ForeFlight: Intelligent Apps for Pilots

We are happy to announce that ForeFlight has acquired i1000, an app for pilots created by Portland, Maine based pilot and software developer Malcolm Toon. As part of the acquisition, Malcolm has joined the ForeFlight Mobile development team, bringing with him his passion for aviation and aviation app development. With i1000, Malcolm innovated in many areas, and we’re excited about what his innovation will bring to ForeFlight pilots in the coming months.

Customers with active i1000 subscriptions will receive pro-rated credit in ForeFlight’s web store for the value of the time remaining under their current subscriptions. If you are a current i1000 customer and wish to take advantage of this offer, email team@foreflight.com to transfer your i1000 credit to ForeFlight.

Malcolm, we’re happy to have you on the team and we look forward to delighting ForeFlighters everywhere with what’s in store!

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Update (November 9): We are no longer accepting applications for this position.

We’re looking for a pilot to join our customer support team. You’ll provide fast, friendly support to ForeFlight users around the world. This is a part-time position (~20 hours per week) with a focus on evening hours (~5pm – 9pm CDT) and 1 weekend a month. You can work remotely and telecommute. We’d prefer someone based in Texas, but we’re open to hiring the best person no matter where they live.

You’ll provide “it was so good they couldn’t stop talking about it” customer service via email for ForeFlight apps. You’ll also be responsible for occasional phone support and helping update the FAQ section on our web site.

While training, you’ll be virtually working side-by-side with members of our pilot support team. Once you’re fully up to speed, you’ll be expected to answer 10-20 emails per hour. This is a significant volume, so be sure that you’re ready and able to deal with that kind of load day after day.

We’re looking for a pilot who loves to help others, someone who can keep smiling even when dealing with tough users (empathy is important), and someone who has a passion for our products and company. You should enjoy the process of making a confused user a happy customer.

In addition, you have to be an excellent writer who enjoys writing. Our users love when we get back to them within 10 minutes with a clear, concise, and friendly answer. Great writing is key.

About the position

This is a part-time contract (1099) position. If you’re a good fit and enjoy being part of the team, we would like it to lead to a full-time position.

How to apply

Please submit:

• A cover letter explaining why you want to work at ForeFlight, a description of a great customer service/support experience you had recently, and what made it great.
• A short resume detailing your work history.
• A list of which hours you could (and could not) work in a typical week.
• A short description of your flying experience, how often you fly now, and what you use to plan your flights.
• The email address on your ForeFlight account.

Also, attach the following writing samples:

• Explain to a potential user in 3 short paragraphs (or less!) why a user would use ForeFlight Mobile for preflight planning instead of web sites.
• Respond to a user who doesn’t realize there is a bulk download option, and has been downloading individual plates inside an airport to save them.
• A pilot wrote in wanting to use ForeFlight Mobile as a logbook. Explain that we do not offer logbook functionality.

Email your resume, cover letter, and writing samples to jobs@foreflight.com (PDF format preferred). Include “Customer Support” in the subject line.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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We had the privilege of attending EAA’s Young Eagles awards dinner last Tuesday at AirVenture 2011 as new contributors to the EAA Young Eagles program. The event honors those EAA members who give their time, talent, and tender to support Young Eagles. Jeff Skiles and Sully Sullenberger presided. The event was emotional and heart warming.

During his remarks, Mr. Skiles asked for audience participation. He asked EAA members who had given more than 50 Young Eagles flights to stand up. A crowd rised up. He upped the number, asking only those who had given more than so many flights to remain standing. 100, 500, 750 all ticked by, with a room of volunteers still standing. 1,000 …. 1,500 … 2,000 … 2,500. Still standing. The winner: 2,992 Young Eagles flights given. If you gave one Young Eagles flight every day starting tomorrow, it would take more than 8 years to achieve the same. Truly impressive and inspirational.

Near the end of the ceremony, Hal and Sandy Shevers of Sporty’s received an honorary lifetime membership to the EAA. “I didn’t prepare any remarks”, said Mr. Shevers, and he went on to share one very memorable thing. “In life”, he said, “you learn … you earn … and you return.” Simple, memorable advice that we take to heart.

We at ForeFlight are happy to “return” some of what we have earned making software for pilots. In an agreement signed with EAA just before AirVenture, ForeFlight committed to underwrite four scholarships to the EAA Air Academy. The funds will provide four youths annually the means to attend EAA’s remarkable Air Academy summer program. In addition, all Young Eagles enrolled in the Young Eagles Flight Plan that solo – step four in the EAA Young Eagles flight plan – will get free access to ForeFlight Mobile software, keeping them connected to aviation when off field.

