With the removal of the FAA domestic flight plan format coming later this year, all pilots currently filing both VFR and IFR domestic flights will need to switch to the ICAO format.

In this article, I recommend some simple tips that make it easy for someone who currently files with the domestic format to switch to the ICAO format. My main suggestion here is that you only file what is actually needed and can affect a clearance or availability of an ATC service in the US. Essentially, this approach allows you to replicate the clearances you would receive when using the domestic format.

If you currently use ForeFlight to file flight plans using the domestic flight plan format, there are just a few simple steps to get you set up to file ICAO. The first is to set up the ICAO specific codes for your aircraft. Navigate to your aircraft’s profile in More > Aircraft and tap the blue ‘i’, and set up at least these three fields:

1.     ICAO equipment
2.     ICAO Surveillance
3.     Wake Turbulence

The Wake Turbulence is the easiest to set up because the default value of ‘L’ fits the majority of GA aircraft. You would only change this if the max gross weight of your aircraft exceeds 15,500 pounds.

Next, let’s look at equipment codes. The three most common FAA/Domestic Equipment codes are:

• /G (GPS and mode C transponder),
• /A (DME and Mode C transponder), and
• /U (No DME and a Mode C transponder).

Tap ‘ICAO Equipment’ to view the list of codes. ICAO equipment codes are more specific and many types of equipment have their own code. Since almost all aircraft have VOR, localizer capability (ILS), and a VHF COM, a standard code of ‘S’ is used to specify the combination of this equipment. Pretty much every aircraft is going to select ‘S’. If for some reason your aircraft does not have one of the standard avionics systems, then you can specify the individual codes for what you do have instead of using S. For example, select ‘O’ if you have a VOR, ‘L’ if you have an ILS or localizer, and ‘V’ if you have a VHF Com radio.

Other codes that are common in GA aircraft are ‘G’ for GPS, ‘D’ for DME, and ‘F’ for an ADF. Some aircraft will have a WAAS GPS and are capable of flying LPV approaches and can also specify ‘B’ for LPV. There are many codes you can specify if you have the equipment, but to keep things simple I only specify something if it makes a difference. In line with that, my advice for an aircraft that is currently filing a domestic flight plan as /G is to specify ICAO equipment codes ‘G,S’. If you currently file /U, then ICAO equipment ‘S’ is all you need. If you currently file with /A, then file ICAO equipment ‘D,S’. Feel free to add the B (LPV), D (DME), or F (ADF) if you have the equipment, but they will not make a difference in terms of your flight plan being accepted or ATC providing a service. Once you have entered the ICAO equipment codes that reflect your aircraft, tap the ‘Aircraft’ back arrow to return to the main Aircraft Profile view.

Next, tap the ICAO Surveillance code to select the transponder type. Assuming you have a transponder with an altitude encoder, you can specify ‘C’. If it is of the mode S variety, you can change that to ‘S’, but it will not make any difference in your ability to file or use the ATC system, so specifying ‘C’ is the simplest way to do it.

And that’s all you have to do to set up your Aircraft profile for ICAO filing. You can make ICAO the default flight plan format by tapping More > Settings, scrolling down to the File & Brief section, tapping ‘New Plan Format’ and selecting ICAO.

Now you can move to the Maps view to set up your route. Enter your route the same way you always have using the Route Editor. When you are done, use the ‘Send To’ File & Brief button to create and review the flight plan form. Before you hit the ‘File’ button, here are a few additional considerations when entering information about your flight using the ICAO format.

In the AIM and other documents, you will read about the need to specify certain information in Field 18 – Other Information. ForeFlight automatically fills out this field for you based on flight plan and aircraft profile data. This ensures the formatting is correct for what ATC expects. Even so, there are some considerations to take into account regarding Field 18 that can ensure your flight plans are filed as efficiently as possible.

The FAA guidance on filing ICAO states that if the airport identifier is not a four character ICAO identifier, then “ZZZZ” needs to be placed in the departure and/or destination airport fields of the flight plan, and the non ICAO identifier must be specified in Field 18 preceded by “DEP/” for the departure airport and “DEST/” for the destination airport. You don’t need to worry about this with ForeFlight as it does all this for you automatically. ICAO identifiers are all 4 alphabetic characters and in the US they start with the letter K, Canada with C, the Bahamas with MY, and Mexico with MM. Examples of non-ICAO identifiers are 60J, 35A, K60J, SFO. Remember SFO is not the ICAO format for San Francisco International, KSFO is the correct code. Either SFO or KSFO will work, but if you use the three letter identifier form, then ForeFlight will place “ZZZZ” in the departure or destination field and DEP/SFO or DEST/SFO into Field 18, although you won’t see these changes in the app itself. This plan will be accepted, but it is wasteful. In other words, specify the destination and departure airport identifier as a four character ICAO value whenever you can.

ICAO flight plans provide an ability to enter primary and secondary alternate airports. In the US, only a single alternate needs to be supplied on IFR flight plans that require one.

