ForeFlight Mobile 3.1 is available for download from iTunes App Store! It’s a big update. Here’s what’s new:
Slip Maps
We enhanced the Slip Maps in 3.1 in two meaningful ways: we’re introducing eight new weather Slip Maps and they provide global coverage. These new maps are fast, interactive (tap each marker for details), and process observation data intelligently to keep the view clean, elegant, and informative. Customers now enjoy thirteen Slip Maps, ranging from HD NEXRAD to global lightning strike imagery, all capable of pinch, zoom, pan, and route overlay.
If you’re contemplating a local flight in San Antonio, around São Paulo, or heading abroad on an international leg, these new maps provide unprecedented local and global situational awareness to pilots ranging from students to international exec jet pilots.
The new maps are:
- Flight rules map
- Ceiling altitude map
- Temperature map
- Visibility map
- Sky coverage map
- Dew point spread map
- Surface wind map
- Lightning map
Below are screenshots of each new map. Note the color coding of threatening conditions on the temperature, wind, and dewpoint spread maps. Visibility and ceiling maps are color coded according to the currently applicable flight rule. It’s now easier than ever to assess personal risk and ensure you’re within personal limits.
Downloads
The Downloads feature received a couple of notable improvements. Firstly, the ‘install’ phase is now about 10x faster for plates. Secondly, we’ve improved Downloads ability to recover from jittery networks. iPhones bounce on and off the network frequently, and many WiFi routers are iPhone challenged, so this enhanced error correction and recovery makes for a smooth downloading experience.
Aircraft Management
We’ve added a new Aircraft tab that provides basic aircraft management. You can create an unlimited number of tails and provide details like true airspeed, default altitude, default burn, home base, equipment, and other important attributes.
The aircraft database is integrated with both the Routes, Flight Plans, and Maps feature. If you want to spitball a route with a specific tail, you can enter something like the following: ‘KSGR KAUS N12116’ on either the Route view or Maps view. ForeFlight will use the default altitude and performance parameters and compute ETE, burn, and wind corrected plan details. Override any of the performance parameters you wish. For example, ‘KSGR KAUS 150 8500 N12116′ will use 150 KTS and 8,500’.
When filing a flight plan, you can select one of the Aircraft you’ve created and all the default values are copied into your flight plan automagically.
Routes and Maps ‘Round Trip’
If you tap the Routes icon, spitball a route (e.g. ‘KSGR KAUS 150′), and then tap the Maps button, you can now edit your Route on the map, tap close, and the Route view’s nav log will be updated to reflect your edits. We call this ’round trip editing’.
Help
A new Help icon makes its debut on the home screen. Help allows you to view our overview videos on-demand.
That’s all for this update. Now on to some ‘bigger’ features 🙂