That is usually when I know that I am out of date with an airport.....the controller then usually hears a slightly embarrassed and cheeky "Unable" from my bird....and then the fun of being vectored all over to make my silly butt able to land without causing too much problems....lol...good thing the controllers on vatsim are usually always very good guys..and usually laugh with me, and not at me.

A simple solution to make lives easier for the VATSIM controllers is to include a note similar to "Default scenery" in the comments of your flight plan. That way they know if the scenery you are using may be out of date and can plan for it ahead of time. In regards to the original question about Navdata, most addons now use Navigraph's service (not just aircraft addons, either). It is actually a really good deal since you only have to get a pack update once, and you can download that update for all of your addons that use Navigraph's service. The AIRAC updates every 28 days, but Navigraph's updates are cheap enough that you should be able to update every two or three cycles, if not every one. Another plus about Navigraph, is that you can get charts from them as well (though I only use it for those countries where charts are not available for free). As for why PMDG doesn't do their own AIRAC updates, it just isn't in their business model. It is easier to program their (incredible) aircraft to accept navdata from another provider than it would be to create their own navigation database (which would end up being almost identical to what Navigraph already provides). The downside, of course, being that if Navigraph ever shuts down, we are all up the proverbial creek.

Thanks Guys!

I update my Navdata every couple of months. I think my 747-400 and MD-11 are on the cycle before the NGX came out and I haven't updated the NGX's yet. But I use most of my credits on the charts they provide. Apart from Australian, UK and USA charts which I can fully understand other countries can get a bit confusing (even in their english format!).

There is no need to buy or update the nav database.There is a post by NGX on how to edit the file.Save your money for the 600-700.

... The downside, of course, being that if Navigraph ever shuts down, we are all up the proverbial creek.

That, and the fact that Navigraph data very often is inaccurate or incomplete, especially when it comes to altitude and speed restraints on arrivals / departures.

Considering Navdata updates are based on 'real world' and FSX uses a 5 year old database and doesnt recognize the Navadata, I have never bothered to update. II really dont care if a 'fix' has changed its name, or a runway has changed it's number, because unless you update FSX, it makes no difference.

Considering Navdata updates are based on 'real world' and FSX uses a 5 year old database and doesnt recognize the Navadata, I have never bothered to update. II really dont care if a 'fix' has changed its name, or a runway has changed it's number, because unless you update FSX, it makes no difference.

It does make a difference if youre into flying real life routes tho, as some fixes or airways might not exist in ancient nav data

It does make a difference if youre into flying real life routes tho, as some fixes or airways might not exist in ancient nav data

I guess if you fly on VATSIM or others it might make a difference, I dont so I really dont know. But the bottom line is, if FSX don't see it, it don't exist, and FSX data is old. For example, the runway number changes and ILS freq's. Even though the FMC says it's RWY 28 now (KPBI) FSX still see its as RWY 27. Some ILS freq's have been changed and even though the FMC say's one thing, if it's been changed FS will only use the old freq. So until someone comes up with a new FSX database that mirrors Navdata, I dont see the sense in updating every 28 days. Heck some of my FMC planes have Navdata years old and I have yet to update them and the planes work just fine.

I guess if you fly on VATSIM or others it might make a difference, I dont so I really dont know. But the bottom line is, if FSX don't see it, it don't exist, and FSX data is old. For example, the runway number changes and ILS freq's. Even though the FMC says it's RWY 28 now (KPBI) FSX still see its as RWY 27. Some ILS freq's have been changed and even though the FMC say's one thing, if it's been changed FS will only use the old freq. So until someone comes up with a new FSX database that mirrors Navdata, I dont see the sense in updating every 28 days. Heck some of my FMC planes have Navdata years old and I have yet to update them and the planes work just fine.

I see. I don't buy a lot of scenery, so I guess I won't be buying it for a while. For me, it's important though to have updated SIDS and STARS and waypoints.

I see. I don't buy a lot of scenery, so I guess I won't be buying it for a while. For me, it's important though to have updated SIDS and STARS and waypoints.

You dont need to buy scenery to get updated runway / taxiway names. The flightsim community have put out updated freeware versions of the vast majority of airports that have had a change of the runway numbering / taxiway naming / ILS frequencies. Just search for the airport ICAO code in the avsim library.

You dont need to buy scenery to get updated runway / taxiway names. The flightsim community have put out updated freeware versions of the vast majority of airports that have had a change of the runway numbering / taxiway naming / ILS frequencies. Just search for the airport ICAO code in the avsim library.

Yes, but I meant like a full update. Like if there is a new terminal in real life, they would update it. But I know what you mean. I have 2 runway patches freeware that I got for KSEA (adding Center runways) and TNCM (changing from 09 to 10).

It does make a difference if youre into flying real life routes tho, as some fixes or airways might not exist in ancient nav data

The PMDG simulation never relies on the MS-provided navigation database for fixes or routes. It does rely on radio navigation from the MS platform, eg., VORs, ILS etc. However, even the location of those are provided by the NavData database and not the facility data in MSFS. This is one reason why the default flight planner is not compatible with the PMDG FMS, becuase it only uses the old data. Too bad MS virtually hard-coded all that data in the scenery files as if they were mountains. It's good that terminal navaids such as ILS can be updated with scenery add-ons, but there's not an easy way to change the enroute airspace structure.

The PMDG simulation never relies on the MS-provided navigation database for fixes or routes. It does rely on radio navigation from the MS platform, eg., VORs, ILS etc. However, even the location of those are provided by the NavData database and not the facility data in MSFS. This is one reason why the default flight planner is not compatible with the PMDG FMS, becuase it only uses the old data. Too bad MS virtually hard-coded all that data in the scenery files as if they were mountains. It's good that terminal navaids such as ILS can be updated with scenery add-ons, but there's not an easy way to change the enroute airspace structure.

IMO, for MS Flight, MS should make monthly updates to the map to fix those issues, and scenery updates as well. (Such as KSEA runway patch, a few years back)

You will be hard pressed to NOT find a freeware update. NavData is a must in my opinion if you fly online, and want realism. It is cheaper than buying a candybar if you breakdown the cost of each update....