When was the last time you filed a flight plan using ForeFlight? For some of you the answer may be “10 minutes ago”, and for others it may be “You can file in ForeFlight?” Regardless of how many times you’ve tapped the File & Brief tab, or how you currently file, filing in ForeFlight has many great features that will get you to the runway faster and with maximum preparation for the flight ahead. Here are six of the most compelling reasons to start using ForeFlight as your all-in-one flight plan filing solution today.

Smart Flight Plan Form Entry

ForeFlight’s File & Brief view makes completing a flight plan form as simple as a few taps: copy your route details from the Maps view using the Send To button, then set the departure time and tap File. Integrating with the flight planning engine saves you the time and effort (and possible mistakes) of re-entering flight details in the form, especially IFR flight plans with lots of airways and waypoints.

Smart flight plan form entry shines when you file with the ICAO flight plan form, soon to be required for all VFR and IFR flights in the US. You don’t have to keep track of the difficult formatting rules, as ForeFlight automatically handles this for you.

Amend / Cancel / Activate

You’ll never have to call flight service again to amend, cancel, or activate a flight plan, as you can accomplish all of these things right from the File & Brief view. To change a filed flight plan, tap Amend, edit your flight information, then tap File Changes. Flight plans can also be cancelled or activated with a tap of a button. ForeFlight gives you the tools to take control of your flight plan without delays.

Automatic Flight Notifications

Once you’ve filed your flight plan, weather conditions and NOTAMs can change, sometimes significantly enough to affect your go/no-go decision. ForeFlight will notify you when changes occur with the Flight Notifications feature, available with Pro and Pro Plus subscriptions. Flight Notifications provide text and graphical depictions of AIR/SIGMETs, TFRs, NOTAMs, urgent PIREPs, and more. ForeFlight begins monitoring your filed route for changes two hours prior to your scheduled departure time, and notifies you of the changes with a red badge on the File & Brief tab and a prominent banner at the top of the view.

With IFR flight plans, ForeFlight will also notify you when ATC issues an expected route or acknowledgment for your flight plan. These are sent by the ForeFlight servers directly to your device, even when the ForeFlight app is closed.

Graphical Briefing

ForeFlight’s Graphical Briefing delivers the next generation of preflight briefing, with translated information presented in a visually elegant design to enhance readability. It has all the elements of a standard preflight briefing, including AIR/SIGMETs, TFRs, NOTAMs, forecasts, current conditions, and more, without the tedium of page-after-page of coded text. The briefing serves as the perfect complement to the simplicity and ease that characterizes the rest of ForeFlight’s filing process.

Cloud Protection

Every flight plan you file and briefing you retrieve are saved securely both on your device and in the ForeFlight Cloud. This is important for more than just record-keeping — if you ever have to prove that you obtained weather and pertinent NOTAMs in compliant manner with 14 CFR 91.103(a) preflight action, your briefing will be available and timestamped to provide this proof.

Consolidate Your Resources

While all the features listed above are great on their own, perhaps the best reason to file with ForeFlight is that they’re all available in one place, building on each other to provide the smoothest filing experience. Consolidating your flight planning, filing, and flying resources into a single location guarantees maximum efficiency, a sentiment we have heard from many of our customers in Part 135 operations, where efficiency is required to stay in the game.

You can get the details of filing in ForeFlight in the Pilot’s Guide to ForeFlight Mobile, or in the Filing with ForeFlight Mobile guide, which focuses on ICAO flight plan filing.

A new Airport and Navigation Database is available to download for the February 4, 2016 – March 3, 2016 period. This Feb 23 Update removes the cancelled VOR RWY 28 at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall (KBWI) and addresses an FAA Safety Alert.

All customers will be prompted to download this update inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

Before the horses come to town, there will be helicopters! For the first time HAI Heli-Expo is coming to Louisville, Kentucky and Team ForeFlight will be on hand in Booth 6736 to demonstrate all the latest features that help your pilots fly safer and your flight department stay in sync.

ForeFlight’s hazard awareness features make it easy to comply with Part 135 obstacle height regulations. Profile view, hazard advisors, and Synthetic Vision allow you to quickly evaluate and plan your route, without any surprises. Make informed decisions with better weather, distribute company documents, manage iPad deployments, and make sure you’re flying with the most up-to-date charts.