If you use the remarks field for domestic flight plans, it will be moved to Field 18 automatically and follow the REM/ keyword. So there is no real difference in how remarks are specified, with one caveat. These special characters may not be used in ICAO remarks: the forward slash “/”, the dash “-“, and left and right parentheses “(” and “)”.

The ICAO format also allows you to add specifications for emergency equipment such as dinghies, their capacity, the color, and if they are covered. Life jackets, portable radios, type of survival equipment and any survival equipment remarks that you would wish search and rescue to be aware of. Again, the remarks can’t include the special characters “/ – ( )”.

Finally, if your flight qualifies for special handling, you can optionally specify it on the File & Brief view in the STS Special Handling field. A few that may be of interest are: FFR for firefighting, HOSP for medical flights, HUM for humanitarian flights, and SAR for search and rescue. Any special handling will be included in Field 18 and formatted as required by ICAO.

Although the final switch to ICAO filing is still months away, I recommend you try this now so you can work out any kinks and get a feel for the format. As you become more familiar with ICAO flight plans, you can refine your profile information; but in the meantime, you should have no hassle using the tips outlined here. Happy filing!

Last year the FAA announced plans to remove support for the familiar domestic flight plan form that most pilots use for filing within the US. The move will require all civil aircraft to file both VFR and IFR flight plans using the ICAO format. The transition is currently slated to occur October 1st of this year (see page 2 of the linked newsletter).

Although it’s a few months away, we encourage you to take time now to become familiar with the ICAO format. When October comes, you’ll be ready! ForeFlight makes it easy as the app already supports ICAO. All you need to do is fill in a few additional fields on your aircraft profile. This four-minute video walks you through how to do that.

For a more in-depth view of ICAO codes, Field 18, and other helpful ICAO flight plan fields, dive into Filing ICAO Flight Plans in ForeFlight written by John Collins, ForeFlight consultant and aviation writer.

Our “Filing with ForeFlight Mobile” guide is also available in the ForeFlight app under Documents > Catalog > ForeFlight or on the web here. Official FAA guidance on ICAO filing is available here and here.

Garmin announced today the release of two new options to help you meet the 2020 ADS-B Out mandate. The GTX 345 and GTX 335 all-in-one transponders are compatible with ForeFlight and, depending on the model you choose, wirelessly deliver (via Bluetooth) FIS-B weather, ADS-B traffic, GPS position, and attitude information to your mobile device.

We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Garmin and to offer ForeFlight customers flying with Garmin hardware the opportunity to unlock more value from their avionics investment and gain access to connectivity options that enhance the ForeFlight experience.

Visit foreflight.com/connect to learn about all of the ForeFlight connectivity partnerships.

As part of the NextGen initiative to adopt a Performance Based Navigation (PBN) airway structure supported by GPS, the FAA is moving forward with plans to decommission approximately 30% of currently operating domestic VORs over the next 10 years. The VORs left behind will constitute a minimum operational network, intended to support conventional navigation in the event of a GPS outage, while not tying up resources maintaining unnecessary and underused VORs. The decommission process will take place in two phases, with the first phase lasting from 2016 to 2020, and the second phase lasting from 2021 to 2025.

Although the FAA has not released specific dates for when each VOR will be decommissioned, they have provided a list of the first 35 VORs that have been approved for decommissioning, and in what phase of the project each will be removed.

The removal of these VORs will have a large effect on the domestic airway structure and instrument procedures at many airports, and these changes will be reflected in the charts and data available in ForeFlight. Therefore we will continue to track this process and update you when specific dates are announced for each VOR.

When was the last time you filed a flight plan using ForeFlight? For some of you the answer may be “10 minutes ago”, and for others it may be “You can file in ForeFlight?” Regardless of how many times you’ve tapped the File & Brief tab, or how you currently file, filing in ForeFlight has many great features that will get you to the runway faster and with maximum preparation for the flight ahead. Here are six of the most compelling reasons to start using ForeFlight as your all-in-one flight plan filing solution today.

Smart Flight Plan Form Entry

ForeFlight’s File & Brief view makes completing a flight plan form as simple as a few taps: copy your route details from the Maps view using the Send To button, then set the departure time and tap File. Integrating with the flight planning engine saves you the time and effort (and possible mistakes) of re-entering flight details in the form, especially IFR flight plans with lots of airways and waypoints.

Smart flight plan form entry shines when you file with the ICAO flight plan form, soon to be required for all VFR and IFR flights in the US. You don’t have to keep track of the difficult formatting rules, as ForeFlight automatically handles this for you.

Amend / Cancel / Activate

You’ll never have to call flight service again to amend, cancel, or activate a flight plan, as you can accomplish all of these things right from the File & Brief view. To change a filed flight plan, tap Amend, edit your flight information, then tap File Changes. Flight plans can also be cancelled or activated with a tap of a button. ForeFlight gives you the tools to take control of your flight plan without delays.

