Free or low-cost updates of navigation databases may be provided by the US Federal Aviation Administration in a bid to promote general-aviation use of the global-positioning system (GPS).
The US Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) says that update costs of up to $700 a year associated with databases provided by private vendors, are stopping many pilots from installing GPS receivers approved for instrument approaches.
The AOPA argues that database cost "-is a major deterrent to voluntary transition to GPS as the primary-navigation system". The association wants the FAA to make a navigation database publicly available electronically in a standardised format.
Source: Flight International
