ForeFlight (merged thread)

Hi @jacko,

I’m looking into it, but you are correct that is a proprietary format. I’ll see what answers I can can find this week and get back to you when I know more.

Josh

I am playing around with the trip planner option on the web application (advertised as a premium plus feature). From what I can see the route planner calculates flight time as a straight-line between departure and destination airport. Is that correct?

If so, that renders this premium feature essentially useless. On long routes (>3hrs) EUROCONTROL routings can easily add 5% to planned flight time (ignoring en-route shortcuts) which starts to become significant. This is especially the case when the trip is planned close to the operating hour limits of the airport.

It’s a trip "assistant’, not a trip planner. It gives you a starter-for-ten offering options for en-route stops. Clearly you need to do a bit of homework in then generating routes for specific legs.

Dave_Phillips wrote:

It’s a trip "assistant’, not a trip planner.

Completely agree but it’s not like we are talking about SkyVector adding AutoRouting. ForeFlight already has all the infrastructure and back-end available to offer correctly calculated routes & according timings. Would it not make sense for trip assistant to calculate those so that the timing is as realistic as possible? In the end you pay for the application to do as much of the “homework” as possible for you

Just as suggestion for @Josh_Tahmasebi_ForeFlight and team!

Hi @TimR,

Appreciate the feedback. I believe you are correct that right now it is based on DCT so we can look into future enhancements. I have forwarded this to the team that works on Trip Assistant.

Josh

Hello everyone!

Just an update that ForeFlight 11 was released today so I’ll share the release notes here:

Airport 3D View

• Get a 3-dimensional preview of the airport environment combining terrain data and aerial imagery to better prepare for arrival.
• Selectable runway buttons allow you to visualize direct-in approaches by automatically positioning the camera along the glideslope, with the ability to rotate and zoom the view up to a distance of 15 nautical miles.
• A data readout provides information about the runway and current camera elevation, and the distance and angle of the camera from the end of the selected runway.
• Airport 3D View is included in Performance Plus, Business Performance, and MFB Performance subscription plans.

Breadcrumbs

• View your flight’s GPS track from takeoff to landing directly on the map.
• ForeFlight automatically starts the breadcrumbs trail when you take off and doesn’t remove the breadcrumbs until after you land, ensuring you have access to them for the whole flight.
• Tap on the breadcrumb trail to save it as a new track log or reset it without saving.
• Breadcrumbs are included in Pro Plus plans and higher.

Expanded Coverage for the Netherlands, Denmark, and Faroe Islands

• All European subscribers can now download AIPs for the Netherlands, Denmark, and the Faroe Islands, which include airport diagrams, IFR and VFR procedure charts, VFR ICAO charts, IFR enroute charts for the Netherlands, and documents. Jeppesen’s IFR and VFR aeronautical data is also included for all three countries.
• Two new optional VFR add-ons are also available to enhance your visual flying:
• Netherlands DFS Visual 500 Chart
• Denmark DFS Visual 500 Chart
• ForeFlight already provides advanced flight planning capabilities in all three countries, including fast autorouting and EUROCONTROL route validation, IFR and VFR flight plan filing, and helpful flight plan notifications like EUROCONTROL slot allocation messages, flight suspension and de-suspension notices, and calculated takeoff time (CTOT) messages caused by flight plan delays.

KMZ File Support

• Import and display KMZ files on their own or in content packs in addition to KML files.
• KMZ files allow you to include custom icons that aren’t natively supported by ForeFlight, bundle multiple KML map layers together, and support rich text formatting within a waypoint’s description.

@Snoopy sorry we didn’t have this out the other day, but it will work for future items!

Settings Filter

• Use the new text box at the top of More > Settings to filter settings by name and section title.

Another quick note is we have new Europe focused social channels on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Have a great evening,

Josh

Any news on fly-by waypoints for autorouting, and making the altitude limits work properly?

@Peter,

We have raised the priority of these items and should have more to share soon. I don’t have an exact date, but there are things moving.

Josh

Josh_Tahmasebi_ForeFlight wrote:

Airport 3D View is included in Performance Plus, Business Performance, and MFB Performance subscription plans.

This is a bit of a bummer. I just downloaded v11 (US version) and had a quick look at that – really cool and useful. The only issue is, that all the other Performance Plus functionalities are very much tailored to the bizjet market – not a space I (and many others) are in. Any chance to add this to the Pro Plus plan or make it available as an add-on there?

Yes, I downloaded the latest today too and was disappointed to check prices. For the cost of the upgrade from Pro Plus to Performance Plus, I’ll continue to use Google Earth for airport 3D viewing – I’ve been doing that for years. Otherwise I find Foreflight to be a fantastic tool for my use.