Automatic Flight Notifications

Once you’ve filed your flight plan, weather conditions and NOTAMs can change, sometimes significantly enough to affect your go/no-go decision. ForeFlight will notify you when changes occur with the Flight Notifications feature, available with Pro and Pro Plus subscriptions. Flight Notifications provide text and graphical depictions of AIR/SIGMETs, TFRs, NOTAMs, urgent PIREPs, and more. ForeFlight begins monitoring your filed route for changes two hours prior to your scheduled departure time, and notifies you of the changes with a red badge on the File & Brief tab and a prominent banner at the top of the view.

With IFR flight plans, ForeFlight will also notify you when ATC issues an expected route or acknowledgment for your flight plan. These are sent by the ForeFlight servers directly to your device, even when the ForeFlight app is closed.

Graphical Briefing

ForeFlight’s Graphical Briefing delivers the next generation of preflight briefing, with translated information presented in a visually elegant design to enhance readability. It has all the elements of a standard preflight briefing, including AIR/SIGMETs, TFRs, NOTAMs, forecasts, current conditions, and more, without the tedium of page-after-page of coded text. The briefing serves as the perfect complement to the simplicity and ease that characterizes the rest of ForeFlight’s filing process.

Cloud Protection

Every flight plan you file and briefing you retrieve are saved securely both on your device and in the ForeFlight Cloud. This is important for more than just record-keeping — if you ever have to prove that you obtained weather and pertinent NOTAMs in compliant manner with 14 CFR 91.103(a) preflight action, your briefing will be available and timestamped to provide this proof.

Consolidate Your Resources

While all the features listed above are great on their own, perhaps the best reason to file with ForeFlight is that they’re all available in one place, building on each other to provide the smoothest filing experience. Consolidating your flight planning, filing, and flying resources into a single location guarantees maximum efficiency, a sentiment we have heard from many of our customers in Part 135 operations, where efficiency is required to stay in the game.

You can get the details of filing in ForeFlight in the Pilot’s Guide to ForeFlight Mobile, or in the Filing with ForeFlight Mobile guide, which focuses on ICAO flight plan filing.

ForeFlight customers now have access to a wealth of new international NOTAMs in the app. In particular, all Canadian NOTAMs available on the NavCanada website are now available in ForeFlight, saving our Canadian and cross-border customers valuable flight planning time.

Most international airports now include NOTAMs for their FIR (Flight Information Region), which can be found under the ARTCC NOTAMs tab, as well as additional airport, obstacle, and TFR NOTAMs. The rate at which NOTAMs update in ForeFlight is also faster.

Although the number of NOTAMs available in ForeFlight has expanded greatly, it is not exhaustive, so be sure to check other sources for relevant NOTAMs when planning a flight outside the US.

We are excited to share that ForeFlight’s development team recently deployed technology that can recognize missing or corrupted graphical TFRs that are delivered via the NOTAM system. The new tool alerts ForeFlight’s TFR Desk team members, who then take immediate action to correct the TFR graphic and distribute it quickly to ForeFlight customers.

As a pilot, you rely on web, mobile, and data-link apps and services to display accurate and up-to-date TFR information. And, as Tyson Weihs, ForeFlight’s co-founder and CEO, explains: “From time-to-time, the NOTAM system publishes TFRs without the shape information necessary to depict them. We built the monitoring systems and established the TFR Desk so that pilots can have the highest-quality TFR information as quickly as possible. TFR incursions are still an important issue for the aviation community, and we are doing our part to help.”

In addition to identifying and creating or correcting TFR information, ForeFlight notifies the AOPA’s regulatory affairs team of the discrepancy, who then works with the FAA to correct the information in the NOTAM system. These corrections then make their way back to users via other channels, such as the ADS-B data link system.

The team will continue to improve the tool’s capability to also recognize misshapen TFR files. This effort helps us to quickly distribute the most accurate information and minimize the risk that a pilot will violate a TFR area.

For the May 26 chart update, the FAA reported a charting error for the SAKES waypoint in Utah. The error unintentionally removed SAKES from the J100 airway. The error will take effect with the May 26th chart update, after which any flight plans filed that combine J100 and SAKES will be rejected. The J80 and Q70 airways, which also include SAKES, will not be affected.

The FAA will correct the error with the July 21st chart update, but until then minor flight plan adjustments will need to be made to avoid having certain flight plans rejected. The table below lists a number of recently filed routes involving J100 and SAKES, along with the correction to file successfully.

Click to view full image.

We’ve recently added some new features to ForeFlight Web that enhance its usefulness for flight planning. The airport popup now closely mirrors the airport popup in the ForeFlight Mobile Maps view, including tabs along the bottom for general airport information, the current METAR, forecast products, and winds aloft.

Use the buttons along the bottom of the popup to view information about an airport, forecasts, and winds aloft.

From the Info tab you can find lists of frequencies, runway information (including wind components), and links to taxi charts and procedure plates that can be viewed directly in your browser. Links to outside resources like Google Maps and flight tracking through FlightAware are also available. The forecast tab includes TAFs, MOS, and recent area forecast discussions. All this information can be accessed simply by clicking on a weather overlay marker for an airport, or by searching for that airport in the Search bar.

