Jeppesen and Satcom Direct announced Monday a teaming relationship that allows each company to sell a bundled solution to their customers that combines flight planning services and cockpit communications.
Jeppesen’s JetPlan flight-planning and filing services are accessed via the JetPlan.com Web interface. Customers can also access the JetPlan databases, which include worldwide notams, user manuals, en route navigation fees, worldwide aviation weather maps, text weather reports, en route text-only weather briefings, FAA-approved RAIM prediction reports and, coming next month, graphical flight tracking.
The agreement enhances JetPlan by providing direct-cockpit communications through Satcom Direct’s FlightDeck Freedom (FDF) service. FDF supports flight-deck communications via Inmarsat, Iridium and SITA VHF and transmits flight-critical data to the flight crew, including pre-departure clearances, digital ATIS, oceanic clearances, current airport weather, graphical weather and flight plan routes.
Dispatchers and maintenance personnel can monitor the aircraft through automated takeoff and landing reports and e-mail messages to and from the aircraft; they can also see aircraft position at any time with Satcom Direct’s new SD Flight Tracker. Flight crews also have direct access to cabin and satellite network monitoring and performance tools while en route.
Jeppesen plans to bolster the JetPlan flight planning service to include EU emissions trading scheme (ETS) calculations for all flight plans filed for European travel. It is anticipated that this capability, and other enhancements, including integrated weight and balance calculation, will become available in the first quarter of next year.
Both the services of Jeppesen (No. 1699) and Satcom Direct (No. 3208) can now be accessed by customers for a fixed annual cost.
FAA Grants RSC OK
Jeppesen also announced that it has received a key acceptance letter from the FAA, thereby allowing its electronic charts to be integrated quickly and efficiently with on-board aviation navigation systems.

The AC20-148 reusable software component (RSC) acceptance letter is only the second such letter issued by the FAA and is the first RSC for a platform-independent navigation component. Jeppesen’s RSC acceptance allows navigation system developers to incorporate Jeppesen electronic charts quickly and efficiently.
An RSC “pre-certifies” a software component, eliminating the need to recertify the internal elements of the component each time it is implemented onto a system. This greatly reduces the overall certification requirement for systems hosting Jeppesen charts.

The latest Jeppesen Integration Toolkit is a complete, embedded software developers kit which reduces integration effort. When this acceptance letter is coupled with Jeppesen’s Avionics Integration Professional Services, OEM integration time is reduced to just months.

The FAA also has certified Jeppesen to design, flight validate and maintain public required navigation performance (RNP) and also special aircrew and aircraft authorization required (SAAAR) procedures in the U.S.