Updated June 21, 2014

Graphical Stadium TFRs are displayed on the Maps view.

Stadium TFRs are now graphically represented in the Maps view as part of the TFRs layer, both inflight using Stratus and on the ground over Internet. No additional Settings are required to view them.

ForeFlight monitors event schedules for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, NCAA Football, Indy Car, NASCAR Sprint Cup, and Formula 1 and integrates that information into the TFR layer on the Maps view.

ForeFlight looks forward seven days for events that match this criteria and the default duration for each event is set to six hours. Red TFRs are active or will be active in the next 24 hours. Yellow TFRs are inactive for at least the next 24 hours. As always, we recommend communicating with ATC inflight to steer clear of these areas when they are active.

In the Maps view, tap on the drop down menu in the upper left and select TFRs from the overlay options:

In the Maps view, select TFRs in the overlay menu.

One other thing to note about TFRs is that if the FAA publishes a TFR without graphical shape information, it may not appear in the Maps overlay. We encourage you to also check the Airports page > NOTAMs > TFRs, as well as with ATC, for any additional TFR information.

Reference additional TFR information in the Airports view > NOTAMs > TFR.

NAV CANADA has recently taken steps to modernize the Canada Air Pilot (CAP) and Restricted Canada Air Pilot (RCAP) publications. One of the six key areas of improvement is making all published procedures to scale, which (we are excited to announce) enables us to geo-reference them for ownship display. The new charts are available in-app now as a late-cycle 1406 data update. Current Canada subscribers will see the new, geo-referenced publications automatically replace the old ones as part of the standard data update process.

Ownship display shown on Vancouver BC airport diagram.

For improved situational awareness and better decision-making, our Canadian customers can now take full advantage of pre-flight planning and inflight moving map features like Plates on Maps:

ForeFlight Mobile Pro Canada is available for $149.99 per year. For more information and to purchase, visit our Canada web page.

Be sure to make room in your agenda for one of our scheduled Education Forums at EAA AirVenture 2014. Get a full hour of in-depth training on flying with iPad, ForeFlight Mobile, and Stratus, as well as updates on the latest features. Using real-world flight scenarios we’ll walk you through how to use ForeFlight Mobile during each phase of flight.

ForeFlight Education Forums Schedule:

Monday, July 28
11:30 am – 12:45 pm, Forum 8

Thursday, July 31
11:30 am – 12:45 pm, Forum 5

Friday, August 1
1:00 pm – 2:15 pm, Forum 11

Saturday, Aug 2
8:30 am – 9:45 am, Forum 9

Also be sure to check out these additional forums presented by our friends from Sporty’s:

Advanced iPad Flying Tips with John Zimmerman
Tuesday, July 29, 8:30 am – 9:45 am, Forum 7

ADS-B and the iPad with John Zimmerman
Thursday, July 31, 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm, Forum 8

iPad 101 with Bret Koebbe
Saturday, August 2, 11:30 am – 12:45 pm, Forum 11

Click here to view the full schedule of events on the AirVenture website.

The ForeFlight exhibit will be in Hangar A, #1147-1148. See you at AirVenture!

Updated July 11, 2014: 

ForeFlight Mobile 6.2.1 is now available on the App Store and will resolve the app close issue. If you updated to version 6.2 and your user waypoints are missing, please contact us at team@foreflight.com for instructions on how to restore them. If you deleted and reinstalled the app as a workaround, it isn’t possible to recover the user waypoints. We apologize for this happening and we appreciate your patience while we fixed it. If you experience any further issue with 6.2.1, please contact us immediately at team@foreflight.com.

Original post:

Earlier today we released version 6.2 which includes support for our new data sync capability. Some customers are experiencing an app close after updating to 6.2, which is a result of a data migration process when run against large numbers of recent routes and plates.

We jumped on a fix as soon as the issue was detected. A fix for customers experiencing this issue is in version 6.2.1, which is submitted to App Store and pending review. As a workaround, customers can delete and reinstall the app if they need to bypass the issue.

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.2.1 is now available for download on the App Store.

Seamlessly Sync Favorites and Recents

With ForeFlight Mobile version 6.2.1 we introduce Sync, a fast cloud-based syncing system that seamlessly transfers information between your iPhone and iPad. For example, this capability allows you to plan a flight on your iPhone and that flight will appear in the recent routes list on your iPad, or in your favorites list if you have marked the route as a favorite. There is no special user interaction required as syncing is automatic.

Seamlessly sync your favorites and recents between devices.

With this initial release, sync seamlessly synchronizes your recent and favorite: routes, airports, weather imagery, user waypoints, and recent procedures across all devices that share the same ForeFlight Mobile login.

In the next release, we will add sync support for aircraft profiles and flight plans, with more sync-enabled features to follow.