The airport popup also includes an Add to Route button for easy “click planning”. With departure and destination points entered into your Navlog, you can then click on the route line to rubber-band it to intermediate waypoints and airports, just like touch planning in the ForeFlight app.

Intermediate waypoints can be added to your route just like in the app – drag your route line to the desired location, then drop it and select an item from the list.

After building your route on ForeFlight web, it automatically syncs to the app on your iPad and iPhone. You can find the route in ForeFlight Mobile in the Recent routes list, or in Favorites if you saved the route.

In the May/June 2016 issue of the FAA Safety Briefing, an article by Susan Parson caught our eye. In “eLogbook Logistics: Considerations for Moving from Paper Log to Digital Login” Susan reviews the present state of electronic pilot logbooks and suggests some important things to consider when making the switch from paper. Her suggestions include common sense issues like data security and ease of use, but also more nuanced considerations such as the sentimental value of a logbook.

Below are six ways that ForeFlight’s digital pilot logbook meets (and exceeds!) some of the considerations that Susan outlines:

Electronic signatures: ForeFlight Logbook allows flight instructors to sign off on students’ flights, and also provides a wide range of pre-written endorsements for instructors to select and sign. Adding a signature locks the entry or endorsement from editing by the student – an important security benefit over paper logbooks.

Easy data entry: Entering flight data line by line would be easy enough in Logbook, which has “smart” tools and options that help you conserve keystrokes – but thanks to its integration with Track Logs, you don’t even have to do that! Fields like departure and destination airports, flight time, and distance are auto-filled based on the recorded Track Log, allowing you to simply review and approve the new entry.

Generating reports: Susan mentions the pain of sifting through line after line of paper entries gathering data for a Form 8710 Application for Airman’s Certificate or Rating – a task that takes only a few taps in ForeFlight Logbook. The app compiles and exports all the data needed for a Form 8710 in exactly the layout provided on the official form. General pilot experience reports for different date ranges can also be generated and exported to email or print.

Secure backup and export: As part of the company’s cloud data ecosystem, Logbook is automatically backed up to ForeFlight’s secure servers, keeping your flight data safe. Furthermore, you can export your data to a CSV file from ForeFlight Web, allowing you to keep your own backup on a computer or in another cloud account, as Susan does.

Accessibility: A second benefit of saving your logbook in the ForeFlight Cloud is being able to access it anywhere, anytime, from any of your iOS devices with ForeFlight installed. Should you find yourself without access to the app itself, you can also access your data in ForeFlight Web, which supports nearly every modern web browser.

Preserve memories: A logbook’s ability to evoke rich and powerful memories is arguably as valuable to a pilot as its primary role of logging flights. ForeFlight Logbook strives to maintain this ability with photo attachments. You can add unlimited photos to flight entries, aircraft profiles, certificates, and endorsements, all of which are saved with the rest of your data in the ForeFlight Cloud, and are accessible from any of your devices.

We thank Susan for her thoughtful and informative article. We’ll continue to raise the bar with ForeFlight Logbook to make flight logging more efficient and more enjoyable for pilots. You can learn more about ForeFlight Logbook here.

The FAA has issued a notice advising of GPS interference testing this month that may cause GPS to become unreliable or unavailable for aircraft operating in parts of the southwestern US and on the West coast. The testing will be centered about 60 nm southwest of the BTY VOR in Nevada, with disruption of GPS possible within a radius of 253 nm for aircraft at 500′ AGL, up to a radius of 476 nm for aircraft at FL400 and above.

Testing will be conducted between 1630Z and 2230Z on the following dates: June 7, June 9, June 21, June 23, June 28, and June 30. ARTCC NOTAMs regarding the testing have been published for much of the western US, and can be found in ForeFlight under the ARTCC tab when viewing an airport’s NOTAMs.

While noting that all aircraft that rely on GPS may be affected by the testing, the advisory specifically recommends that pilots of Embraer Phenom 300 jets avoid the area entirely, stating that the testing (and resultant disruption of GPS) may affect those aircraft’s flight stability controls.

We urge any pilots flying in the affected area to adequately plan and prepare for the disruption or total loss of GPS service during the dates and times specified. Even without GPS, ForeFlight provides essential tools for navigating in the air, including aeronautical charts and plates downloads, weather and NOTAM data from Pack, and the Maps Ruler for measuring distances and radials.

ForeFlight 7.7 introduces the ability to share Logbook draft entries with other pilots, as well as a new radar layer, a new rate of descent instrument, Stratus ESG support, and lots of work under the hood to improve general map performance.

Flight Logging Just Got Easier with Flight Sharing

The new Flight Sharing feature in ForeFlight Logbook makes it easy for pilots to send and receive draft flight entries. Pilots can share a flight with one or more people right from the ForeFlight app. The receiving party then modifies and accepts the entry into their own Logbook. Flight Sharing makes it convenient when practicing approaches with a friend– use one iPad to collect the flight details, then simply share the entry. It is also a time-saver for corporate flight crews who can now share a logbook entry between the Captain and First Officer, reducing time spent on the administrative aspect of a flight.

