IO540
12th Nov 2010, 09:27
For GPS databases (which nearly all originate from Jeppesen), there is a somewhat cunning and 100% legitimate method which relies on someone being happy to fly with data which is 1 cycle late: when you update your database cartridge, pass the previous one to another owner of the same GPS.
With the data being updated every month, the chance of a pilot flying "conventional IFR" (traditional airways IFR and traditional IAPs) discovering a problem (due to e.g. a deleted waypoint) is extremely small, would be detected when loading the flight plan, and could happen anyway because the updates may not be delivered the instant they become current. And even with a dead current database one sometimes gets unknown waypoints from ATC.
In this way, one could set up a group of pilots of which 1/2 flies on 1 cycle late data (and pays slightly less than 1/2 of the total cost, to keep it fair).
One could pass down the 1 cycle old data even further; many pilots - especially IMC Rated ones - have little need for the latest Eurocontrol airways waypoints and many pilots rarely if ever update their GPS databases anyway.
This technique works with most GPS/MFD products which lock the database download to a key stored on the data cartridge itself, so the cartridge can be passed to somebody else. It definitely works with the KLN94 (which uses a hacked CF cartridge with a unique key on it), with the KMD550 MFD (whose cartridge is not keyed and they just rely on the equipment to read/write it being too obscure and pricey) and I think it works with the Garmin GNSx30/W products (which use a proprietary flash cartridge with, AFAIK, a unique key on it).
With the data being updated every month, the chance of a pilot flying "conventional IFR" (traditional airways IFR and traditional IAPs) discovering a problem (due to e.g. a deleted waypoint) is extremely small, would be detected when loading the flight plan, and could happen anyway because the updates may not be delivered the instant they become current. And even with a dead current database one sometimes gets unknown waypoints from ATC.
In this way, one could set up a group of pilots of which 1/2 flies on 1 cycle late data (and pays slightly less than 1/2 of the total cost, to keep it fair).
One could pass down the 1 cycle old data even further; many pilots - especially IMC Rated ones - have little need for the latest Eurocontrol airways waypoints and many pilots rarely if ever update their GPS databases anyway.
This technique works with most GPS/MFD products which lock the database download to a key stored on the data cartridge itself, so the cartridge can be passed to somebody else. It definitely works with the KLN94 (which uses a hacked CF cartridge with a unique key on it), with the KMD550 MFD (whose cartridge is not keyed and they just rely on the equipment to read/write it being too obscure and pricey) and I think it works with the Garmin GNSx30/W products (which use a proprietary flash cartridge with, AFAIK, a unique key on it).