Trouble with a simple MVC (of the design pattern)

Question

Below is the troublesome MVC triad (see attached error image). The problem is in the Model where I am loading data from a MySQL database using a php script. The array businessUnits is updated in the constructor. However, in the method getBusinessUnitsList(), it is not.
package
import flash.events.*;
public interface IModel extends IEventDispatcher
  function getBusinessUnitsList( ):Array
  function getBusinessUnit( ):uint
  function setBusinessUnit(index:uint):void
package
   import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
   import flash.net.URLLoader;
   import flash.net.URLRequest;
   import flash.events.Event;
   import flash.net.URLVariables;
   import flash.net.URLRequestMethod;
   import flash.net.URLLoaderDataFormat;
   public class Model extends EventDispatcher implements IModel
  protected var businessUnitsLoader:URLLoader;
  protected var businessUnits:Array;
  protected var chosenBusinessUnit:uint;
  //Constructor
  public function Model()
   businessUnitsLoader = new URLLoader();
   businessUnitsLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onComplete);
   businessUnitsLoader.load(new URLRequest("http://localhost/InteractiveStrategy/businessUnits.php"));
   businessUnitsLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.VARIABLES;
   function onComplete(event:Event):void
    businessUnits = businessUnitsLoader.data.businessUnits.split("*");
   trace("From constructor "+businessUnits.length)
  public function getBusinessUnitsList():Array
  trace("From method "+businessUnits.length)
   return businessUnits;
  public function getBusinessUnit( ):uint
   return this.chosenBusinessUnit;
  public function setBusinessUnit(index:uint):void
   this.chosenBusinessUnit = index;
   this.update( );
  private function update():void
   dispatchEvent(new Event(Event.CHANGE));
package
import flash.events.Event;
import fl.controls.ComboBox;
public class View extends CompositeView
  private var cb:ComboBox;
  public function View(aModel:IModel,aController:ICompInputHandler= null)
   super(aModel, aController);
   var businessUnits:Array = (model as IModel).getBusinessUnitsList( );
   cb = new ComboBox( );
   for (var i:uint = 0; i < businessUnits.length; i++)
    cb.addItem( { label: businessUnits[i].bem, data:i } );
   update( );
   addChild(cb);
  cb.addEventListener(Event.CHANGE, this.changeHandler);
  override public function update(event:Event = null):void
   cb.selectedIndex = (model as IModel).getBusinessUnit( );
   super.update(event);
  private function changeHandler(event:Event):void
   (controller as ICompInputHandler).compChangeHandler
   (ComboBox(event.target).selectedItem.data);
package
public class Controller implements ICompInputHandler
  private var model:Object;
  public function Controller(aModel:IModel)
   this.model = aModel;
  public function compChangeHandler(index:uint):void
   (model as IModel).setBusinessUnit(index); // update model

Answer 1

I have download the NAVTEQ sample data pack and in the process of importing it, but it seems that using 700mb of data for me to ask oracle "given this point, tell me what country or ocean it is in" would be overkill.
An option would be to load the entire data set, then delete the stuff you don't need (lower level admin boundaries, etc). Of course, at the end of the day it depends on how accurate you want your results to be. The more accurate the data, the more confidence you will have in the result.