Still haven’t taken the plunge to attain EFB approval or need help managing your current program? We are here to help—schedule a time to chat or drop by the booth to learn about our comprehensive EFB solution. We can also provide a majority of the paperwork you will need for your FAA approval package in our EFB Documentation Kit. FAA 8900.1 guidance has come a long way and we have several customers who have shared their experience with EFB deployments. You can check out this valuable insight here.

Also, don’t miss our resident Weather Scientist, Scott Dennstaedt, who will be discussing low-level wind shear and how to identify and avoid this dangerous hazard. This seminar will earn you FAA Wings credit and is part of the Rotor Safety Challenge. Attend six of the scheduled safety sessions and receive a certificate of recognition as well as valuable knowledge.

Minimizing Exposure to Low-Level Wind Shear – Presented by Scott Dennstaedt
Mar. 1, 2016 | 2:15 pm – 3:15 pm | Room C201 | pre-register for FAA WINGS credit
Mar. 2, 2016 | 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm | Room C104 | pre-register for FAA WINGS credit

See you there!

Data updates are now available to download for the March 3, 2016 – March 31, 2015 period:

• Airport and Navigation Database
• Documents
• VFR Charts and Terminal Area Charts
• Taxi Diagrams
• Terminal Procedures
• Airport/Facility Diagrams
• ForeFlight Airport Diagrams, including new diagrams and updates for the following airports:

Data updates are also available for our Military Flight Bag customers:

• Global airport, navigation, and airway coverage from the Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File
• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Terminal Procedures
• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Airport Diagrams
• AFR High Enroutes, Area Charts
• EEA High Enroutes, Area Charts
• ENAME High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• Airfield Qualification Program (AQP) diagrams
• Airfield Suitability and Restrictions Report (Giant Report)
• Airport/Facility Directory
• Documents

All customers will be prompted to download these updates inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

A new Airport and Navigation Database is available to download for the March 3, 2016 – March 31, 2016 period. This Mar 10 Update corrects a navaid on the B4 airway and addresses an FAA Safety Alert. This update also improves Procedure Advisor for a number of approaches.

We have also added the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In & Expo NOTAM to our Documents Catalog. This document is available for download on the iPad version of ForeFlight Mobile. Tap on the Documents view, then tap Catalog in the top-right corner to see the list of available documents.

All customers will be prompted to download this update inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

ForeFlight 7.6 includes Logbook enhancements and expanded connectivity options with Garmin and Avidyne panel-mounted avionics.

Log Your Flights with Photo Memories

Photos take center stage in the Logbook enhancements delivered in ForeFlight 7.6. Now you can attach unlimited images—from your Photos app or fresh from your device’s camera—to flight entries, aircraft profiles, certificates, and endorsements. Use photos to capture the view on approach to the runway, keep a visual record of squawks, or take a selfie of you and your passengers. Once in Logbook, images can be cropped and rotated to your liking. As with all your Logbook data, these images are stored securely in the ForeFlight Cloud so you can access them from all of your devices.

We’ve also added an FAA 8710 report to serve as a guide for filling out your Airman Certificate/Rating Application. Both the 8710 and flight experience reports can be accessed from the new Reports section of the Logbook menu. You also have options to export to email or AirPrint from within the app.

Finally, medical and knowledge test certificates with issue and expiration dates can be added in the Qualifications section, along with new custom type ratings.

Expanded Connectivity with Garmin and New Integration with Avidyne

ForeFlight 7.6 includes full support for Garmin’s new GTX 345 ADS-B Out transponder, which can supply ForeFlight with ADS-B weather and traffic, WAAS GPS, and AHRS information, all while helping you meet the FAA’s 2020 ADS-B Out mandate. The GTX 345 connects to ForeFlight directly via Bluetooth — no Flight Stream required!

We’ve also partnered with Avidyne to enable connectivity between ForeFlight and the IFD540/440 FMS. The Wi-Fi connection sends GPS position data to ForeFlight and enables flight plan transfer from the IFD to ForeFlight.

Learn more about the ForeFlight Connect platform here.

ForeFlight customers now have access to a wealth of new international NOTAMs in the app. In particular, all Canadian NOTAMs available on the NavCanada website are now available in ForeFlight, saving our Canadian and cross-border customers valuable flight planning time.

Most international airports now include NOTAMs for their FIR (Flight Information Region), which can be found under the ARTCC NOTAMs tab, as well as additional airport, obstacle, and TFR NOTAMs. The rate at which NOTAMs update in ForeFlight is also faster.