Since 1992, the EAA Young Eagles program has provided more than 1.8 million youths the chance to experience flight. This is a truly remarkable program, and the perfect way for pilots to pay it forward to future pilot generations. If you have access to a plane and time to share, please consider becoming a Young Eagles volunteer. It’s an ideal way to pay it forward to future pilot generations.

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Update: we have finished this round of hiring, and these positions are no longer available.  Thanks for all of the interest!

The ForeFlight team is growing!  We’re looking for an iOS Developer, a Lead Web Applications Developer and a Lead Data Developer to help us create the next generation of mobile aviation applications.

iOS Developer

ForeFlight is looking for an iOS developer to join our team. This position is for a unique, experienced and technically well-rounded individual with experience building and shipping iOS apps. This person will help us create the next generation of ForeFlight apps.

Technically, this person is experienced in Objective-C and Cocoa development, with a track record of shipping well-designed apps. This person can hit the ground running on iOS 4 and iOS 5 technologies, writing rock solid code with blocks, GCD, and all the acronyms still under NDA. This person is naturally curious, exploring new technologies in order to stay current, but balances the use of new and old to ensure that execution is priority.

Professionally, this person is driven to execute, deliver, and complete projects independently, seeking advice and direction from team members when needed, and plowing ahead to completion when the path forward is clear.

This person will be able to point to specific examples that highlight the individuals ability to meet the objectives outlined above, and references will confirm this persons unique abilities.

This person will be well compensated, respected, loved, and made part of the ForeFlight family. A pilot-coder, or individual looking to pursue his or her private pilot’s license, is a plus.

If in Houston, Austin, or College Station, TX, this position will be full-time immediately. If in another location, and since the work will be done remotely, this individual will be contract-to-hire in order to evaluate fitness.

Send a cover letter and resume to jobs@foreflight.com.  Make sure to include links to apps that you’ve created and any open source projects that you’ve contributed to.

Lead Web Applications Developer

ForeFlight is looking for a lead web applications developer to join our team. This position is for a unique, experienced and technically well-rounded individual with expertise in server-side development.

This person will manage our web applications infrastructure in the cloud; evolve our web applications, tools, and APIs to support current and future initiatives; ensure scalability, security, and fault tolerance; push ForeFlight’s server-side capabilities forward in innovative ways that keep it at the leading edge of mobile flight support apps.

Technically, this person is a language polyglot, unafraid to tackle problems in Java, Python, Scala, JavaScript, and Objective-C. This person views programming languages as tools, not religions. This person believes building and managing applications and servers in the cloud is cake. This person is naturally curious, exploring new technologies in order to stay current, but balances the use of new and old to ensure that execution is priority.

Professionally, this person is driven to execute, deliver, and complete projects independently, seeking advice and direction from team members when needed, and plowing ahead to completion when the path forward is clear.

This person will be able to point to specific examples that highlight the individuals ability to meet the objectives outlined above, and references will confirm this persons unique abilities.

This person will be well compensated, respected, loved, and made part of the ForeFlight family. A pilot-coder, or individual looking to pursue his or her private pilot’s license, is a plus.

If in Houston, Austin, or College Station, TX, this position will be full-time immediately. If in another location, and since the work will be done remotely, this individual will be contract-to-hire in order to evaluate fitness.

Send a cover letter and resume to jobs@foreflight.com. If you’ve contributed to any open source projects, make sure to include links to relevant code.

Lead Data Developer

ForeFlight is looking for a lead data developer to join our team. This individual will manage and evolve our tools and processes for data aggregation, data packaging, GIS, and geo-referencing tools.

This person will be responsible for running our data import and data packaging tools. ForeFlight aggregates information from sources around the world and packages it into formats and bundles that our apps utilize. This individual will be responsible for operating and improving these tools, with the ultimate objective of being able to provide updated data changes to our applications in near real time.

Technically, this person is a language polyglot, comfortable managing existing tools written in Python and Java, and confident to build additional tools in the same languages. This person is GIS savvy, or capable of quickly becoming GIS savvy, and will be comfortable working with and integrating open source GIS tools into workflows to achieve the company’s objectives. This person is unafraid of the mathematics that belie GIS and GIS toolsets.

This individual will work with raster en-route chart data, point and shape data such as elevation data sets and global airspace information, navigation data, airport information, service provider information, and other data sets ForeFlight will integrate in the future.

An individual that can work out of our Houston, Austin, or College Station, TX offices is preferable. Working remotely will be considered for an exceptional individual. This person will be well compensated, respected, loved, and made part of the ForeFlight family. A pilot-coder, or individual looking to pursue his or her private pilot’s license, is a plus.

Send a cover letter and resume to jobs@foreflight.com. If you’ve contributed to any open source projects, make sure to include links to relevant code.

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