ForeFlight’s August release includes new charts for both U.S. and European pilots, enhanced single-tap and map layer functionality on the Maps view, easy aircraft sharing, and more!
Enhanced single-tap and map layer functionality
A number of improvements allow you to do more with ForeFlight’s map layers and the single-tap gesture.
You can now enable multiple shape-based map layers like TFRs, AIR/SIGMET/CWAs, and GAFOR (if you are a European subscriber) simultaneously. Viewing multiple map layers at once can make flight planning easier and heighten inflight awareness. Due to the increased likelihood of multiple map layers overlapping, we have added more functionality to the single-tap gesture on the Map.
Tapping on overlapping shapes will bring up a “Map Info” popup that shows a list of elements at that location, with some quick information about them including the type, active times and altitudes, and more. Tap on any element in this list to view more information about each one.
The Map Info popup also allows you to select elements from icon-based map layers like winds aloft barbs, PIREPS, lightning, obstacles, and Aeronautical Map elements like waypoints and airways.
The single-tap improvements also allow you to tap on FBO markers on airport diagrams that are built into ForeFlight’s Aeronautical Map to quickly access information about them. From this FBO marker popup, you can contact, get directions to it, see and update fuel prices, view/add comments, and more.
US Flyway Charts
Newly georeferenced U.S. VFR Flyway Charts from the FAA are now available for download and viewing directly on ForeFlight’s map using the VFR Flyway map layer.
Previously available only in the Documents view, these planning charts depict potential VFR routes through and around major metropolitan areas to help VFR pilots avoid Class B airspace and commercial traffic flows.
Normally printed on the back of TACs, VFR Flyway Charts are available for Atlanta, Baltimore-Washington, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver/Colorado Springs, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Phoenix, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. The charts are drawn at a scale of 1:250,000.
VFR Flyway charts appear as a new layer at the bottom of the left-hand column in the layer selector on the Maps view. They are also associated with a new configurable download switch in More > Downloads > Download Settings > United States. Make sure you have this switch turned on and your desired states selected and downloaded below to see the Flyway charts offline.
European Graphical NOTAMs
Access graphical depictions of European enroute NOTAMs directly on ForeFlight’s map for improved flight planning and inflight situational awareness. Graphical NOTAMs are supported for all of Europe.
Enable the NOTAMs layer in ForeFlight’s layer selector to display graphical NOTAMs on the map (this layer may also show as “TFRs” based on your iPad’s region setting).
ForeFlight shows active and inactive NOTAMs and provides the times they will be active. NOTAMs are color-coded based on type and severity, with airspace and obstacles notices in gray, scheduled exercises in orange, and restricted/danger areas in red.
Tap on multiple overlapping NOTAMs to bring up a “Map Info” popup that shows a list of the elements selected with some quick information about them including the type, time active, elevation, and more. You can choose from this list of elements to view more information about each one.
ForeFlight uses geographic data contained in NOTAM descriptions to draw their actual shapes whenever possible, giving you a better sense of the NOTAM’s actual effective areas.
Like TFRs, ForeFlight will automatically download graphical NOTAMs when you pack for a flight so you can access them without an internet connection.
Aircraft Sharing
Share your aircraft profiles in ForeFlight with other pilots for easy collaboration when flight planning. Tap the Send To button while viewing an aircraft to share it via Airdrop, email, text, or any other messaging app. The recipient can then tap the link on their iPad or iPhone to accept the share. Shared aircraft are read-only, so recipients can’t change any of the aircraft’s details, but any changes made by the original owner are automatically synced to any recipients.
Aircraft Sharing can be paired with Flight Sharing, making it easier to plan and coordinate flights with others.
Recipients must be running ForeFlight version 11.7 or above to accept shared aircraft. Aircraft shared from a Performance Plus account to a non-Performance account will not include the ForeFlight Performance Profiles, as these are only available with Performance Plus.
Logbook Night Times
Create draft Logbook entries from planned or filed flight plans and ForeFlight will automatically calculate how much of each flight may be logged as Night Time.
You can enable draft Logbook entries from filed flight plans in More > Logbook > Settings > Draft Entry Creation > Filed Flight Plan.
New Document Types
You can now import comma-separated value files (CSV), and Apple Pages, Keynote, and Number files into ForeFlight’s Documents view. You can import these files via AirDrop, email, iTunes, or via a connected cloud storage account if you have a Pro Plus subscription or above.
Our full list of supported document types include pdf, tiff, tif, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, bmp, bmpf, txt, doc, docx, xlsx, xls, pptx, ppt, csv, pages, key, and numbers.
Additionally, the Documents view now separates your personal drives from the rest so you can more easily access your imported documents and any linked cloud storage account. Learn more about ForeFlight’s Documents view here.
Expanded European Coverage
All European subscribers can now download AIPs for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Turkey.
The AIPs include IFR High and Low enroute charts for all countries other than Turkey, VFR procedure charts for all countries other than North Macedonia, IFR procedure charts, and documents.
Learn more about what data is available for Europe through ForeFlight here.
FLARM NMEA Support
Third-party devices that deliver FLARM traffic information via the NMEA protocol can now display that traffic within ForeFlight. ForeFlight also supports FLARM traffic from third-party devices using our extended GDL90 protocol, as well as via uAVionix’s SkyECho 2 ADS-B and FLARM transceiver. Click here to learn more.
