Jeppesen lying?
"The company says it is no longer feasible to continue to trim database information to fit into the 1MB and 2MB Flash Card memory format used by many of these systems.........Up to this point, Jeppesen has trimmed value-added data from the database and offered reduced coverage areas to shrink the amount of data to match the memory capacity of the units. But, the company says, it is becoming too difficult and expensive to continue to trim the ever-increasing amount of data.
While the units will continue to function without updated database information, it will no longer be legal to use them for IFR operations. ......."
I'm not believing the above snip from the AOPA article. Jeppesen is trying to paint a picture in our minds of some guy working day and night, trimming individual entries. That's not the way it's done!
Making one data base from another, when the second is a subset of the data on the first, is no big deal. That's the kind of stuff you can do with an Excel marco if necessary.
Jeppesen has a monopoly in terms of providing data bases for these units. They enjoy a special relationship with Garmin (for example). When Jeppesen pulls the plug, it forces buyers back in the market for new GPS units.
On top of that, the data they use is public domain. I think there is cause for legal action to force Garmin to reveal any information necessary to allow programing these units after Jeppesen drops it.
Also, it doesn't matter where the data comes from. If you update the data base the unit will still be legal for IFR.
