Hi Jim,
Nice to hear from you stranger.
You get the updates from File/Database Explorer and you will see a tab marked Database Updates. Click on the tab and make sure all the tables are ticked then choose the option Update All Records and press Start Update.
You will see a green progress bar going left to right and when it finishes processing of the update starts and after a few moments you will be told to Restart.
Close down RB and restart, this will finish the process and on starting up again it you go to Database Explorer/Tables and click on the Aircraft Table on the bottom left you should see a figure of just over 231,000 records if all has went well.
As you state a new d/b is available each night and its up to you how often you update. All the other tables get updated as well but it is only really the Aircraft and Routes Tables which see routine activity.
Alan