ForeFlight 9 is full of features that enhance every phase of flying. Run through checklists with ease and reduce cockpit clutter with ForeFlight Checklist. Glide Advisor™️ helps you locate a safe place to land in the event of engine failure, choose from Light & Dark App Themes for day or night flight, helpful enhancements to Logbook, new SXAR1 integration features, and more. Read on for all the details of the ForeFlight 9 release, now on the App Store!
Consolidate Your Toolset with ForeFlight Checklist
ForeFlight’s integrated checklists keep important safety procedures organized and easily accessible. Your familiar paper checklists are transformed into customizable digital templates allowing you to reduce cockpit clutter and spend less time heads down searching for a particular checklist item. Checklists for every phase of flight are laid out in an interactive, intelligent interface that fits naturally into your flying workflow.
Select from one of the predefined templates derived from aircraft POH manuals or create and edit your own customized collection of checklists. Templates are provided for a variety of fixed-wing and rotorcraft models. A template for the IMSAFE pilot checklist is also available, allowing you to efficiently conduct a personal preflight health assessment.
To run through a checklist, simply tap an item and a green check mark appears. This visual feedback provides an easy way to pick up exactly where you left off with a quick glance. Tap “Skip” to move past an item; this is especially useful if you don’t move through a checklist from A to Z. If you experience an inflight emergency, tap the emergency button to jump immediately to emergency checklist procedures, saving you time and sparing you the hassle of flipping through a stack of paper procedures.
ForeFlight Checklist is a feature of our Basic Plus and Pro Plus subscription plans.
Learn more about ForeFlight Checklist at foreflight.com/checklist.
New Glide Advisor™️ Helps You Quickly Locate a Safe Landing Space
Using terrain, GPS data, winds aloft, and your aircraft’s best glide speed and ratio, ForeFlight shapes a glide range ring around your ownship icon on the moving map display. If you lose engine power, Glide Advisor helps you quickly assess your options. Enable Glide Advisor in the Map Settings menu. To enter your aircraft’s glide ratio and best glide speed, tap the Glide Settings field under Glide Performance. Pro Tip: Pair Glide Advisor with Distance Rings to quickly report your position to ATC. For the ultimate inflight situational awareness experience, combine Glide Advisor with ForeFlight’s Synthetic Vision and Hazard Advisor.
Reduce Screen Glare with New Dark App Color Theme
We continue to make flying at night easier on your vision with the addition of a new Dark App Color Theme. Turn on the Dark App Color Theme in More > Settings to convert the background color throughout the app from white to dark blue. Important information remains easily visible through the use of highlight colors and prominent white text. Combine the Dark App Color Theme with Color Inversion and a Dark Map Theme for a powerful night setting.
Logbook Enhancements: Helpful Aircraft List Details and CFI Currency Tracking
When viewing your Aircraft list in Logbook, you will now see details including aircraft make/model, category/class, gear type, and total hours in that aircraft. It’s a helpful design detail that provides more visibility into your logbook data and also makes it easier to select the correct aircraft for your flight entry. Tap on any Aircraft to modify profile information or to view and edit any associated entries.
Logbook’s color-coded recency tracking now includes support for Certified Flight Instructors. To track your CFI currency, enter your instructor certificate number and expiration date in Logbook’s Qualifications section. You can view or edit your instructor certificate at any time by tapping on the summary in the main Logbook view. Recency tracking in ForeFlight Logbook is the fastest way to visually check the status of all of your currencies in a single spot.
Learn more about ForeFlight Logbook at foreflight.com/logbook.
New SiriusXM SXAR1 Features are Music to Your Ears
ForeFlight’s integration with the SXAR1 Aviation Receiver now includes support for streaming SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Pair your Bluetooth headset or audio device (like your aircraft’s built-in Bluetooth audio system) to the SXAR1 and use the ForeFlight interface to browse and select radio stations. The SXAR1 provides audio to one Bluetooth audio device at a time. The video above will get you started with setup.
In addition, SiriusXM’s Surface Wind weather layer is now available. To dive deeper into this new SXAR1 layer, check out this article written by our in-house Weather Scientist, Scott Dennstaedt.
Learn more about the SXAR1 and purchase information by visiting foreflight.com/siriusxm.
Create Custom Overlays With New User Map Shapes
Now you can import custom KML files into ForeFlight. KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is a file format used for geographic data that allows you to import shapes such as points, lines, and polygons into ForeFlight’s Maps view. User Map Shapes are more versatile than simple user waypoints, allowing you to designate specific areas on the map for your custom, navigation needs; flight schools or flying clubs can use User Map Shapes to delineate designated training areas or route lines on the map.
Import your KML files into ForeFlight via iTunes sideloading, then display them on the map by enabling them in the layer selector, just like with other map overlays. Watch our video tutorial above to learn more about importing KML files into ForeFlight.
Helpful New Device Disconnect Alert
In a perfect flying world, the wireless connections we use in the cockpit would never experience issues. But whether from a dead battery, connection issues, or human error, both portable and installed equipment can unexpectedly disconnect. ForeFlight’s new Device Disconnect Alert provides a prominent visual and audio alert that allows you to quickly troubleshoot and restore connection or switch to an alternative data source. This helpful new alert monitors both portable and panel-mounted avionics.
You can manage all alerts in ForeFlight in More > Settings > Alerts.
More Document Support: View Word, Powerpoint, and Excel Files in ForeFlight
ForeFlight Documents now includes support for Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files. Import and save your POH, local procedures, common radio frequencies, or any other .docx, .pptx, or .xlsx file for easy access in ForeFlight’s Documents view. Connect your Amazon S3, Dropbox, or Box account to securely deliver document files and updates via the cloud.
Import your Microsoft Office documents into ForeFlight via iTunes sideloading, and easily share documents with your friends or fellow pilots with the Send To button.
Learn more about ForeFlight Documents at foreflight.com/documents.