Sectional Chart Cycle **CHANGES**

[Joshuajayg]

Anyone else aware that in 2021 the VFR charts will now fall into a 56-day update cycle rather than our current 168-cycle?

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media...rts-to-go-on-56-day-publication-cycle-in-2021

I work for an operator that doesn't use electronic flight bags so we still purchase paper charts. This will triple our chart subscription costs. I assumed this was the FAA doing something witty on their own part. Turns out the AOPA has been advocating this for years and they are happy it is finally happening. I'm not thrilled.

Thought you might want to know. Maybe, as a company, we need to move into the EFB world.

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

I figure we will need to replace tablets every 4 years. That seem reasonable to you iPad peeps?

For the purpose of running an EFB it will likely be just acceptable. They will start to seem a bit laggy after 2 years and that will likely be fairly noticeable after 3 years. 2 years is a better replacement interval if you want things to be snappy.

Note that you can buy the iPads with cellular data capability but without the monthly service. This gets you GPS in the iPad itself.

Also you can sell them after 2 years for a reasonable recovery of part of the cost and apply to the new ones.

 

[PeterNSteinmetz]

Yes. Right now I am running an A1538 from late 2015. So I guess that is 5 years. It has been used primarily for Foreflight and about 350 hours of flying. Purchased used and still in good shape. I am just beginning to notice the lag. So perhaps I was a bit overly conservative in my prior assessment.