By AOPA ePublishing staff
NorthStar
Trimble
Jeppesen will soon stop providing NavData database updates for some older IFR GPS receivers from Trimble and NorthStar. 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.
Owners of the units are being notified that updates will stop in March 2009, and they will receive prorated refunds for any time remaining on their database subscriptions.
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. Pilots in the market for a used GPS should confirm that any model they intend to purchase would be adequately supported going forward. For more information on database availability, contact Jeppesen at 800/621-5377.
March 18, 2008