ForeFlight’s October release includes a new High Resolution Basemap, a setting to select multiple map layers at once, the ability to add custom Safety Distance Factors for Takeoff & Landing Performance, and more.
High Resolution Basemap
ForeFlight’s High Resolution Basemap depicts ground features and cultural elements in much greater detail for improved inflight reference.
ForeFlight’s basemap is what you see with no other charts or maps other than the Aeronautical Map enabled, and includes terrain, roads, and other cultural elements.
The default basemap provides a basic depiction of major roads and urban areas, while the High Resolution Basemap dramatically increases the level of detail, exposing minor roads and individual railway lines, increasing the resolution of coastlines and urban areas, and highlighting national parks and forests in green. The High Resolution Basemap also adds terrain peak markers with altitudes so you can easily identify the highest points in an area. You can enable/disable these by tapping Map Settings (cog button in the Maps View) > Terrain and toggling the Peaks switch on/off.
The Cultural Elements menu in Map Settings also allows you to toggle different features of the basemap on or off. The last element, Points of Interest, includes landmarks or notable buildings that are visible from the air, such as castles and palaces in Europe, and will include additional elements in the future.
Like with High Resolution Terrain, ForeFlight will automatically select and download the High Resolution Basemap for your region, but you can also download the basemap for other regions by enabling it in Download Settings. Toggle the High Resolution Basemap switch on for a region and select each desired country/state for download.
Multi-Select Map Layers
Toggle multiple map layers in a row without having to reopen the Layer Selector each time.
Enable the new “Multiple Selections” setting at the bottom of the Map Settings menu (cog button on the maps view), or in More > Settings > Layer Selector.
Once enabled, the Layer Selector remains open until you tap elsewhere on the screen, allowing you to quickly toggle as many layers as you want.
On iPad, you can also pan and zoom around the map while the layer selector is open, even if the Multiple Selections setting is disabled, allowing you to quickly view what each layer looks like on the map.
AOPA FBO Fees
ForeFlight displays FBO fees from AOPA’s Airport Directory to help you make more informed flight planning decisions. AOPA’s FBO fee directory includes about 40,000 fees from businesses in the United States to increase cost transparency, benefiting pilots and FBOs.
To view FBO fees, navigate to an FBO on the Airports View, Maps View, Plates View, or Flights View. Access an FBO’s fees from the FBO detail view by tapping the Fees tab. For each fee ForeFlight shows the type of fee and any notes on the left and the cost on the right. Fees that vary by aircraft type or other factors show a range of costs that you can tap into to see the full breakdown.
FBO fees are usually updated in ForeFlight within a week of being updated in AOPA’s Airport Directory, and you can see when FBO fees were last updated by looking below the fee list. If you are an admin for an FBO, please contact AOPA to change fees in their directory so your fee list can update in ForeFlight.
Custom Takeoff & Landing Performance Safety Margins
ForeFlight’s Takeoff & Landing Performance feature allows you to specify a safety distance factor to produce more conservative runway performance calculations in response to runway conditions or other factors. Takeoff & Landing Performance is included in ForeFlight Performance plans and supports many piston and single-engine turboprop aircraft types.
In March of 2019, the FAA issued a Safety Alert detailing the importance of including a landing distance factor in landing performance calculations based on runway conditions. Even for dry runways, the FAA suggests multiplying the original landing distance result by a factor of 1.67 to increase the safety margin.
You can specify your own safety distance factor for both takeoff and landing directly in ForeFlight’s Takeoff and Landing Performance views. After planning a flight using an aircraft that supports Takeoff & Landing Performance, tap either of the Takeoff or Landing buttons near the top of the Flights view and select a runway to calculate the initial distance results.
Tap the Safety Distance Factor line at the bottom of the Aircraft Configuration section to enter a new number between 1 and 10. ForeFlight multiplies the initial distance result with this number to produce the final result, so specifying a factor of 1.5 will increase your desired distances by 50%, a factor of 2.0 will double them, and so on.
You can specify different Safety Distance Factors for takeoff and landing, as well as for different aircraft profiles. ForeFlight saves and automatically applies each factor on future flights with the same aircraft, making it easy to customize each aircraft’s safety factor and reuse it on the next flight.
Logbook Total Time Autofill
ForeFlight can now automatically fill certain Logbook fields based on a flight’s Total Time, simplifying the process of filling in new entries.
Select the fields you want to auto-fill with Total Time in More > Logbook > Settings > Auto-Fill Settings. Options include PIC, SIC, Dual Given, Dual Received, and Cross Country, and you can also enable auto-fill for your own custom fields if they are configured as Hours under field type.
The other new Logbook feature, “Total time Calculation”, can be found in More > Logbook > Settings > Total Time Calculation. This setting allows you to choose how ForeFlight calculates Total Time if you don’t enter it directly. Options include Hobbs Time, Tach Time, Block Time, Flight Time, or Duty Time.
FMS Flight Plan Uplink with Collins Avionics
If you use Collins/ARINC as your data-link service provider, you can now generate flight plan recall codes directly from ForeFlight. After filing a flight plan, open the Flights view Navlog to find the auto-generated recall number in the bottom-left. ForeFlight also supports FMS flight plan uplink with Satcom Direct and Honeywell avionics.
Flight Plan Uplink is available with Performance Plus and Business Performance subscriptions. Learn more about Flight Plan Uplink here.
Aerial Refueling Tracks
ForeFlight Military Flight Bag displays Aerial Refueling Tracks for both training and operational use around the world, helping military pilots plan and conduct flights that include aerial refueling.
Like Military Training Routes, Aerial Refueling Tracks are built into ForeFlight’s Aeronautical Map layer, and you can enable them in the Map Settings menu (cog button in the Maps view) in conjunction with Military Training Routes or on their own.
The tracks appear as green lines on the map, with associated labels and markers representing different points along each track.
Squares represent track entry points, and those with an “i” represent air refueling initial points. Dotted lines connecting squares to tracks represent entry legs. Circles represent both navigation checkpoints and anchor patterns, and circles surrounded by four small squares represent anchor and control points. Finally, stars represent exit points. Point names include navaid bearing and distance information as published in FLIP to assist in flight planning.
Tap anywhere along a track to add it to your route and see detailed information, including the track name, refueling altitude, TACAN information, communication frequencies, and remarks. Tapping on track points will yield similar information, as well as the point’s usage and location information. Tap on overlapping points or tracks to choose between them. Tap hold on the map to see nearby refueling track points, along with Military Training Route waypoints.
Adding Aerial Refueling Tracks to your route works much the same as Military Training Routes, with some differences. Type the track’s name into the flight plan editor to add the entire track from entry to exit. You can then tap on the track’s name in the bubble editor and tap “Expand AR Pattern” to break it into its component waypoints for easier editing. Using the Reverse button in the flight plan editor preserves the internal structure and direction of a Refueling Track if you haven’t expanded it. If you have, the Track points will also reverse along with the rest of the route.
When you add individual points from a track one at a time, ForeFlight ensures that your route follows the track’s actual pattern by automatically inserting bends where required.