Faster Planning, Faster Downloads, And More, Company Says

The makers of ForeFlight have released the latest version of the popular flight planning software, saying this latest release offers a more advanced Procedure Advisor and a dramatically improved navigation database that enables visual preview of SIDs, STARs, approaches, and pattern entries.

Additionally, downloads are significantly faster and use less disk space. Chart Touch technology lets users see the margin information for sectional and IFR en-route charts. Cabin Altitude Advisor leverages integrated pressure sensors to alert you when things don’t seem quite right. Support for Apple Watch gives at-a-glance weather, flight instruments, and timers. And, the new web-based flight planning system delivers an industry first Web-to-Panel flight planning experience for supported avionics.

The Procedure Advisor tool now allows users to visually preview arrivals, departures, approach procedures, VFR traffic patterns, and Search and Rescue patterns prior to adding them to your route. Procedure preview makes it easy to see how various procedures enter and exit a terminal area.

Procedure Advisor also allows pilots to preview instrument approaches, including a flag on the best wind runway based on the current METAR. Once an approach is selected you can preview different entry points on top of the plate itself. When you are done, simply tap Add to Route.

You can also preview different traffic pattern entries with Traffic Pattern Advisor. The preview flags the best wind runway based on the current METAR and the best side for different VFR pattern entries. Once you have finished adding items to your route, simply tap Close (on the upper right) or tap outside the preview window to hide the Procedure Advisor.

Procedure preview is available on the iPad to Basic and Pro subscribers.

Subscribers can now view US VFR Sectional and IFR Enroute chart legend panels directly on the Maps view. The new Chart Touch action allows you to rotate through each overlapping chart in turn based on where you tap the chart. To enable, select the gear icon in the Maps view; then, tap on Chart Touch Action.

When “Bring chart to front” is selected, a single tap toggles between all available charts in the area, including switching between sectionals and terminal area charts. When “bring chart to front with legends” is selected, the chart side panel information is also displayed. You can turn off the Chart Touch feature at any time by selecting “No action.”

ForeFlight 7 introduces faster and smaller downloads that use less disk space during cycle cross-over time. We call this Delta Downloads and the new system only delivers the ‘what changed’ data each month, resulting in a 70% to 90% reduction in download time without compromising chart quality. Delta Downloads includes terminal procedures, taxi charts, IFR and VFR charts, FAA A/FD, and Canada Flight Supplement data. As Delta Downloads rolls out, you will see the full benefit over the next couple of data cycles. As a customer, there is no action you need to take. Delta Downloads happens automatically for all subscribers.

In the past year, hypoxia and depressurization have claimed pilot lives. Cabin Altitude Advisor is designed to prevent future accidents like these. Cabin Altitude Advisor takes advantage of the barometer sensor built-in to iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and iPad Air 2. The advisor alerts pilots when crossing through 12,000 feet MSL and 25,000 feet MSL. The audio and visual alert triggers once every 30 minutes for each altitude. Pressure Altitude is also available to display in the Instrument panel.

Finally, ForeFlight flight planning is coming soon to your web browser. ForeFlight Web Beta enables a full screen desktop experience, automatically syncs to ForeFlight Mobile, and offers seamless Web-to-Panel capabilities via ForeFlight Connect. The Web-to-Panel concept is a first in flight planning, where web planning activity syncs to your mobile device and loads into the panel of supported avionics like Dynon SkyView.

ForeFlight Web Beta will initially be available to existing ForeFlight customers. The company envisions this as a very collaborative product development process with our customers. The company says its features will evolve quickly with frequent releases, driven by its vision and by customer feedback.

(Images provided by ForeFlight)

FMI: www.foreflight.com/web