My best friend called me several weeks ago to tell me she accepted a temporary research position in the Galapagos Islands for the summer. She explained her trip would consist of studying birds on several different Islands so naturally, I asked her several questions about how she was flying there and even suggested she may want a visitor for a few days. First thought: I better update my navigation database!

In the event you’re taking a trip to kick off the unofficial start of summer, navigation database updates can be purchased and downloaded on our flyGarmin website. The navigation database consists of airport information, airspace data, and in the case of our panel-mount avionics, allows pilots to be legal for IFR flight. Updates can be purchased in the form of a one-time update or annual subscription basis. Since the information changes often, a new update comes available for download every 28 days and the latest navigation database cycle begins today, which makes it a great time to update!

So, I know you’re wondering “Is Lucy really going to the Galapagos for the Summer?’  After we had a short conversation about actually getting to the Islands, my friend graciously informed me that flying there is rather difficult and a round-trip commercial flight just from Quito, Ecuador to the Galapagos is about $500…I guess I will be staying in Kansas for the summer!