Because sync stores recents and favorites to the cloud, changes made on one device will automatically be delivered to the other device when it next connects to the Internet. In addition, if you are setting up a new device or need to reinstall the app your activity is protected and restored automatically.

You can manage sync in More > Settings > then scroll to Preferences > Synchronize User Data. The toggle will turn Sync ON (blue) or OFF for that device.

Sync has an ON/OFF switch in the Settings menu.

A note for multi-pilot accounts: sync is disabled by default for multi-pilot accounts with a shared single login.

Sync is available with version 6.2.1 on all ForeFlight Mobile Standard, Pro, and Military service levels. Stay tuned! More to come with sync.

Refinements And Filter Options In Profile View

The Profile view has a new refined look with the highest point, clearance, and first strike figures now presented in a panel on the right-hand side of the view, making that information easier to read. In addition, to best suit each flight Profile now gives you the ability to set hazard altitude and route width parameters for filtering terrain and obstacle alerts.

The new Profile layout is easier to read and adds additional capability to filter terrain and obstacle alerts.

A new terrain settings menu allows you to set your flight path corridor width and alert altitudes right from the Profile view. Tap on the cog to reveal the new menu:

Tap on the cog symbol to reveal the new terrain and obstacle settings menu.

Select your desired Corridor Width, or route buffer, to display terrain and obstacle alert coloring only within the chosen corridor along your planned flight path. The corridor width options are: ½, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 20 nautical miles.

In this example, 2 nautical miles will alert you to terrain and obstacles one nautical mile to the left and one nautical mile to the right of your planned flight path.

The hazard altitude setting gives you flexibility in choosing what relative altitudes from your aircraft are used for presenting the yellow and red alert coloring of terrain and obstacles.

In this example, selecting Heli-Medium will color hazards yellow within 200’ vertical of the aircraft and red at or less than 25’.

The Hazard Altitude setting is reflected in both the Profile view and the Maps Hazard Advisor layer. This is beneficial for low-altitude flight operations, like helicopters, by giving you options to fly closer to terrain or obstacles before the yellow and red hazard alerting appears.

The inflight toggle between route and aircraft mode is now situated at the top of the new panel layout

Toggle between route and aircraft mode while inflight.

Profile view is a ForeFlight Mobile Pro feature.

Refinements To Annotations Toolbar

Our refinement theme continues in the Annotations feature with a refreshed menu bar. The buttons now have higher contrast making them easier to see.

Shown here is a comparison of the previous versus current Annotation toolbar.

Access the annotations toolbar in either the Plates view or Documents view by tapping on the pencil in the upper right.

A tip for using annotations, select your annotation color, thickness, and opacity settings, then select the text or shape option.

A tip for using annotations is to choose your color, then select the annotation type.

Annotations is a ForeFlight Mobile Pro feature.

ForeFlight Mobile Version 6.2.1 Is Available On The App Store

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.2.1 is a free download for subscribers via the App Store. Click here for instructions on how to update the app.

We are pleased to announce that the FAA’s Aircraft Evaluation Group completed an evaluation of ForeFlight Mobile as an Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) solution and found the app to be operationally suitable as a “complete flight deck solution for continuous accessibility for the pilot.”

The approval letter goes on to say: “[The] ForeFlight Mobile application includes airport flight directory information and instrument departure and arrival procedures and charts for all of the US and Canadian IFR National Airspace System. The mobile application was evaluated and found to be operationally suitable.”

The Operational Suitability evaluation was completed on an iPad 2, however the approval covers the iPad 2 or newer, iPad Mini, and iPhone 3GS or newer hardware. In related efforts, the co-developed Stratus 2 ADS-B receiver with Appareo Systems has received approval for use in Part 121 aircraft operations. The Stratus platform enables the display of ADS-B weather on iPad and iPhone running the ForeFlight Mobile app, as well as WAAS-grade GPS positioning for ownship display. Professional operators with access to inflight weather routinely report saving thousands of pounds of gas by being able to see ahead and work with flight operations on inflight re-routes.

In the United States, operators falling under FAR Part 91K, 121, 125, and 135 are required to have formal FAA authorization to use EFB solutions inflight. This letter makes it even easier for operators to obtain approval for use of ForeFlight Mobile on iOS devices. ForeFlight will share copies of the letter to interested customers seeking this approval.

For more information about obtaining ForeFlight Mobile and Stratus approvals, contact ForeFlight at sales@foreflight.com.

We had an overwhelming response to our two flight training scholarships with over 150 applicants! Thank you to everyone who participated. It was inspiring to hear from so many ambitious people who are eager to earn their wings. We are pleased to present the two finalists who will go on to pursue their flight training with a little help from ForeFlight. Here’s a brief snapshot of Jacob and Megan:

Megan Kerstein

At age fifteen Megan discovered her home in the sky when she flew with an instructor for the first time. Following that experience, Megan participated in the Southern Illinois University Summer Wings program where she logged five hours of flight time. Since then she has dreamt of finishing her primary flight training. Now nineteen years old, Megan wants to be a flight surgeon or aviation medicine physician, a path that will allow her to pursue both of her passions. Being a Naval or Air Force flight surgeon is in her sights, and beyond that Megan would like to use her license to volunteer for Angel Flight and Young Eagles.