Shared entries are just like drafts from Track Logs – review and edit the information, then tap Approve to add it to your Logbook.

Track Medical Currency in Logbook

Don’t let your medical expiration sneak up on you. When you add your medical certificate to the Logbook Qualifications section, you can now also add it to your currency summary view. This keeps the time remaining until your medical certificate expires front and center.

Stratus ESG Support and Firmware Upgrade for Stratus 1S/2S

Bundled with ForeFlight 7.7 is a firmware upgrade for Stratus 1S and 2S receivers. This upgrade adds support for the Stratus ESG, Appareo’s new all-in-one ADS-B Out solution. Stratus 1S and 2S devices can connect to the Stratus ESG via a USB cable to take advantage of its auxiliary power for continual charging, as well as the transponder’s externally mounted WAAS GPS and ADS-B receivers for maximum reception.

The upgrade also adds new features to the Stratus 2S. The built-in Flight Data Recorder now has automatic flight leg detection which automatically stops a Stratus Track Log and starts a new one when a full landing is detected. In addition, customers now have the option to save AHRS calibration settings between uses – this is especially helpful for taildragger aircraft pilots who set ‘straight and level’ attitude while inflight.

New ‘Lowest Tilt’ Radar Layer

For more informed preflight planning, you can now choose between the existing NEXRAD composite reflectivity layer and a new NEXRAD base reflectivity from the lowest elevation angle, or Lowest Tilt, layer. The current radar layer — renamed ‘Radar (Composite)’ — does what its name implies: it shows a composite view of multiple angles of radar scans. The new Radar (Lowest Tilt) layer shows only the lowest angle scan, generally providing a more accurate picture of where precipitation is actually reaching the ground.

The composite radar image at left shows precipitation over Atlanta, but the lowest-tilt scan on the right reveals that precipitation is only reaching the ground well west of the city.

In addition, you can display either radar layer in the low resolution, 4-color scheme defined by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics as the standard for airborne radar coloring. This option is available in the Map Settings menu as “Four-color Radar”.

Check out Scott Dennstaedt’s blog post to learn more about these new radar features.

Finally, the Lightning layer no longer declutters groups of lightning strikes, allowing you to see all the strikes in a given area to get a better sense of where dangerous convection is occurring in a storm.

Find Your Rate of Descent to Destination

Also on the Maps view is a new option in the instrument panel: Descent to Dest. This instrument uses your GPS ground speed, GPS altitude, and distance to destination to compute the required rate of descent in feet per minute to be at your destination elevation upon arrival.

The Descent to Dest instrument shows the rate of descent required to be at destination elevation upon arrival.

Military Flight Bag Gets new Data Features

Military Flight Bag (or MFB), our dedicated subscription plan for military customers, now allows charts and data to be loaded onto an iPad over a wired computer connection — a process termed “sideloading”. While most of us have ready access to high-speed Wi-Fi and cellular connections, many of our military customers operate in areas of the world with slow or no internet – imagine trying to download a 2GB chart update over dial-up. Sideloading allows these updates to be delivered to multiple devices by connecting them to a central computer with the data already on it, giving military customers added flexibility in how they operate around the world.

In conjunction with ForeFlight 8, ForeFlight on the web features a number of updates that are now available for ForeFlight subscribers, including the ability to file flight plans, generate weather briefings, and manage aircraft profiles. You can also access and plan flights with our new global Aeronautical Maps. Log in to ForeFlight anytime using your ForeFlight Mobile credentials and access ForeFlight’s powerful flight planning from your desktop computer.

ForeFlight’s powerful flight planning capabilities are available on your desktop computer.

Route Editor, NavLog, & Route Advisor

Familiar Route Editor and Navlog views make it easy to build and edit a route using text input or rubber band planning. ForeFlight’s auto-complete search engine returns results as fast as you type based on waypoints, navaids, airport names, routes, and city names. Just like on ForeFlight Mobile, Route Advisor™ allows you to simply enter departure and destination identifiers into the Route Editor, then select from available route suggestions including airway, recently cleared ATC routes, preferred routes, or TEC routes.

Route Advisor helps you select from available route suggestions.

You will also see a new Aircraft tab on the left-hand side; here you can create and edit aircraft profiles. When you add performance data, the Navlog computes your route time and fuel burn, just like in the mobile app. The best part is that any aircraft profile changes you make on the web are automatically synced to your mobile devices.

In addition, the new global Aeronautical Maps look stunning on a desktop browser and include many of the same benefits as the mobile app, like dynamic decluttering, customizable information, light and dark themes, and Smart Airway Labels.

File & Brief Anywhere, Anytime

All of the same file and brief features you enjoy on ForeFlight Mobile are available via the web. You can amend and cancel IFR plans and activate and close VFR plans – and it’s all instantly synced to your iPad and iPhone. In the Aircraft view, you can add ICAO equipment and performance codes, and ForeFlight pre-populates your flight plan form with this information.

Generate ForeFlight’s Graphical Briefing right from your desktop computer.

