sites that offer FAA charting products as a convenience for users. That might include DUATs contractors, which offer free charts on the two sites. Moreover, the FAA told about 70 vendors that as paper sales continue to decline, the FAA charges for digital charting products are likely to increase in order to cover fixed overhead costs. The agency also assured the vendors that it would not be developing any apps or other products to compete with them.
The entire article can be found at: http://calpilots.org/newsletters/Jan-Feb 2012.pdf. I'm pretty concerned about this unrealistic business model.
The FAA's AeroNav charting division told vendors this week that it proposes to
charge end users of digital charting producers about $150 a year to close a $5 million shortfall in its budget due to declining paper chart sales. The new fee, if adopted, would presumably more than double the cost of some popular iPad and Droid applications such as ForeFlight and WingX. Plus, vendors selling through Apple's application channels would face additional charges. "To me, it's pretty clear that these prices are a nonstarter. I know pilots aren't going to pay $150 for these products without screaming about it," one vendor told us. And because AeroNav's incremental pricing favors large-volume vendors over smaller ones, the pricing change may effectively kill smaller application writers and/or free sites that offer FAA charting products as a convenience for users. That might include DUATs contractors, which offer free charts on the two sites. Moreover, the FAA told about 70 vendors that as paper sales continue to decline, the FAA charges for digital charting products are likely to increase in order to cover fixed overhead costs. The agency also assured the vendors that it would not be developing any apps or other products to compete with them.