Jacob Rasmussen

Jacob is an active sixteen year old who participates in choir, acting and directing theater productions, tennis, ballroom dancing, and is the youngest member of a numismatic investment and collecting club. Growing up with an Uncle and a Grandfather who were pilots was enough to give Jacob the desire to earn his wings. Jacob would like to become an air medical pilot with the same company for which his Grandfather flew. Helping others in emergency need will fulfill his desire to be a part of something bigger than himself. In addition, Jacob would like to build his own airplane one day. He is currently enrolled in ground school.

Stay tuned as we follow these two on their paths to becoming licensed Private Pilots.

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.3 is now available for download on the App Store.

Track Log

With ForeFlight Mobile 6.3 we introduce Track Log, a cloud-enabled flight recorder that allows you to record and share your flight track and altitude data right from the ForeFlight Mobile app. Track Log is a great way to share your flying with friends and family, as well as a helpful tool for instructors and students to debrief flight lessons.

ForeFlight Mobile Track Log shown on Google Earth.

Record

ForeFlight Mobile’s Track Log will record flight track information using any compatible GPS device, including the Stratus 1, Stratus 2, Bad Elf, and the built-in GPS on Wi-Fi + Cellular iOS devices. In addition, Track Log can continue to record your flight data while the ForeFlight Mobile app is running in the background (Please note that background GPS is currently not available for Stratus 1 or 2).

Enable Track Log in More > Settings by turning the Track Log switch ON.

Toggle Track Log record button ON and OFF in the More > Settings view.

Recording is easy using the start/stop record button on the Maps view. When you are ready to start recording your flight simply tap the REC button on the lower left edge of the Maps page. The button will highlight and the timer will begin to count up indicating that recording is underway.

The Track Log record button is located in the lower left of the Maps view.

To stop recording tap the REC button again. The blue highlight will disappear and the timer will stop counting. The flight data is automatically added to the track log list in the More > Track Logs view.

Manage

Each flight you record is listed in the Track Logs view. Tapping on an entry reveals the details of your track.

Recorded flights are automatically logged in the More > Track Logs view.

On the detail view you can further customize the entry by adding a track log name, pilot name, tail number or other notes.

In the track log detail view you can modify flight details and access share options.

To share your flight via email or social platforms, or access it via your online ForeFlight Manage account, you’ll first need to upload the track log to the cloud. To do this, tap on the cloud symbol in the Track Log list view for each flight you would like to upload.

Tap the cloud upload button to enable your track log to be shared.

Once in the cloud, your track information becomes available to share via a web link or access in your ForeFlight.com/Manage web app account.

Log in to foreflight.com/manage to view and export Track Log files.

Share

Each track log can be exported to a sharable web link for posting to Twitter, Facebook, or sending in an email or text message.

Tap on the Send To button in the upper right for share and export options.

For example, tap on Twitter to generate a post directly from the app:

This view shows a Track Log in preparation to share on Twitter.

The sharable link generates a snapshot of the flight overlaid on a base map view.

Track Log sharable web link view.

Your flight track can also be sent to and viewed by compatible apps that you have installed on your iOS device, like Google Earth and CloudAhoy.

Tap the Send To > Open in.. option to access compatible apps.

Track Log is also integrated with ForeFlight Mobile’s Sync feature, so flight track information recorded on one device becomes available on the other devices signed-in to your ForeFlight Mobile account.

Analyze

Login to your ForeFlight.com/manage account to export your flight track as a KML or GPX file, a common file type that can be imported by third-party applications like Google Maps, Google Earth, and other mapping engines.

For operators, Track Log has additional capability that allows them to aggregate track logs and analyze them in support of AC 120-76C, which provides guidance for authorization of airport moving map and requires collection analysis of GPS data for presentation to the FAA.

Track Log can be used on the iPad and iPhone and is a ForeFlight Mobile Standard feature.

Weight & Balance

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.3 introduces an in-app weight & balance solution. Weight & Balance comes pre-loaded with over 100 aircraft models for easier setup. ForeFlight Mobile’s smart interview wizard prompts you through the setup based on FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet and Service Bulletin records. We continue to add more aircraft to the library.

Customize aircraft setup and loading with ForeFlight Mobile’s in-app weight and balance.

You can maintain an unlimited number of weight & balance profiles, including multiple configurations for the same aircraft. Weight & Balance allows you to quickly analyze last minute loading changes and will color highlight any parameters that are outside the aircraft’s envelope. Operators can also export load summaries for required reporting.

