Hey there,
so I looked around, including here:
https://www.euroga.org/forums/jeppesen-western-europe-approach-charts-prices-lowered/2962
and here:
https://www.euroga.org/forums/hangar-talk/2765-new-jeppesen-terminal-charts-single-installation-pricing-for-europe#43484
and even here:
https://www.euroga.org/forums/how-many-pilots-fly-with-what-types-of-approach-plates/1602?page=6
since they’re all a bit oldish I thought I’d ask the question in case I get better answers now than what existed then.
So for update, the “Europe” coverage that was kind of western Europe does not exist anymore (the one form the 2d link above)
There is only “All Europe” and some other not relevant for me (Northern Europe, also Eastern Europe if I recall right)
which are for 1 ipad, have somewhat decent prices (for Jeppesen) but don’t cover what I’m interested in. Not surprising givent that these are very few coverage.
Now of course, “All Europe” at the price of USA wuld suit me, but its rather 4 times the prices, so no.
we therefore come to my question:
Are there any other apps/providers for IFR charts (IAC mainly) ?
Do they have decent prices ?
I read about ForeFlight (and saw the product manager is around), but since they provide Jepp data, the y have it at… Jepp prices :)
God they must feel good about having a monopoly ! (Jepp that is)
otherwise I can also take France + Germany separately.
they’re also expensive but they are for 4 ipads which allows for some workarounds.
looking forward to read you !
Cheers
PP
BAsic subscription of FF (100€/y) gets you the IAC chart which is not to bad to start with. I think the flight planning part relies on internal data that are taken from jepp ones, but you also have IAC charts available in the plate menu.
I don’t of any other method to get those through apps. If you want Jepp data – you have to pay Jepp.
Only other method is to get national IAPs from the national websites or from Eurocontrol EAD (free of charge). Or you get them you using other tools like Skydemon.
The EuroGA airport database delivers EAD terminal charts.
Very convenient.
Are there any other apps/providers for IFR charts (IAC mainly) ?
Yes. Lido (Lufthansa) and EAG (still exist?).
Do they have decent prices ?
No. Consider the 600€ (Foreflight price) for Jepp IFR Europe charts „free“ compared to the above.
Telegram Messenger, Autorouter bot, command „plates pack ICAO“ is free and convenient (aeroplus IFR app to get MDA/DA from OCA).
I’ve never flown with LIDO charts, but I’ve seen them and they look OK to me. The one time Jeppesen charts would have sent me into cumulus granitus, the LIDO chart was clear and would have kept me in the air; but that’s a huge selection bias, obviously. The airline pilots I know that use them would prefer Jeppesen. I understand they are cheaper than Jeppesen for airlines, but it is not known to me that they have any offer palatable to “non commercial” GA.
In essence, our choice is between AIP plates or Jeppesen. AIP plates can come conveniently in bulk download available for offline use (some solutions georeferenced) with a Garmin Pilot (Premium / Plus / whatever they call it), SkyDemon, Foreflight, EuroFPL Premiuem, etc subscription or “piecewise” by (semi-)manual PDF download (national eAIP website, Eurocontrol EAD Basic, Autorouter briefing pack / email / telegram bridge). Autorouter technically allows downloading/synchronising (non-georeferenced) whole Europe AIP plates over WebDAV protocol, but they request one downloads only those one needs, not the full 7GB.
PapaPapa wrote:
Are there any other apps/providers for IFR charts (IAC mainly) ?
Additionally to the ones listed by Snoopy, there is:
PapaPapa wrote:
Do they have decent prices ?
If you want Jepp plates, I think the solution is to join some sort of a “hangar club” where they have a PC running the thing and you can print off paper or PDFs as needed. A lot of people I know have access that way.
This is why Jepp are trying to move to the Ipad platform totally – it makes it much more inconvenient to share the stuff (there is no “print whole airport” feature afaik – see e.g. here).
Of course that won’t give you anything integrated into a moving map app i.e. georeferencing.
@all, thanks for your replies !
I did not know that the autorouter + bot are now able to provide the EAD maps it’s already very good.
I understand that short of using those (which have the disadvantage of not being standardised in layout), there is no “GA friendly” solution
I need to have a look at FF and what can be available at what price. If it is 100+600 we’re getting pretty closed to the “all Europe” coverage offered in Mobile Flite Deck
In that case I suppose the advantage could be to have a single app for VFR+IFR although I have to say I like and am used to SkyDemon for VFR.
Note : I was not looking for Jepp plates, but for IAC+enroute (in general) usable in a practical way on an iPad for Europe.
so we have :
Yes; that’s about it.
The reason the IAP plates are poor is an interesting debate. The CAAs could easily draft them to be cockpit-usable. I think there is something going on. Many years ago there was litigation against Jeppesen, led by the Australian CAA, over alleged copyright breach, because the various CAAs believe they own the airspace data. Jepp did a secret settlement with the Australian one and I know from the then head of charting of the UK one that the UK CAA and other CAAs were watching the “action” closely. It seems certain that under the deal that was done Jeppesen are paying the CAAs some $$$ for republishing the data – otherwise why have a secret settlement? There would be nothing to settle otherwise!
However, the part of the deal which the CAAs have to honour is that they don’t do anything to damage Jepp’s chart business. This is the problem with A contractually extracting money from B… A has to agree to not do anything which would make it hard for B to make the money in the first place 
It’s the same as having a CAA extracting a license fee from a maintenance company, as is normal in EASA-land. The said CAA then cannot trash that company for doing crap work – or at least they need to think twice before doing anything adverse. Similarly CAAs cannot criticise the standard of PPL training – because they extract money from all the schools. You live by the sword and you die by the sword. This is one reason why I never want to see commercial advertising on EuroGA.
So, it is pretty obvious that the reason we get the crappy AIP charts is because the CAAs agreed to protect Jepp’s business.
Obviously if this came out it would be a scandal, hence the confidential settlement.
Peter wrote:
So, it is pretty obvious that the reason we get the crappy AIP charts is because the CAAs agreed to protect Jepp’s business.
I doubt. AIP charts were crap and Jepp charts were good even in 1983 when I started flying. When was the Australian CAA litigation supposed to have happened?