Although the number of NOTAMs available in ForeFlight has expanded greatly, it is not exhaustive, so be sure to check other sources for relevant NOTAMs when planning a flight outside the US.

Apple released the final version of iOS 9.3 on Monday, March 21. Although we have spent the past weeks testing with the developer previews of iOS 9.3, we want to spend a few more days with the final version of 9.3 to ensure ForeFlight Mobile is working as desired before issuing an ‘all clear’.

At their March 21 Keynote presentation, Apple announced the release of a new 9.7 inch iPad Pro, which delivers the enhanced performance and features of its full-sized predecessor in the more space-conscious size of the iPad Air 2. Apple reports that the new screen reduces reflectivity by 40 percent and increases brightness by 25 percent compared to the iPad Air 2, and automatic white balance adjustments allow colors to stay accurate in different levels and kinds of lighting. Combined with iOS 9.3’s Night Shift, which adjusts colors after sunset to ease strain on the eyes, these features will likely make the new iPad Pro’s viewing experience the best for use in the cockpit.

What we’re most excited about with the new iPad Pro is the ability to use it with Apple Pencil, introduced last year alongside the original iPad Pro. Made for the iPad, Pencil brings incredible precision to ForeFlight features like Scratchpads, annotations on plates and documents, and Logbook endorsements. Using the Pencil for these tasks helps you perform them faster and with better legibility over using a finger or a generic stylus.

CRAFT Scratchpad completed with an Apple Pencil on the original iPad Pro

The ability to use this helpful tool with a smaller iPad makes owning a Pencil far more practical for pilots than when it required the full-size iPad Pro, which is over-sized for most cockpits. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback on using the Pencil once the new iPads start shipping at the end of this month.

Plate annotations made with an Apple Pencil on the original iPad Pro

Data updates are now available to download for the March 31, 2016 – April 28, 2016 and March 31, 2016 – May 26, 2016 periods:

• Airport and Navigation Database
• ForeFlight Airport Diagrams, including updates to the following airports:

From the FAA:

• VFR Charts and Terminal Area Charts
• World Area Charts
• High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• Caribbean High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• Ocean Planning Charts
• Taxi Diagrams
• Terminal Procedures
• Airport/Facility Diagrams
• Documents

For Canada region customers:

• Taxi Diagrams
• Terminal Procedures
• High and Low Enroutes
• Canada Flight Supplement
• Documents

For our Military Flight Bag customers:

• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Terminal Procedures
• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Airport Diagrams
• CSA High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• PAA High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• D-FLIP Publications such as Planning Change Notices, Area Planning Documents,
• Chart Supplements, Enroute Change Notices, and Terminal Change Notices.
• Airfield Qualification Program (AQP) diagrams
• Airfield Suitability and Restrictions Report (Giant Report)
• Airport/Facility Directory

All customers will be prompted to download these updates inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

Data updates are now available to download:

• A new US IFR Enroute H-8 chart is available for download. This removes Class A airspace exclusions near the Florida Keys and addresses an FAA Safety Alert.
• VNC and VTA charts for Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and VNC charts for Lake Athabasca and Regina are available for our Canada region customers.

All customers will be prompted to download these updates inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

ForeFlight version 7.6.1 is a minor release that addresses two bugs that appeared in 7.6 involving the Documents View and location services. Although most customers were not affected by either of these bugs, we recommend that all customers upgrade as a preventive measure.

We are excited to share that ForeFlight’s development team recently deployed technology that can recognize missing or corrupted graphical TFRs that are delivered via the NOTAM system. The new tool alerts ForeFlight’s TFR Desk team members, who then take immediate action to correct the TFR graphic and distribute it quickly to ForeFlight customers.

As a pilot, you rely on web, mobile, and data-link apps and services to display accurate and up-to-date TFR information. And, as Tyson Weihs, ForeFlight’s co-founder and CEO, explains: “From time-to-time, the NOTAM system publishes TFRs without the shape information necessary to depict them. We built the monitoring systems and established the TFR Desk so that pilots can have the highest-quality TFR information as quickly as possible. TFR incursions are still an important issue for the aviation community, and we are doing our part to help.”

In addition to identifying and creating or correcting TFR information, ForeFlight notifies the AOPA’s regulatory affairs team of the discrepancy, who then works with the FAA to correct the information in the NOTAM system. These corrections then make their way back to users via other channels, such as the ADS-B data link system.

