I suspect Fltplan.com will continue to provide them for free to registered users. They are paying a licensing fee to NavCanada for the Canadian CAP charts and enroute charts, and they provide these for free to registered Fltplan.com users in the interest of safety.

Being a Brazilian educated in an American school, I have always looked up to America regarding these issues. I thought such things were immaculate over there. If you´re a taxpayer and the FAA uses your money to publish information that concerns flight safety, such as AIP, then I think it is your right to have unrestricted access to that information. And everyone should scream at the top of their lungs about it. I might be naive, but I think that the US is one of the few places in the world where politicians still give a crap if enough noise is made. They appear to respect public opinion, or at least fear it. It´s a shame to see that money talks so loudly in Washington (as it does in Brazil´s capital btw) but maybe if enough of a racket is done by thousands of pilots this will blow over and not come to pass. But I´m disappointed this is happening. Not so much for my flight simming, but for the fact that you guys are being deprived of your rights apparently. And, the skies are not going to get any safer if they take that information down. A lot of small time GA pilots will have trouble remaining current in their AIP. I´m not saying they should use it as an excuse, I´m just saying it´s bound to happen.Is it just me or after 2001 the general public started viewing GA as a threat and the government is happily indulging them in this ridiculous notion?I´m not going to discuss this or that administration for two reasons: one, I don´t know enough about American politics to enter said discussion, and two, this is a sensitive subject to most of you and you don´t need a foreigner telling you how things should be at your home. But hopefully Washington will come to its senses. AIP is pretty much free in the rest of this planet. Why shouldn´t it be in America of all places!?

+1 Doc

Not one single bit. Request the information and they will send the information AND possibly a BILL. FOIA does not mean FREE. You should read up on such things before posting!

But it does mean it's suppose to be provided to any person that requests it, they want to limit access to commercial entities only. As you say the FOIA does provide that they can charge a fee to recoup direct costs for searching, duplication, and review. It also states, that any request that has been released to any person, that has or is likely to result in subsequent searches of like material, must be provided by Computer telecommunications, or if that is not available, some other electronic method. (For any data created after 11/1996) This is why it's on the web to begin with same as data available on the web from other agencies. Nowhere in the act does it state they can limit distribution to commercial entities. In fact it stresses any person, or the public all through the text of the act.

Hate to say it folks but I doubt an online petition is going to convince them of anything... We went through this back when they took the navdata DAFIF file down too - nothing helped. Amazing how we pay for the creation of this stuff with our tax dollars and then they just take it away though... no reason this shouldn't be public.

Sounds like Belgium!?Bert Van Bulck

Guys, please read Avsim's rules regarding one's political views.I'm locking this thread.