Weight & Balance is accessible on both the iPad and the iPhone and is a ForeFlight Mobile Pro feature.

Here’s a snapshot of what Weight & Balance can do:

• Multiple fixed-arm fuel stations
• One variable-arm fuel station (i.e. a single fuel moment table)
• Station specific weight limit checks
• Weight limit checks for ramp, takeoff, landing, as well as zero fuel weight
• Forward and aft CG limit checks
• Audible out-of-balance alert
• Add any number of stations in each aircraft
• Add any number of loads at each station
• Drag a load between stations
• Name aircraft, stations, and loads
• View audit output for comparison with other weight and balance calculations
• Choose avgas, mogas, or jet fuel
• Change fuel density
• Set initial fuel
• Set start/taxi fuel consumption
• Set inflight fuel consumption
• Edit fuel weight
• Edit fuel volume
• Email PDF Loading Summary
• Print PDF Loading Summary via AirPrint

Refer to our ForeFlight Mobile Weight & Balance Guide for complete how-to on this new feature.

Hello, Portland!

We are pleased to announce the opening of our new office in Portland, Maine. Between the world-renowned seafood, active arts and cultural community, tech-friendly environment, and home to current ForeFlight engineers, Portland is a great place for a technology company to have a presence. With support from the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and the Casco Bay Tech Hub, Portland is emerging as an up and coming ‘under the radar’ technology hub.

We are looking for iOS OpenGL and GIS professionals interested in building innovative mapping and graphics technologies for aviation to join us. The ForeFlight Portland office is located on Union Street in the Historic Old Port area.

Check out these related links for additional information:

ForeFlight Careers
PortlandMaine.com
Portland makes top five of “under the radar” tech cities
America’s Top 5 Under-the-Radar Tech Hubs

ForeFlight Mobile 6.3.1 is now available for download on the App Store. As a follow-up to our 6.3 release, this minor update focuses on performance improvements and a few bug squashes for a better app experience.

ForeFlight Mobile 6.3.1 is a free update from the App Store and is available to all current subscribers. Click here for instructions on updating to the latest version.

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.3.2 is now available on the App Store. This update brings performance improvements, a few bug fixes, and most importantly support for iOS 8 landing today, and iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus available on September 19. We recommend all Stratus customers download this update as it improves app performance while connected.

Preparing for iOS 8

We want ForeFlight apps to work well with the new operating system on the day it is released. Customers upgrade to new app and iOS versions quickly, so to prepare as much as possible we began testing with iOS 8 in June when Apple made the beta builds available to developers.

Since many pilots rely on apps like ForeFlight Mobile as a primary source of charts and maps, we prescribe conservatism when it comes to software upgrades. If you rely heavily on apps for your daily flying, we recommend waiting for the first Apple iOS 8 maintenance update. iOS is a remarkably stable platform and Apple has a track record of quickly releasing minor updates to address any major issues that are uncovered. However, all new operating systems have undiscovered bugs that need fixing and may cause unexpected device or app issues.

If you are anxious to explore the new iOS, then go ahead and update. However, be prepared for light to moderate chop from apps not yet optimized for iOS 8 or from unexpected operating system bugs. We recommend a test flight or two with iOS 8 and any apps you depend on before launching into IMC.

Click here to read more about our iOS 8 preflight briefing.

One More Thing

Apple’s automatic app update feature is convenient, however we encourage pilots to disable this feature. When enabled, this feature can create a situation where the apps you rely upon to fly safely update automatically before you have a chance to review and ground test the changes prior to flight. To disable, go to Settings, scroll down to iTunes and App Store on the left, and turn the switch OFF for Automatic Downloads – Updates.

ForeFlight Mobile 6.3.2 is a free update from the App Store and is available to all current customers. Click here for instructions on updating to the latest version.

This week ForeFlight team members are participating in the Comply365 Third Annual Connections365 education and networking conference in Dallas, Texas. Comply365 serves many industries, including aviation, as a leader in mobile enterprise optimization software. We are pleased to announce two integrations with Comply365 that simplify operations for flight departments.

Comply365 dashboard with quick link to ForeFlight Mobile.

Comply365 Connector for ForeFlight Mobile is a software solution that enables a seamless first time sign-on and authentication capability for ForeFlight Mobile via Comply365’s MyMobile365 dashboard. The solution simplifies deployment of ForeFlight Mobile to large enterprise pilot groups. Customers using the Comply365 Connector tap a ForeFlight icon on the MyMobile365 dashboard and pilots are immediately authorized to use ForeFlight Mobile without additional setup steps.

Ownship position shown with ForeFlight Mobile’s runway proximity advisor.