ForeFlight’s Graphical Briefing can be generated on the web. Graphical Briefing transforms the standard text briefing information and delivers it in a visually elegant design for better readability – and it looks amazing in the full desktop view.

Check out this how-to video to learn more about Graphical Briefing:

Logbook On The Web

In addition to experience reports and the 8710 report, student pilots will enjoy keeping tabs on accumulated flight time towards their PPL or Instrument Rating using the new Progress Reports. These reports use data from your logbook entries to display a checklist of requirements needed for each, checking off each item as you complete it.

ForeFlight Logbook Progress Reports help student pilots keep an eye on the prize.

ForeFlight on the web gives you more flexibility to plan and file when and where it is convenient. You can log in to ForeFlight anytime using your ForeFlight Mobile credentials. Access to Logbook features and the new Aeronautical Maps requires a Basic Plus or Pro Plus subscription plan. If you need to make changes to your subscription, you can do that on the web, too!

The wait is over—ForeFlight 8 is here! Download on the App Store today to experience our groundbreaking data-driven Aeronautical Maps. New TFR Alerts help you steer clear of TFRs while inflight and upgrades to Logbook make flight logging even easier and more connected than ever. In addition, major enhancements to ForeFlight on the web make it possible to plan, file, and brief whenever and wherever it is most convenient. Read more about web updates here.

The Future Of Maps Is Here

Fast, powerful, and beautiful, ForeFlight Aeronautical Maps represent the next generation of mapping technology. Rather than using scans of paper charts, Aeronautical Maps are driven by data, opening up a huge range of possibilities for how information is displayed on the map.

In the Map Settings menu, new ForeFlight Map controls allow you to select from Light and Dark map themes and to turn the Terrain layer on or off. You will also see new Aeronautical Map Settings when the Aeronautical layer is selected in the Maps dropdown. The ability to customize the map is made possible by ForeFlight’s data-driven map technology. You can turn airspace on or off, set airways to High, Low, or Off, turn ARTCC boundaries on or off, and more. Use the text slider to adjust label text size for better readability. This set of controls for the Aeronautical Map is the first iteration of the choices you will have over what map elements you show or hide—future updates will bring more capability.

New Aeronautical Map Settings give you control over what map elements to show or hide.

In addition, Continuous Zoom™ and dynamic decluttering of map elements allows you to find useful information at any zoom level, and “always-up” labels make it easy to read text on the map no matter how it’s oriented.

A new feature called Smart Airway Labels provides information about segments of any airway in your flight plan. These labels start out small – only showing the name of the airway – but expand as you zoom in, showing additional information about the airway segment like magnetic heading and the MEA.

We’ve also taken our Plates on Maps feature to a new level by directly integrating ForeFlight’s airport diagrams into the Aeronautical layer. Zoom in on an airport and runways and taxiways materialize right on the map, complete with labels and FBO markers.

ForeFlight Aeronautical Maps are available with Basic Plus, Pro Plus, and Business Pro plans.

Logbook Is More Connected Than Ever

ForeFlight 8 adds a new feature to Logbook that busy CFIs and flight students might find useful – Remote Signing. Students can send draft logbook entries to their instructor who can review, send back edits, or sign the entry, whenever and wherever it is most convenient. The instructor can also opt to add the flight to their own logbook as ‘Dual Given’ time. As an added benefit, students take command and learn how to manage their logbook from the beginning.

We also introduce Logbook Connect, an ecosystem of third-party services that you can connect to your ForeFlight Logbook. Logbook Connect makes it easier to add flight entries directly from the other pilot services you use. Our launch partners, Redbird Flight and Schedule Pointe, allow you to send draft entries from their respective dashboards to your own logbook.

Sharing flights with friends and followers on social media is easy!

In addition, Logbook Progress Reports are available to help student pilots track the progress of accumulated flight time towards their PPL or Instrument rating.

Finally, sharing flight entries with your friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook is really easy. Simply tap the send-to button in an entry and ForeFlight will create a template post, along with photo attachments.

ForeFlight Logbook is bundled with our Basic Plus and Pro Plus plans.

TFR Alerts Keep You Aware In The Air

The new alerts watch for active TFRs near your current altitude and provide visual and auditory warnings as you approach, and again if you enter one. The alerts work whether or not the TFR layer is selected on the Maps view.

Enhancements To ForeFlight On The Web

In conjunction with ForeFlight 8, ForeFlight on the web features a number of updates that are now available for ForeFlight subscribers, including the ability to file flight plans, generate weather briefings, and manage aircraft profiles. You can also access and plan flights with our new global Aeronautical Maps. Log in to ForeFlight anytime using your ForeFlight Mobile credentials and access ForeFlight’s powerful flight planning from your desktop computer. Read more about updates to ForeFlight on the web in this article.

