ForeFlight customers now have access to more winds aloft data for more accurate long term flight planning.
Seven Day Winds Forecast
The winds aloft forecast data in ForeFlight now extends up to seven days in the future (previously 30 hours), giving you more accurate route performance calculations for flight plans within that timeframe, anywhere in the world. The additional high-resolution Global Forecast System (GFS) data is available now for all ForeFlight customers and is automatically incorporated into route performance calculations.
Historical Winds
When your flight is more than seven days away, ForeFlight now gives you the advantage of historical winds aloft data. Historical winds are derived from monthly average winds over the past 40 years. This means that when you plan a flight that uses historical winds, ForeFlight assumes the same wind speed, direction, and temperature for every day and time within a given month; move the departure time to a different month and ForeFlight automatically adjusts the value based on the average for that month. You’ll know when ForeFlight is using historical winds by the yellow banner across the top of the Flights view.
It is worth noting here that, unlike the seven day wind forecast, currently only the Flights view uses historical winds. When planning in the Maps view, ForeFlight will assume zero winds if you’re planning a flight more than seven days in advance. However, you can easily send your route plan from the Flight Plan Editor in the Maps view to the Flights view and ForeFlight will automatically re-calculate route performance using historical winds. In addition, ForeFlight on the web uses historical winds for flight planning beyond seven days in the future.
Seamlessly integrating the GFS seven day wind forecast and monthly historical winds provides ForeFlight customers with more accurate data for planning a flight, whether it’s next week, next month, or next year.