In addition to the Connector, ForeFlight and Comply365 collaborated on a solution to simplify the processes required to obtain FAA authorization for the display of aircraft Ownship position on airport maps. ForeFlight’s Taxi Data Recorder (built upon the Track Log platform) collects GPS taxi data from many pilots within an operation, uploads the data to the cloud, and exports it into the Comply365 MyMobile365 dashboard. The Taxi Data Recorder dashboard makes it easy to start workflows and support analysis for Airport Moving Map Ownship approvals.

At ForeFlight, we are always excited about finding ways to make a pilot’s work simpler and to make flight operations safer. Expanding the capability of our Taxi Data Recorder to Comply365 customers gives those operators a powerful solution to simplify the data collection and analysis work required to support Ownship authorization. The ability to have Ownship position for ground operations increases situational awareness and could lead to reduced runway incursions. We look forward to more innovations with Comply365 to make customers more productive and efficient.

If you are interested in using the ForeFlight Mobile Taxi Data Recorder to pursue Ownship position authorization, contact us at team@foreflight.com.

Update – this server maintenance was completed.  All systems are back online.

We will be performing upgrades on our servers during the night of Thursday, October 16, 2014 between 11:30pm CT – 1:30am CT.  Services including flight plan filing, weather retrieval, and data downloads will be intermittently available between during this period.

We will post an update to this bulletin once the upgrades have been completed.

At ForeFlight we know from first hand experience that weather plays a critical role in aviation and is often the number one worry that a pilot faces before and during flight.  To better serve that critical need, we are excited to announce that Scott Dennstaedt has joined the ForeFlight team.

Scott has been well-known for his aviation weather expertise for many years, and will now  lead the ForeFlight team in the role of Weather Scientist.  His background and experience as a CFI, research meteorologist, and founder of the excellent AvWxWorkshops.com provide a unique set of qualifications that will help ForeFlight remain the gold standard among pilots for flight planning and in-flight support.

Scott’s overall mission will be to set the direction of the ForeFlight app with respect to aviation weather. This will include advancing the capabilities of the preflight weather briefing while increasing the pilot’s weather awareness in-flight.

We couldn’t be happier to have Scott on the team, and we’re excited to move the state-of-the-art forward in aviation weather.  If you have any ideas to pass along to Scott or the team, please don’t hesitate to contact us at team@foreflight.com.

We are pleased to announce our continued support of Able Flight over the next three years via a new series of ForeFlight/Able Flight flight training scholarships. We admire and are inspired by the hard work and commitment the Able Flight pilots put forth to earn their wings. Helping Able Flight to transform the lives of people with disabilities through the gift of flight is a very rewarding way for us to give back to the aviation community.

Able Flight’s mission is to offer people with disabilities a unique way to challenge themselves through flight and aviation career training, and by doing so, to gain greater self-confidence and self-reliance.

The first recipient of the ForeFlight/Able Flight Scholarship will be in 2015. In addition, Able Flight will be hosting its Annual Benefit Party for the Scholarship Fund in ForeFlight’s headquarter city, Houston, TX, next May. To learn more about Able Flight and to apply for a scholarship, visit www.ableflight.org/scholarships.

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.4 is now available for download on the App Store.

New Performance Planning Capability

ForeFlight Mobile version 6.4 introduces taxi and take-off, climb, cruise, and descent performance data fields for aircraft profiles. Add these details to your aircraft profile for a more accurate fuel burn and time en route estimate (ETE) for the planned route.

To add this information, navigate to the aircraft profile (More > Aircraft). Open the profile, scroll down, and you will see the new data fields.

Add performance data to your aircraft profile.

As you plan your route in the Maps view, use the Altitude Advisor to generate a current winds aloft forecast. The winds aloft forecast is intelligently integrated into your flight performance calculation, adjusting for things like more time in climb the higher your planned altitude and the winds at different altitudes during your climb and descent. These calculations give you a more precise fuel burn and time enroute estimate, especially for aircraft that spend more time in the climb phase to reach a higher cruise altitude.

For comparison, this table from our Pilot’s Guide shows the performance results for three different routes using the new performance planning fields (“Detailed”) versus just the average airspeed and fuel burn (“Simple”):

Aircraft performance comparison with example routes.

The Altitude Advisor also uses your aircraft performance data to make assumptions about how much time it will take your aircraft to climb to the selected cruise altitude before it needs to descend to the destination. The winds aloft entries are shown as dashes for altitudes above this point and no-wind performance data will be displayed in the NavLog.

Tap the Altitude button in the Route Editor to access the Altitude Advisor.

Taxi and take-off fuel use is reported in the total fuel used for the trip. In the NavLog, the leg data will only include data for that leg, but the totals column will include the taxi and take-off fuel burn.

Total trip performance, including taxi and take off fuel, is shown along the bottom of the NavLog.

