ForeFlight is loaded with powerful features to help you plan and fly with everything you need at your fingertips. Even though many of its most useful features have been available for years, we frequently encounter customers at shows like EAA AirVenture who have never heard of them.
So in the interest of maximizing ForeFlight’s value to your own flying, let’s dive deeper into some of those useful features so you can make the most of them. All the features mentioned below are included in all ForeFlight subscription plans, and you can learn more about any of them in our Pilot’s Guide, Support Center, and Video Library.
Aeronautical Map
Augment other charts like the sectional with dynamic and tappable map elements and quick toggles for easy decluttering. ForeFlight’s High Resolution Basemap and Terrain also provide detailed ground references with no other charts enabled.
Smooth Decluttering
As you zoom in and out, the Aeronautical Map automatically shows and hides elements.
Details Are Just A Tap Away
Simply tap on any Aeronautical Map element to view detailed information about it, even with other charts enabled.
Quick Filters
Easily declutter the map using these toggles for different map elements.
Not seeing these? Make sure the Aeronautical layer is enabled and check the Quick Filters toggle in Map Settings.
Embedded Airport Diagrams
Zoom in to view airport diagrams with labeled runways and taxiways and tappable hotspots and FBO markers.
More Options in Map Settings
Customize the map further with different airport types, highlight or hide airspace, switch between IFR High/Low, and more from the Map Settings menu.
Map Settings
The Map Settings menu lets you further customize the Aeronautical Map as well as access many other helpful tools and features. While the main Settings view in More > Settings offers a few additional map-specific settings, this menu is quickly accessible right from the map for adjusting your most frequently-used settings and features.
To access Map Settings, tap the gear button at the top of the Maps view.
Starting at the top of the menu, you can quickly change your screen brightness as well as invert the chart colors for the VFR Sectional, IFR High/Low Enroute charts, and others that you can access from the Layer Selector. Instead of a “true” inversion that affects every color, this “smart” inversion flips white and black while keeping other colors the same so familiar chart elements are still recognizable.
In the ForeFlight Map section of the menu you can customize the Terrain and Basemap layers visible with only the Aeronautical Map enabled, as well as toggle global Place Labels that will appear on top of any chart or map.
The next section (only visible if the Aeronautical Map is enabled) lets you dive into the details of the types of map elements shown as part of the Aeronautical layer. Toggle smaller airport types like private airports, heliports, seaplane bases, etc.; customize airspace types, hide airspace above a specified altitude, and dim the brightness of airspace outside your route with Auto Highlight; and toggle between High and Low IFR airways, waypoints, navaids, ARTCC
frequency “postage stamps”, and more. This is also where you can show or hide the Quick Filters for the Aeronautical Map.
Auto Center Mode lets you choose from three options for orienting the map during a flight:
- North Up – The map is always oriented with North at the top and your ownship centered.
- Track Up Centered – The map rotates as you turn so your current GPS track is always pointing up, with your ownship centered on the screen.
- Track Up Forward – Same as Track Up Centered, but your ownship is placed in the bottom third of the screen to show more of the map in front of you and less behind you.
With Auto-Center enabled (the button in the far upper-right corner of the screen) you can toggle between North Up and whichever Track Up setting you last selected without opening the Map Settings menu by tapping the small circle in the top-right corner of the map, which shows either “N” or a compass to indicate the current mode.
While often overlooked, the Map Overlays section contains some of the most powerful inflight features outside of the Layer Selector. Spend some time toggling these on and off to fully understand how they can fit into your inflight workflow – every minute will be worth it!
Route Labels
Show or hide the labels attached to all the elements in your route (airports, waypoints, lat/long coordinates, User Waypoints, etc.).
Extended Centerlines
Show or hide labeled runway extensions for all airports in your route. The length of these extensions are proportional to the runway length, and you can tap on any of the runway labels to view that runway’s details.
Distance Rings
Show or hide a set of three concentric rings around your ownship on the map that correlate to distance or time (at your present groundspeed). Tap on the labels for any of the rings to change how their size is determined.
Track Vector
Show or hide a line extending in front of your ownship indicating your direction and speed of flight. Visit More > Settings > Track Vector Length to change how the line’s length is determined, such as distance vs flight time.
Glide Advisor
Uses your aircraft’s glide ratio, current GPS altitude, surrounding terrain, and winds aloft to present a ring showing your glide range.
Breadcrumbs
A thin green line indicates your aircraft’s path since takeoff. Breadcrumbs automatically activate on takeoff and end when you land. You can set how long the breadcrumbs remain on the map before disappearing after a flight in More > Settings > Breadcrumbs Clear After.
