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Jan_EDHE
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 3,
Visits: 2
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Dear SkyDemon Team, dear all,
I was wondering if the VFR AIP for Germany is now available for free in SkyDemon (as DFS provides it for free as of January 1), like for many other countries? I still only see the paid option on the SkyDemon website.
Apologies if this is a frequent question - I did not find a mention of it.
Many thanks Jan
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MaverickVG
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 5,
Visits: 13
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+xDear SkyDemon Team, dear all,
I was wondering if the VFR AIP for Germany is now available for free in SkyDemon (as DFS provides it for free as of January 1), like for many other countries? I still only see the paid option on the SkyDemon website.
Apologies if this is a frequent question - I did not find a mention of it.
Many thanks Jan
Also hoping it will be included :-)
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Adam Erchegyi
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 95,
Visits: 2.3K
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I quote hereby the SkyDemon newsletter from November for DFS subscribers:
"We are writing to you as a customer of the DFS VFR AIP in Germany. As you may know, a German authority has decided that this product should be available free of charge to pilots because it contains essential safety information. Many of you have been writing to us this year to enquire whether we will therefore be making it free of charge in SkyDemon.
After a period of negotiation with Eisenschmidt/DFS we now know that the DFS will be releasing the free of charge version of the VFR AIP on their website starting in January 2023. However, the free version will be a low-quality PNG-based product (like a photo of a document), instead of the higher-quality PDF product that is currently available through SkyDemon. We asked them to produce a representative PNG and PDF so we could show you the difference between the two products, but they refused. Additionally, they will not be making updates to the free version available until they have already taken effect. In our opinion, they intend to satisfy only the bare minimum required by the authority, in the hope that people continue to purchase the paid product.
Licensing and distribution of the VFR AIP is controlled by Eisenschmidt. Currently the only licensing option available to us is the annual subscription, which we will continue to offer. We did succeed in securing a reduction in price from €59 to €39, but this will not be available until January. We must wait until then to see what the free version will look like, and whether it is possible (and desirable) to integrate it into SkyDemon.
We are disappointed in this outcome, as we had been hoping to make the regular VFR AIP available free of charge to everybody using SkyDemon. We know many customers expected that too, but it is not currently possible. If you share our disappointment, we would encourage you to make your suggestions to Eisenschmidt directly at info@eisenschmidt.aero."
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Jan_EDHE
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 3,
Visits: 2
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+xI quote hereby the SkyDemon newsletter from November for DFS subscribers: Thanks a lot Adam - I guess I didn't receive that newsletter/info as my German AIP subscription through SkyDemon had expired shortly before.
The quality of the PNGs is actually quite decent, so in my mind that is not a plausible reason to not include it. Personally, I would be fully fine with this level of quality (vs. paying EUR 39,- per year for a minimal quality increase...).
@SkyDemon team: it would be great if you could reconsider! Maybe there could be a choice for those who want the higher quality through the PDF subscription?
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Tim Dawson
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 8K,
Visits: 9K
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The airfield charts are ok, as you say. The "list of airfields" document is terrible, having been broken up into dozens of photos of documents each of which is individually accessible but you can't search, can't copy and paste from it, etc.
We did look at the free version last week. The biggest impediment to switching away from the paid version and offering the free version through SkyDemon is that the free version isn't released until it's already effective. We rely on having access to it beforehand to properly georeference the charts etc.
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Adam Erchegyi
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 95,
Visits: 2.3K
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+x. The "list of airfields" document is terrible, having been broken up into dozens of photos of documents each of which is individually accessible but you can't search, can't copy and paste from it, etc. it's not super user-friendly in the paid version either. Being available from a different place than the airport's tab and need to look in the huge docu for the individual airport...
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Tim Dawson
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 8K,
Visits: 9K
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What would you suggest? It's just a PDF document.
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Jan_EDHE
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 3,
Visits: 2
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+xThe airfield charts are ok, as you say. The "list of airfields" document is terrible, having been broken up into dozens of photos of documents each of which is individually accessible but you can't search, can't copy and paste from it, etc.
We did look at the free version last week. The biggest impediment to switching away from the paid version and offering the free version through SkyDemon is that the free version isn't released until it's already effective. We rely on having access to it beforehand to properly georeference the charts etc. Thanks Tim - I see the points and understand that particularly the last one is a show stopper :-(
In my mind, DFS falls way short of their official duty to publish this in a timely manner. And I assume they are collecting tax payers money for their work... and at the same time are trying to monetize it.
I already complained to a friend who works at DFS and he promised to forward it. I hope a lot of German (and visiting!) pilots do the same
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Adam Erchegyi
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 95,
Visits: 2.3K
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+xWhat would you suggest? It's just a PDF document. Make bookmarks to the PDF per airport ICAO and reference them directly from the airport details like charts.
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Tim Dawson
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 8K,
Visits: 9K
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Easier said than done, but I agree that would be a nice solution. Obviously it depends on having text, not an image, so it would require the full paid-for AIP not the free basic one.
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