Sync Extended to Aircraft Profiles, Flight Plans

ForeFlight Mobile 6.4 brings aircraft profiles and flight plans into our cloud-based Sync feature.

Sync gives you more flexibility to move between devices during the flight planning and filing process. Your activity syncs and so each device is ready to pick up where you leave off. Plan your route and start your flight plan form on your iPad, then file or make changes on your iPhone. Each edit to the flight plan form or change to flight plan status is reflected on each device when it connects to the Internet. The text weather Brief associated with a flight plan also syncs.

No need to manually duplicate your aircraft profile information. Build your profile once on any device signed in to your ForeFlight account and Sync does the rest. The performance planning information you just added to your new or existing aircraft profile will also automatically sync across your devices.

To enable Sync, navigate to More > Settings > Preferences and turn Synchronize User Data ON.

Enable Sync in the Settings view.

In addition to these new capabilities, Sync reflects all of your recent and favorite routes, airports, weather imagery, and user waypoints across each device that is signed in to your ForeFlight account.

World Aeronautical Charts

World Aeronautical Charts (WACs) covering Continental US, Alaska, northern Mexico, and the northern Caribbean are now available as an overlay in the Maps view. Select the World Aeronautical layer from the drop down to view these charts:

World Aeronautical Charts shown in ForeFlight Mobile.

In your Download Settings (More > Downloads), select World Aeronautical Charts in the United States and the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America coverages to enable bulk download of the chart type and to view them offline.

Select World Aeronautical Charts in the Downloads view.

Customers with both USA and Canada subscriptions can simultaneously display the World Aeronautical and Canada VNC map layers for a complete VFR chart view covering all of the USA and Canada.

A tip for customers with both US and Canada subscriptions–select World Aeronautical and Canada VNC overlays in the Maps view for a full VFR chart view.

Tap on the Maps Settings button to turn Chart Legends ON. Then tap on an area of the chart to reveal the corresponding legend.

Display WAC legends on the Maps view.

More Flight Recording Options Available with Stratus 2

ForeFlight Mobile 6.4 delivers firmware update version 1.6 to the Stratus 2 and unlocks the receiver’s flight data recorder making Stratus 2 the only available ADS-B receiver that has this capability.

Flight recording is a great tool for flight instructors and new pilots to visually debrief each flight. Students can see progress over time as they practice maneuvers and instructors can reinforce the effects of wind on performing those maneuvers. In addition, you always have a record of your flights to help with filling out your logbook.

Students and instructors can review pattern work using Google Earth.

Stratus 2 records position, speed, and altitude data throughout each flight onto the receiver’s built-in memory. Set the Stratus to record automatically when the unit is powered on and the built-in GPS senses motion.

In this mode, recording continues until the Stratus is turned off. After your flight, seamlessly transfer the Track Log data to ForeFlight Mobile where the logs are available to view, share, and debrief on all of your devices, as well as on foreflight.com.

Access Stratus recorder settings from the Maps view.

The Stratus flight data recorder settings are accessible in two ways:

1. From the Maps view: tap the Maps Settings (gear button along the top of the screen), then under Devices tap Stratus 2. Scroll down to Flight Data Recorder and slide the Enabled toggle ON.
2. From the More view: tap Devices, then tap on the Stratus 2 box. Scroll down to Flight Data Recorder and slide the Enabled toggle ON.

Stratus 2 records approximately twenty hours of GPS and AHRS data and automatically deletes the oldest track log to make room for a new track log. The Stratus flight data recorder saves data regardless of whether you use ForeFlight Mobile’s Track Log record button.

To update the Stratus firmware, update ForeFlight Mobile to version 6.4, then connect your device to the Stratus 2 Wi-Fi network. Navigate to More > Devices > Stratus 2 > Firmware to apply the firmware update.

More Improvements and Fixes

• The Weight & Balance setup interview now prompts a warning when the empty arm is entered instead of empty moment, or when a smaller than expected empty moment is entered (i.e. empty moment is divided by 100 or 1000 directly from the POH).
• Bug fixes and performance improvements.
• For the V-22 pilots out there, we’ve got your Tilt Rotor location marker:

Choose from a variety of location markers in the Settings menu.

Our Pilot’s Guide is up to date and contains full details on the new features. Download the Pilot’s Guide onto your device using the built-in catalog in the Documents view.

To celebrate fall, we’ve added a touch of color to our global satellite layer! The color-enhanced infrared (IR) satellite image is designed to visually highlight the coldest cloud tops. Cold cloud tops are often indicative of active thunderstorms that can produce severe or extreme convective turbulence. The animated satellite layer updates every thirty minutes and is accessed in the map mode menu in the Maps view.

