AIRAC 2101 update?

Hi MSFS team,

AIRAC 2101 is already effective since the 28th of January. Any news about the expected update?
is there a scehdule for releasing future AIRAC updates?
As someone noted before, instead of SIM update, what about having it available in the content manager? indeed seems a much better fit for such recurring updates.

Thanks

MS / Asobo will certainly not implement every AIRAC update in the game, but there is the possibility to purchase the AIRACs via Navigraph and to implement them in the MSFS via a tool

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I’m using navigraph and it’s much easier

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AIRAC is not exactly cheap.

The Asobo implementation of AIRAC also doesn’t seem to be perfect. I found quite a few of the procedures to be wrong in parts or maybe just interpreted wrong. But I constantly have to check the procedures against the charts to make sure the constraints are correct, just as an example.

You are better off with Navigraph as a specialized provider. I used them for years (not currently as I wait for better IFR platforms to be available - don’t need it for VFR) and they are great.

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A word of caution –
If you use Navigraph to update the AIRAC then the level name will not necessarily be reflected in the information in an FMC. I have updated to 2101 which runs to 24th Feb. The info in the A320 FMS still shows 2014.!! This info only gets changed when ASOBO issues a general fix. This sort of discrepancy has been reported before.

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It’s essential that MSFS team will clearly communicate the expectations on this topic. They promoted NavBlue as the sole provider for navigation data and the live Q&A’s clearly shows that they intended to get the charts product also working in the sim. From what I get, they do intend to make navigation data more current and correct.
It also makes sense to have a single navigation data source that will work with all of the simulator features in a consistent manner.
Navigraph option is valid, just like many other things… but if navigation data is communicated as a core sim functionlity with more features upcoming in the roadmap, I think that they should really communciate their intentions.

Isnt Navigraph a subscription service?

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Yes it is.

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You are absolutely right.

We will see if they own up to their promises or if this topic will slowly be swept under the rug when the IFR crowd switches solely to Navigraph and the VFR players stop caring.

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Uhh. They should??? They have a literal partnership with NavBlue so I would be surprised if they don’t.

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well i suppose there is lots of things they should … i.e. delivering promised launch-day features like multi monitor support for cockpit builders … but i digress, sorry :wink:

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They will update it, just a matter of when.

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I think a service like Navigraph or similar is the best way. Integration with these services is what is needed. This allows flexibility in the community with those that want the updated information for training and those that just want to fly without such details of realism.

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They’re integrated with such a service though. It’s called Navblue. The sim doesn’t update it right on the same day, but I would expect it to come in the coming days, or more likely combined with the next world update.

Home - NAVBLUE an AIRBUS company

Feel free to argue about the quality of Navblue vs. Navigraph, but Navblue is the company MS/Asobo partnered with.

From CM Jayne:

“Hi everyone, the latest small update was a server-side update to the Navdata from NavBlue. This will happen every 28 days.” Small update - Navdata - Community / News and Announcements - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

Last NavData update was released 23 days ago: Small update - Navdata (January) - Community / News and Announcements - Microsoft Flight Simulator Forums

Based on the statement “This will happen every 28 days”, my understanding is that it is correct to say that Microsoft and Asobo will certainly implement every AIRAC update in the sim.

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Not sure where you get that grossly incorrect piece of information. Microsobo are partnered up with NavBlue, who publish charts. They’ve updated the AIRAC data every month since the sim was launched. Originally, they did it a bit late with one of the regularly scheduled updates. In November, they started issuing them as separate updates. We’ve had 2 standalone AIRAC data updates so far. Both those were a bit late as well, but they came out.

Now, I don’t disagree. Navigraph data is far superior to what is in the sim. I’ve been using it and I wouldn’t even dream of switching back to the dumpster fire that’s the MSFS stock data. There’s so much missing data, and so much of the data that’s there is just plain wrong.

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@Enkanath, I keep hearing about this multi monitor thing being a problem, yet at the same time I’ve seen plenty of videos of people actually spreading their view across 2, 3, and sometimes even more, displays. So maybe I’m misunderstanding something, if that is already possible, what is the “multi monitor” feature that I keep hearing about supposed to do?

We have had 2 small updates in the last three months to update the nav data, so anyone saying that it is not a thing is wrong.

Also, the Working Title team with the CJ4 has shown the the internal nav data is much more complete then what the stock avionics expose. They have said that pretty much everything is there, it is just being filtered/discarded by the stock avionics.

So before we sat bad things about NavBlue, we must consider limitations of the stock avionics in which data they show.

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Actually, the last data set was missing about 1000 ILS approaches worldwide. And a lot of the stock data is inaccurate.

You’re correct that the stock avionics don’t use the whole data set provided, and a lot gets filtered out and discarded for whatever reason. The WT team analysis was right. The data is a lot better than what we would believe using it in the sim. It’s still incomplete and has a lot of inaccuracies. Although that’s improved with every cycle so far. The first couple of cycles, it had at best 50% of the waypoints, approaches, etc. Last month’s data was the most complete so far.

One g;aring error I notice is that my local airport is an untowered / uncontrolled field with the stock data, and only has a single ILS and a single RNAV approach. In reality, it’s controlled, has 1 ILS and 3 RNAV approaches. Navigraph data fixes that for me. And the radio frequencies in stock data don’t match real life frequencies, making real charts useless.

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Here’s a question… I am a Navigraph subscriber. But I use it for my P3D flying… Do I simply install their beta for MSFS? That’s not any additional cost to me, correct?

How is your experience? Anything problematic in terms of using Navigraph vs the stock NavBlue stuff? How would one switch back to NavBlue if they aren’t going to use Navigraph for MSFS? I am definitely happy with it in P3D, but it’s a bit different - the stock P3D data was ancient while MSFS gets constant AIRAC cycle updates, so I am wondering if it’s worth it to use that instead in your opinion.