Funny you would post this; I called The Airport Shoppe at KRHV just
today to inquire about this; I also called Jepp.

From what I can tell, Jepp is trying to save money by only offering
their Express IFR chart pack service via subscription. Up until
recently, shops would order "x" number of packs and they would either
run short or end up with a bunch of useless, expired packs at the end of
a cycle.

Initially I was pretty peeved about this, since I would prefer to have
the option of buying the Express pack only when I'm flying a lot during
a given cycle (my flying schedule is rather sporadic), but I can
understand how it will be a lot more profitable for Jepp.

I still think that Jepp nickels and dimes GA pilots to death - e.g. I
pity the Cirrus SR2* owner that has to buy updates for both Garmin430s
*and* the Avidyne PFD that is in the later models (this is what I'm
flying right now). I think that people that have multiple systems that
require frequent Jepp updates should get a substantial break of some
kind.

Dave Blevins

On 7 Nov 2003 14:28:02 -0800, (Peter Gibbons)
wrote:

Went to my local pilot shop this week to pick up some new IFR charts,
and noticed a sign near the cash register that stated that Jepp charts
were now only available on a subscription basis through Jepp.

I've only ever used NOS charts, but had heard how good Jepp charts
were and was interested in checking them out. But by subscription
only? What's the reason for doing it this way all of a sudden?