ForeFlight 8.0.2 is a minor release that delivers a refinement in the Airports view to include more nearby weather stations, as well as some fixes in preparation for iOS 10 compatibility. Apple has announced that it plans to release iOS 10 to the public on Tuesday, September 13th. We continue to conduct thorough testing on iOS 10 to ensure full compatibility with ForeFlight. Please stay tuned to our blog post, Facebook page, and Twitter feed for updates on our ‘all-clear’ notice. As always, feel free to email team@foreflight.com if you have any questions.

ForeFlight’s flight plan filing capabilities recently got a big boost with support for intra-Canada VFR flight plans.

VFR flight plans for routes within Canada are now sent directly to Nav Canada, allowing customers to both plan and file Canadian VFR flights entirely within ForeFlight Mobile or via the ForeFlight website. ForeFlight also supports cross-border VFR flight plans from the U.S. to Canada and all IFR flight plans within or between the U.S. and Canada, in either direction.

When filing a VFR flight plan within Canada, pilots are required to fill out the Destination Contact and Phone fields in the ICAO flight plan form. These fields specify who should be contacted if search and rescue actions need to be initiated. Pilots are also required to provide their license number, which can be entered after their name in the Pilot Name field (e.g. “Joe Pilot LIC 123456”).

Pilots filing Canadian VFR flights are required to provide their license number, which can be entered after their name in the Pilot Name field as shown here.

As with other flight plan types, Canadian VFR flight plans can be amended or canceled within ForeFlight using the Amend and Cancel buttons at the bottom of the flight plan form. The Activate and Close functions are not currently available for Canadian flight plans, so a pilot must contact flight service to perform these functions. If a flight plan is not activated by phone, it will automatically activate at the estimated time of departure specified in the flight plan, as prescribed in Transport Canada’s Aeronautical Information Manual:

“A VFR flight plan should normally be opened with a Tower, a Flight Service Station, a Flight Information Center or a Community Aerodrome Radio Station upon departure to activate the alerting service. The pilot is responsible for extending or cancelling the flight plan if the flight is delayed or cancelled. If an extension or cancellation is not received by the proposed departure time, the responsible ATS unit will activate the flight plan or flight itinerary, using the Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) as the Actual Time of Departure (ATD).”

With ForeFlight 8.1 we introduce support for SiriusXM’s powerful SXAR1 Aviation Weather Receiver, which supplies ForeFlight with high resolution radar with storm cell attributes and tracks, lightning, METARs, TAFs, AIR/SIGMETs, TFRs, and more. In addition, more of your logbook data is now in easy reach with Currency Details and access to Custom Field data in Reports. Download ForeFlight Mobile version 8.1 in the Apple App Store today!

Powerful, Portable Satellite Weather from SiriusXM

We’re excited to announce that we have partnered with SiriusXM to offer a portable XM weather solution to ForeFlight customers in the form of the SXAR1 Aviation Receiver. This compact, lightweight device wirelessly delivers a wide range of XM weather products to ForeFlight Mobile, including both composite and lowest-tilt NEXRAD radar, storm cell attributes like echo tops and tracks, AIRMETs and SIGMETs, TFRs, METARs, TAFs, winds aloft, and more, as well as GPS position. Future updates will unlock even more capabilities that will continue to make the SXAR1 a powerful inflight weather solution.

Check out Scott Dennstaedt’s article for some great insight and tips for using SiriusXM weather inflight.

Because it receives weather information from satellites, the SXAR1 bypasses many of the limitations affecting the delivery of FIS-B weather. The SXAR1 provides nationwide weather with no coverage gaps, minimum altitudes, or line-of-sight restrictions – all it needs is a clear view of the sky. The built-in rechargeable battery and Bluetooth connectivity eliminates the need for wires in the cockpit.

Coinciding with ForeFlight 8.1, SiriusXM is introducing the new Pilot for ForeFlight weather subscription package specifically designed for this integration. SiriusXM is also offering a $200 savings to pilots who buy the SXAR1 and activate the new subscription package.

Learn more at foreflight.com/siriusxm.

Currency Details and Custom Field Data in Logbook

ForeFlight Logbook continues to improve with new ways to access important flight data. Tap on Currency Summaries on Logbook’s main view to see in-depth information about which flights contribute to each currency type, and a brief description of the requirements for each currency type. Access to this neatly organized information makes it easier than ever to understand your currency and stay on top of it.

Logbook experience reports were also upgraded to include Custom Field data. Aggregated totals from any custom fields you’ve added to your logbook now appear at the bottom of experience reports.

ForeFlight and Apple iOS 10

Click here for the latest information regarding ForeFlight Mobile and iOS 10 compatibility.

ForeFlight 8.1.1 corrects a minor issue affecting the display of SXAR1 radar data sent to ForeFlight, as well as issues with the dates shown on Endorsement signatures in Logbook. As always, feel free to email team@foreflight.com if you have any questions.

Perhaps one of the most underutilized weather products shown on the ForeFlight Map view are the yellow-shaded polygons called convective outlooks. On any given eight-hour shift, they are issued hourly by a highly trained meteorologist at the Aviation Weather Center (AWC) in Kansas City. In fact, convective SIGMETs shown by a red-shaded polygon are also issued by this same forecaster.

