Our first release of 2018 brings quick access to Pack on the Flights view for downloading charts and weather before a flight, and smarter route suggestions for Performance subscribers with the new Recommended Route. Other noteworthy improvements include a new Flight Log to record start/end meter times, Out/Off/On/In times, and fuel remaining after a flight, as well as temperature and dewpoint data in MOS forecasts.
Integrated Flight Log Simplifies Your Record-Keeping
If you keep an aircraft flight log for recording actual flight time and fuel values, the new Flight Log can streamline your post-flight workflow by automating these common time calculations.
Scroll to the bottom of the Flights view to access the new Flight Log. Use the “Fuel at Shutdown” field to capture that data for reference during fuel load planning on your next flight. Tap on “Times” to open a page where you can record the flight’s start and end meter times and Out/Off/On/In times. ForeFlight uses these values to calculate total flight, block, and meter times and displays a summary on the main Flights form for quick reference.
The Flight Log is also useful for comparing actual ETE and fuel burn values with ForeFlight’s planned values so you can fine-tune your aircraft’s performance profile in ForeFlight. For Performance customers, tap into the performance profile detail view to adjust the bias sliders.
Pack Charts, Data, and the Latest Weather from Flights
To further streamline your planning workflow on Flights, you’ll find a quick access button to Pack directly below the Flight Log. Just like the ‘suitcase’ button on the Maps view, Pack analyzes your route to determine the charts, data, NOTAM, and weather information you need, then prompts you to download with a single tap. Packed data is available offline and when in flight. Pack also includes Icing and Turbulence map layers for Pro Plus and Performance subscribers, helping you find smoother air while in flight.
Pack uses a “route corridor” to determine what information to include: weather and NOTAMs within 25 NM on either side of your route and within 50 NM of both your departure and destination airports are included. Pack also uses your chart type selections in More > Downloads to determine what maps and charts to include, so if you haven’t selected IFR High Charts, for example, Pack won’t prompt you to download them.
Use Pack to ensure you don’t get caught in the air without the charts you need.
Faster, Smarter Autorouting for Your Aircraft
For Performance subscribers, the new Recommended Route feature (formerly AviationCloud Autoroute) gives you the best route based on your detailed aircraft performance profile and time/fuel savings, while also accounting for preferred routes, recent ATC cleared routes, and how frequently a given route is assigned. Use the recommended route for more ‘cleared as filed’ flight plans.
In addition, on shorter routes, the Recommended Route makes smarter altitude suggestions to prevent uncomfortably short cruise times at or near the aircraft’s service ceiling and provides altitudes that ATC is more likely to accept.
Graphical Route Advisor is also better at filtering out old and irrelevant filed routes created to avoid storms and other temporary hazards.
For all customers who File with ForeFlight, expected Route notifications now include “(as filed)” after the route string if the expected route is the same as the one you filed.
New Closure Warnings and Expanded NOTAM Coverage
We’ve added prominent new warning banners that let you know when an airport or runway is closed by NOTAM, making this critical information more visible to help you avoid surprises. The red banner appears on the Airports or Maps view on any closed airport or airport with a closed runway, indicating which runway is closed in the latter case. Tap or scroll to the list of runways and a smaller banner will appear on the one that’s closed. Tap the runway to see the closure NOTAM with effective and expiration dates.
We also integrated the full set of EUROCONTROL-sourced EAD NOTAMs, providing greater NOTAM coverage for European airports. We continue to provide worldwide NOTAM coverage using the FAA’s global database.
Temperature & Dewpoint in MOS
MOS forecasts in ForeFlight now provide temperature and dewpoint values, enhancing their usefulness as a supplement to official TAFs. MOS stands for Model Output Statistics and, as the name suggests, is derived from the output of weather prediction models to forecast weather at over 2000 U.S. airports, including smaller ones not served by an official TAF. The new temperature and dewpoint values are expressed either as single values or as ranges, indicating that conditions are expected to vary over the forecast period. Learn more about MOS.
Updates to ForeFlight on the Web
For a more seamless experience between web and mobile, the Maps page on the web now has a combined Favorite/Recent Route button with Edit/Clear functions. For Performance subscribers who plan with Flights on the web, the total fuel burn values shown in the Route and Altitude Advisors now include taxi fuel to better represent total fuel usage.
Other Noteworthy Improvements
- When you select an FBO on the Flights view, details for it such as FBO name, phone number, and frequency are included in the printable Navlog. Learn more about printable Navlog.
- A new setting in More > Settings > Flights can be used to translate weather and NOTAM information in the text-only Legacy Briefing to plain text, or leave it in the original coded form.
- Performance subscribers can now enable a %MAC mode in ForeFlight’s Weight & Balance feature, simplifying data entry for jet pilots.