How IR Satellite Imagery Works

Any object that has a temperature warmer than absolute zero will emit radiation at many different wavelengths. Radiation produced by the earth and its atmosphere is emitted spaceward from land masses, oceans, lakes and the top of most clouds. Satellite sensors are used to measure this radiation that includes both visible light and those wavelengths that are invisible to the naked eye. The radiation emitted in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum is the source of data used to build our IR satellite layer.

To create this layer, five geostationary satellites look at the entire earth (with the exception of polar regions) and measure the amount of infrared energy being emitted. The infrared satellite sensor measures the amount of energy and calibrates it to temperature using a very simple physical relationship known as Planck’s Law.

High clouds are very cold and emit less infrared radiation than warmer clouds near Earth’s surface. Furthermore, land masses are usually warmer than most clouds. Since the satellite can’t directly distinguish between the earth’s surface and clouds, we employ a software algorithm that determines where it is cloudy and where the sky is clear. While this works well most of the time, snow cover, fog and even the oceans can sometimes fool the algorithm. We recommend using the Sky Coverage and the Satellite layers together to get the most accurate picture.

How To Interpret IR Satellite Imagery

Data measured by the satellites is calibrated and colorized according to the temperature. Warmer objects emit more infrared energy and colder objects less. Shades of gray are used to represent the lowest-topped clouds; the darker the shade of gray, the lower the cloud tops. For higher-topped clouds, color is added. Just above the lightest shades of gray you may see blue and green colors introduced representing still colder and higher tops. Above this, shades of red, orange and yellow represent the coldest and highest cloud tops.

As the temperature of the atmosphere generally decreases with height, a pilot can get a pretty good idea which clouds are high-level and which are low-level based on the color or shades of gray depicted.

Global Coverage

The IR Satellite layer allows you to quickly locate the most dangerous weather anywhere in the world. Ground-based radar provides a multitude of information on the location and movement of convective weather, however it is limited to US and Canada. The IR Satellite layer gives you a global, at a glance view of significant weather. This is especially important if you are planning a flight over large bodies of water.

In this image over central Africa, you can quickly see where the most significant weather is located, especially in regions that have a cellular appearance depicted in deep red, orange and yellow colors.

One thing to note is that thick cirrus clouds at very high altitudes will also show up as very cold clouds even though they may not be associated with deep, moist convection. Most of the time these high cirrus clouds do not have the same cellular appearance as convective clouds and thus have very little variation in color.

As you well know, the wall-of-text preflight weather briefing we receive from the FAA has not changed all that much over the last several decades. We believe in a better way to deliver this information that is more targeted, easier to digest, and will help you stay better informed on every flight. With ForeFlight Mobile 6.5 we unveil two firsts in mobile flight planning capabilities that advance preflight weather briefings in two key areas: flight conditions monitoring and NOTAMs.

Flight Notifications Keep You Ahead of the Weather

The first new capability is Flight Notifications. ForeFlight monitors your planned flight and synthesizes flight condition alerts from its systems and from others, including Lockheed Martin’s Adverse Conditions Alerting Service (ACAS). When a significant change in route or weather conditions is detected we send you a notification containing a summary and detailed description of the condition.

Flight Notifications shown in the File & Brief view.

A critical gap in communication can occur in the time between getting a flight briefing and taking-off when there is potential for you to miss updates to flight conditions. ForeFlight co-founder Jason Miller experienced this situation while preparing for a flight home from Ohio:

“A new icing airmet came in shortly after I filed. The notification came right to my iPad and made me aware of the change in weather conditions. I was able to take the new information into account before leaving the ground. Without the notification, I might have missed it.”

Flight Notifications addresses this pilot awareness gap by delivering any new or modified condition information to your mobile device as it occurs. Flight Notifications are also tied to ForeFlight’s Sync system, meaning notifications get delivered to all of your devices.

Flight Notification detail view.

Notifications include updates to: TFRs, airport/runway closed/unsafe NOTAMs, urgent PIREPs, SIGMETs, Convective SIGMETs, AIRMETs, Center Weather Advisories (CWAs), and Severe Weather Watches/Warnings.

How To Receive Flight Notifications

There are two Settings in ForeFlight Mobile that control this feature.

Flight Notifications use ForeFlight’s Sync platform so you will need to turn this on in order to receive the notifications. Enable Sync by navigating to More > Settings, then scroll all the way to the bottom.

Turn Sync ON in the More > Settings view.

The second setting is found in the flight plan form. You can choose to turn Flight Notifications ON or OFF for each individual flight plan you file.

Turn Flight Notifications ON in the flight plan form.

Flight Notifications are delivered to flight plans filed via ForeFlight Mobile using Lockheed Martin as the filing service. Filing your flight with Lockheed Martin does not require any special action, simply tap ‘File’ from the File & Brief view. You will need to disconnect your DUATS account in order to receive Flight Notifications. Navigate to the More > Accounts view to sign out of DUATS.