Convective outlooks, shown in yellow, can be displayed by picking the AIR/SIGMET/CWAs menu selection. Tapping on the TS button will display all convective SIGMETs as well as any convective outlooks.

Let’s start with convective SIGMETs

Convective SIGMETs (WSTs) define regions of airspace with active areas of thunderstorms that meet specific criteria. The important word here is active. In other words, convective SIGMETs represent more of a NOWcast for thunderstorms than a forecast. Here’s the way it works. Each and every hour the convective SIGMET forecaster at the AWC looks for thunderstorms throughout the lower 48 United States and coastal waters that meet specific criteria. A single cell pulse thunderstorm isn’t necessarily hazardous as long as you don’t fly through the same airspace that it occupies. However, when thunderstorms form long lines, are clustered close together in widespread areas, are embedded or severe, they become more of a threat to aviation and the forecaster will issue a convective SIGMET for those areas of thunderstorms at 55 minutes past each hour.

A convective SIGMET outlined in red for a line of embedded thunderstorms as depicted from the SiriusXM satellite weather broadcast.

Despite the fact that convective SIGMETs are valid for two hours when issued, the following hour the forecaster will once again evaluate the convective threat and issue a new round of convective SIGMETs. Each new issuance at 55 minutes past the hour will supersede the previous set of convective SIGMETs. Effectively, no convective SIGMET will ever exist for two hours.

This is not to say that you must fly around convective SIGMET areas. For a convective SIGMET to be issued, the area of convection must contain significant radar echoes that fill a minimum of 40% of the area at least 3,000 square miles or 40% of a line of at least 60 miles in length. This leaves a fair amount of airspace to navigate through some convective SIGMET areas.

What about convective outlooks?

First, they are not “outlook SIGMETs” as I’ve seen them called. In fact, they are not SIGMETs at all. Unlike convective SIGMETs, convective outlooks are truly forecasts; there isn’t a requirement that active thunderstorms exist when they are issued. Instead, they define larger regions of airspace that are expected to contain thunderstorms that meet convective SIGMET criteria in the next two to six hours after the outlook was issued. These may include ongoing areas or lines of convection covered by a convective SIGMET or they may include new areas or lines of thunderstorms that are expected to develop and reach convective SIGMET criteria in the two to six hours valid period.

A convective outlook is outlined in yellow. This shows the region where convective SIGMETs are likely to be issued within the next two to six hours. The text of the outlook provides the effective time.

That two to six hour window is a perfect “sweet spot” for many of us making flights. There may not be any thunderstorms when you go to depart, but if your proposed route takes you through one of these convective outlook areas in the valid time specified you may see one or more convective SIGMETs issued within this outlook area during your flight.

When convection doesn’t quite meet convective SIGMET criteria you may still see a Center Weather Advisory (CWA) issued for thunderstorms as shown in this image. CWAs are issued by meteorologists at the Center Weather Service Units and coordinated with forecasters at the Aviation Weather Center.

What about ADS-B or SiriusXM?

At the moment, convective outlooks are not broadcast over the ADS-B ground stations and are not part of the SiriusXM satellite weather broadcast. In ForeFlight, we attempt to preserve the latest convective outlooks until they expire six hours later. So be sure to use the Pack feature of ForeFlight prior to departure.

ForeFlight’s built-in Documents catalog provides you with our complete library of always-current ForeFlight user guides, as well as an extensive library of up-to-date publications issued by the FAA. Chart supplements and legends, FAA handbooks, and Federal Aviation Regulations are all at your fingertips and included with your ForeFlight subscription. We recently expanded ForeFlight Documents to include more FARs that your flight crews will find as useful references:

• FAR Part 119 Certification: Air Carriers and Commercial Operators
• FAR Part 120 Drug & Alcohol Testing Program
• CFR 49 Part 175 Carriage by Aircraft and Hazardous Materials 

“Having the FAA documents right in the app is very convenient. Plus the ability to text search, annotate and add personal bookmarks makes it easy to use. Also very important to us is the automatic updating of the documents. It takes away a lot of stress monitoring the FAA documents for currency.” –Daniel Thornton, Millbrook Aviation

These additions join our comprehensive list of FARs already in the Documents catalog, including:

• Part 23 – Airworthiness Standards
• Part 43 – Maintenance
• Part 91 – General Operating and Flight Rules
• Part 121 – Operating Requirements
• Part 135 – Operating Requirements

ForeFlight’s Business Pro plan for flight departments includes the built-in Documents catalog, as well as the ability to add secure cloud-based document distribution of your company pubs. ForeFlight Cloud Documents gives you a fast, easy, affordable way to distribute company documents to every flight crew member. Your administrator can control the distribution of every new or revised flight manual, operating handbook, or special procedures to every pilot’s iPad delivered from the cloud of your choice: Dropbox, Box, or Amazon S3.

Learn more about ForeFlight for Business Aviation here: foreflight.com/business

If you are interested in making ForeFlight a part of your Electronic Flight Bag program, we’d love to chat! Contact sales@foreflight.com or visit foreflight.com/approved.