Map Legend
Show or hide a legend at the bottom of the Maps view to interpret the colors of any currently-selected weather layer. when the following weather layers are selected.
Marked Positions
Show or hide a button on the left side of the Maps view which when tapped will drop a green position marker at your current location. You can then review and export these markers as part of the flight’s Track Log or in the Flights view. Available with a Performance Plus subscription plan.
Map Annotations
Show or Hide the Annotations button on the left side of the Maps view, and tap this to enter Annotation mode. Use the Annotation toolbar along the top of the map to set details like color, line thickness, and undo annotations or clear the map.
Track Log Record Button
Displays a REC button on the left side of the Maps view for manually starting and stopping Track Logs. When recording, the length of the current Track Log appears below the button.
Four Color Radar
Only available when one of the Radar layers is enabled. Toggle this selection on the menu to change the radar depiction from the high resolution radar mosaic to a lower resolution, four-color mosaic.
Internet Radar Coverage
Only available when one of the Radar layers is enabled. Displays the area of available radar coverage while connected to the Internet. Areas with no coverage show hash marks and a “Radar not available” label.
Map Touch Action
Only available when a raster chart (e.g. Sectional, IFR Enroute, etc.) is enabled. Show or hide legends and borders by selecting whether or not the charts are brought to the front with or without legends.
The Multiple Selections setting under Layer Selector keeps the Layer Selector open after toggling any layer so you can toggle multiple layers quickly without reopening the Layer Selector for every one. Simply tap the Layer Selector button itself or elsewhere on the screen to close it.
Opacity Sliders for multiple weather layers and any plate or airport diagram overlaid on the map appear at the bottom of the Map Settings menu when these are active.
Finally, when connected to any supported external device like a Sentry Plus, Garmin Connext Flight Stream, Bad Elf GPS, etc., you can quickly access the device’s status and settings page (the same as you would find in More > Devices) at the very bottom of the Map Settings menu.
ForeFlight Web
Enjoy ForeFlight’s powerful flight planning capabilities right from your web browser. Get full access to view and edit your Logbook, plan and file flights, and even import documents to sync to your mobile devices via the cloud.
You can start planning from your browser by visiting plan.foreflight.com.
The Flights, Maps, and Aircraft tabs are similar to their mobile counterparts with the added convenience of a mouse and keyboard. Easily view charts and weather layers, plan routes, brief and file flight plans, and add or edit your aircraft profiles, with everything syncing to your mobile devices so you can pick up right where you left off.
For Business account administrators, the Aircraft tab also supports “publishing” aircraft profiles to make them accessible to all users on the account, complete with all details, cruise profiles, and Weight & Balance profiles, making it an essential component of ForeFlight’s account management suite.
The Imagery tab lets you see a variety of weather imagery for different regions worldwide to help you plan your flight more efficiently.
Documents on ForeFlight Web is a newer update and allows more flexibility for managing your documents. With this update, you can upload documents directly from your computer to your mobile devices, view PDF files in your web browser, move documents in and out of binders, and much more. Then watch as it syncs to your mobile devices.
Your binders and drives will show up just like on your mobile device, and use the Import button to add documents from your computer. You can also move them in and out of your Binders and Drives.
Enhanced Weight & Balance
Create, edit, and plan with Weight & Balance profiles more easily with ForeFlight’s Enhanced Weight & Balance view. The updated W&B view has a similar layout to the older one, with fields for entering load information, the weight and CG graph, significant weight values, detailed results, and powerful new integration with Flights to further streamline your flight planning. You can learn how to use Enhanced Weight & Balance in this blog post.
Pack For A Flight
The Pack feature simplifies pre-flight preparation and enhances your safety by ensuring that you have all of the current charts, data, NOTAMS, fuel prices, and the latest pre-departure weather information stored on your device for inflight access.
Once your flight is ready in the Flight Plan Editor, tap the suitcase button with the red exclamation mark, and ForeFlight will download all the information you need for your flight.
You can also access the Pack feature from the Flights view by scrolling down to the bottom of your flight details and tapping Pack.
Route Advisor
Enhance both VFR and IFR route planning with a detailed view of commonly-filed routes, airways, TEC routes, EUROCONTROL-validated routes, and ForeFlight’s optimized Recommended Route between any two airports.
To open Route Advisor, add your departure and destination airports into the Flight Plan Editor, then tap Routes.
From the Routes pop-up, you will see a list of potential routes you can select from, along with a visualization of the route on an interactive map. You can tap the route you want to view from the list or directly on the map.
If an aircraft performance profile has been added to the flight, Route Advisor will estimate time enroute, fuel burn based on that profile, and the route’s total distance. Additionally, Performance Plus customers have access to ForeFlight’s Recommended Route.