The team will continue to improve the tool’s capability to also recognize misshapen TFR files. This effort helps us to quickly distribute the most accurate information and minimize the risk that a pilot will violate a TFR area.

Last week the FAA launched the External Data Access Initiative and held the first industry forum to start a discussion about industry wants and needs. This is an important milestone, and I am happy that we at ForeFlight played a role in its development.

Over the past two years, and via our involvement in GAMA and our FAA and industry relationships, we have had the opportunity to present our vision for an “Open Source FAA” to FAA leadership. What I believed is that by opening access to data – and where possible computer source code such as the FAA’s ERAM and other systems – innovations will follow and ultimately create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs and a more efficient FAA. We are excited to see this initiative launched.

We encourage others to participate in the FAA forums and provide feedback. The FAA website for the External Data Access Initiative is here.

-tyson

We have tested iOS 9.3.1 with ForeFlight and are ready to issue an “all clear” to all customers. Feel free to download the update at your own convenience.

We recently added several World Aeronautical Charts (WACs) to the VFR map layer on ForeFlight Web, increasing chart coverage to include the Caribbean. The CJ-26, CJ-27, and parts of CH-25 WACs now provide chart coverage beyond the VFR Sectionals.

Don’t forget that the FAA will be replacing WACs with VFR Sectionals over the next year (see our blog post from January for details). The WACs covering the Caribbean will expire in February and March of 2017, however the new VFR Sectionals for that area will be introduced before the expiration dates, ensuring continuous VFR chart coverage.

Data updates are now available to download for the April 28, 2016 – May 26, 2016 period:

• Airport and Navigation Database
• Documents
• VFR Charts and Terminal Area Charts
• Taxi Diagrams
• Terminal Procedures
• Airport/Facility Diagrams
• ForeFlight Airport Diagrams, including new diagrams and updates for the following airports:

Data updates are also available for our Military Flight Bag customers:

• Global airport, navigation, and airway coverage from the Digital Aeronautical Flight Information File
• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Terminal Procedures
• Georeferenced worldwide D-FLIP Airport Diagrams
• EEA High Enroutes, Area Charts
• ENAME High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• PAA High and Low Enroutes, Area Charts
• Airfield Qualification Program (AQP) diagrams
• Airfield Suitability and Restrictions Report (Giant Report)
• Airport/Facility Directory
• Documents

All customers will be prompted to download these updates inside of ForeFlight Mobile.

For the May 26 chart update, the FAA reported a charting error for the SAKES waypoint in Utah. The error unintentionally removed SAKES from the J100 airway. The error will take effect with the May 26th chart update, after which any flight plans filed that combine J100 and SAKES will be rejected. The J80 and Q70 airways, which also include SAKES, will not be affected.

The FAA will correct the error with the July 21st chart update, but until then minor flight plan adjustments will need to be made to avoid having certain flight plans rejected. The table below lists a number of recently filed routes involving J100 and SAKES, along with the correction to file successfully.

Click to view full image.

We’ve recently added some new features to ForeFlight Web that enhance its usefulness for flight planning. The airport popup now closely mirrors the airport popup in the ForeFlight Mobile Maps view, including tabs along the bottom for general airport information, the current METAR, forecast products, and winds aloft.

Use the buttons along the bottom of the popup to view information about an airport, forecasts, and winds aloft.

From the Info tab you can find lists of frequencies, runway information (including wind components), and links to taxi charts and procedure plates that can be viewed directly in your browser. Links to outside resources like Google Maps and flight tracking through FlightAware are also available. The forecast tab includes TAFs, MOS, and recent area forecast discussions. All this information can be accessed simply by clicking on a weather overlay marker for an airport, or by searching for that airport in the Search bar.

The airport popup also includes an Add to Route button for easy “click planning”. With departure and destination points entered into your Navlog, you can then click on the route line to rubber-band it to intermediate waypoints and airports, just like touch planning in the ForeFlight app.

Intermediate waypoints can be added to your route just like in the app – drag your route line to the desired location, then drop it and select an item from the list.

After building your route on ForeFlight web, it automatically syncs to the app on your iPad and iPhone. You can find the route in ForeFlight Mobile in the Recent routes list, or in Favorites if you saved the route.

We are in the final stages of compatibility testing between ForeFlight and the newly released iOS 9.3.2 to ensure that everything is working smoothly. We will update this post with an “all-clear” when testing is completed.