Flight Notifications appear as an entry at the top of your flight plan form and a badge alert on the File & Brief tab notifies you that updates to route conditions are available to view. Each notification includes a brief summary, as well as a more detailed description.

Flight Notifications is a ForeFlight Mobile Pro feature.

NOTAM Advisor for Instrument Procedures and Airports

The second capability is a feature we call NOTAM Advisor. When you display an instrument procedure or an airport diagram, ForeFlight cross checks its system for procedure and location specific NOTAMS and displays a warning banner that shows a count of relevant NOTAMs. Tap the banner to view the NOTAMs that are matched to the airport or instrument procedure.

A red banner on the airport diagram or instrument procedure alerts you to view related NOTAMs.

It is easy to miss a procedure NOTAM during planning. The FAA continues to work towards standardization, but the current state of the FAA’s NOTAM system and wall-of-text briefings make it difficult or very time consuming to ensure that you’ve caught everything. ForeFlight’s NOTAM Advisor proactively notifies you of relevant NOTAMs which may apply to the instrument procedures you intend to fly. It is not a guarantee that all NOTAMs can be matched due to the gaps in standardization that still exist, but we continue to refine our matching process.

Viewing the NOTAM Advisor

NOTAM Advisor filters notices based on the airport diagram, SID, STAR, instrument approach, or departure procedure you are viewing. Tap on the red banner for quick access to the notices.

Tap on the red banner to access NOTAMs.

When it is possible to detect them, key words are highlighted to indicate important information.

NOTAM Advisor is available to all ForeFlight subscribers.

More Improvements and Fixes in ForeFlight Mobile 6.5:

• Optimization for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Compatibility with the higher resolution screens enables ForeFlight Mobile to show more information without scrolling (e.g. favorites and recents lists).
• Auto-show taxi is expanded to the Maps view. When turned ON and in the Maps view, Show Taxi on Map automatically switches to the current airport taxi diagram without leaving the Maps view. This allows you to continue in Track Up mode after landing.
• Improvements to Stratus platform to ensure the integrity of secure communications between the Stratus 2 and ForeFlight Mobile.
• Improvements to airport services information.
• New helper messages when filing flight plans.
• Improvements for better performance on iOS 8.1.

ForeFlight Mobile 6.5 is a free update from the App Store and is available to all current customers. Click here for instructions on updating to the latest version.

ForeFlight Mobile has two kinds of helper messages to assist with the flight plan filing process. These messages ensure that you file with accuracy and avoid potential issues with ATC down the line.

The first type of helper message is a warning. Warnings are new in ForeFlight Mobile version 6.5 and appear when something doesn’t look quite right in the Route or Altitude fields.

In the route field, the main thing ForeFlight will be looking for is an invalid or mistyped fix. The warning gives you an opportunity to double-check that you have entered the route as intended before you file. There may be route codes or other route elements that the app is not familiar with and so you can still file your flight plan when this warning is triggered.

An example of a route element warning.

A warning will also be triggered if you select an altitude that does not agree with your direction or type of flight:

An example of an altitude warning where an altitude of 12,000 was chosen for an eastbound IFR flight.

Similar to the route field warning, the altitude warning gives you a chance to ensure you have entered the proper altitude before you file.

The second type of helper message is an error. Errors are more restrictive in that they prevent you from filing a flight plan until they are corrected. Errors include things like: not enough fuel to meet required reserves, incomplete ICAO profile elements, and invalid departure times.

An example flight plan error indicating not enough fuel to meet required reserves.

We are excited to unveil our visually stunning, high performance synthetic vision platform for ForeFlight Mobile. With features like luminous terrain, night sky, FAA styled runway numbers, and a brilliant obstacle awareness system, we believe you will find flying with ForeFlight Synthetic Vision a joy. Synthetic Vision will be available with ForeFlight Mobile version 6.6 as an add-on to your Standard or Pro subscription, in both the United States and Canada. The update will be available soon after the Christmas holiday for $25/year. Start the New Year with a significant upgrade to your flight bag! Until then, enjoy the ForeFlight Synthetic Vision highlights shown below or on our Synthetic Vision web page:

Synthetic Vision Comes Alive with Stratus

The Stratus 2* has a built-in AHRS that drives real time pitch and roll indications on the attitude indicator within the Synthetic Vision view. The award-winning Stratus also delivers subscription-free weather, ADS-B traffic, and GPS position and attitude information—all from a wireless receiver that fits in your pocket. Because Stratus is made for ForeFlight, it delivers seamless app integration and simply works the right way.

It’s Not Too Late! Give yourself a last minute gift and be ready for Synthetic Vision. Order Stratus 2 by 5pm Central Time on December 23 for delivery on Christmas Eve. Order by Friday, December 19 to avoid expedited shipping costs.

Stratus is Made in the USA.

*Stratus is not required to run Synthetic Vision.