ForeFlight

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ForeFlight is an electronic flight bag for iOS and iPadOS devices [1] designed to assist pilots and corporate flight departments with flight planning. It includes information about facilities such as airports, NAVAIDs, and air traffic control facilities. It also aids pilots in tasks including flight planning, weather monitoring, and document management, as well as an electronic logbook to help pilots record flight time. The United States, Canada, and Europe are supported regions. The company was founded in 2007 and has since been purchased by Boeing. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Overview

The app provides airport information such as chart supplement entries, taxi diagrams, instrument approach plates, departure and arrival procedures, and both temporary and permanent NOTAMs. It also provides weather reports and forecasts for the airport or, if no reports are available, nearby airports. It also makes it possible to search for airports, procedure diagrams, or regulatory aspects of these procedures. [3] [4]

The app also supports a wide range of general and business aviation aircraft to allow pilots to assess performance in both hypothetical and real-time conditions. Examples include calculating weight and balance figures and runway performance. ForeFlight Runway Analysis, a subfeature of the app, allows pilots to judge runway length and weather conditions to determine necessary takeoff and landing distances. [3] [5]

ForeFlight provides access to maps and navigation charts. The app supports flight planning features including letting pilots select routes based on IFR waypoints or using waypoints, checkpoints, or geographic features for VFR flight. [6] Pilots can factor instrument departure, arrival, and approach procedures into their route as well as traffic pattern entries to airports. ForeFlight will calculate metrics such as distance, time en route and to each waypoint, true and magnetic courses, and fuel burn considering current weather conditions and aircraft profiles entered by the user. ForeFlight also makes it possible to receive pre-departure clearances through the app. [7] [8]

Enroute weather is also available in the app. Official current reports and forecast information from the National Weather Service is provided in both textual and graphical formats. [9] The app provides approved weather briefings. The briefings include information relative to a pilot's flight and are timestamped and stored. The aircraft tail number is also recorded to ensure that the briefing is considered legally valid. [10]

ForeFlight also displays information about airspace and special use airspace. It displays information about the locations, operating hours, dimensions, and more of uncontrolled and controlled airspaces, airspaces designated for airports, and special airspaces such as Temporary Flight Restrictions. [11]

History

In 2016, the app helped to develop a self-service flight planning system for drones to allow schedulers, dispatchers, and flight crews to plan each aspect of flight. [12]

The app began offering to Jeppesen Charts in 2017 during a partnership with Boeing, who purchased ForeFlight in 2019. [13] [14]

In the 2020s, ForeFlight began rapidly expanding its business aviation offerings, adding new supported aircraft and trying to convince flight departments to change to their software. The company also manages a service called ForeFlight Dispatch to encourage collaborative flight planning. [15] [5]

In November 2022, the app faced a "cyber incident" that caused the outage of its NOTAM system. The app was unable to add new NOTAMs to its system. [16]

ForeFlight is partnered with flight tracking service FlightAware to provide real-time flight tracking and automatically display the filed routes of aircraft on IFR flight plans. This service is provided over Wi-Fi, and pilots in-flight need external ADS-B receivers to see traffic. [17] [18]

In 2024, ForeFlight developed an app for the Apple Vision Pro to allow users to explore airports in three dimensions. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instrument flight rules</span> Civil aviation regulations for flight on instruments

In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR).

In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better than basic VFR weather minima, i.e., in visual meteorological conditions (VMC), as specified in the rules of the relevant aviation authority. The pilot must be able to operate the aircraft with visual reference to the ground, and by visually avoiding obstructions and other aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air traffic control</span> Service to direct pilots of aircraft

Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers (people) who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airspace. The primary purpose of ATC worldwide is to prevent collisions, organise and expedite the flow of traffic in the air, and provide information and other support for pilots.

Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as outer space which is the expanse or space outside the Earth and aerospace which is the general term for Earth's atmosphere and the outer space within the planet's vicinity.

A NOTAM is a notice filed with an aviation authority to alert aircraft pilots of potential hazards along a flight route or at a location that could affect the flight. NOTAMs are notices or advisories that contain information concerning the establishment, conditions or change in any aeronautical facility, service, procedure or hazard, the timely knowledge of which may be essential to personnel and systems concerned with flight operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instrument meteorological conditions</span> Flight category requiring pilots to fly with instruments rather than sight

In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) are weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to flight instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rules (IFR), as opposed to flying by outside visual references under visual flight rules (VFR). Typically, this means flying in cloud or poor weather, where little or nothing can be seen or recognised when looking out of the window. Simulated IMC can be achieved for training purposes by wearing view-limiting devices, which restrict outside vision and force the trainee to rely on instrument indications only.

An instrument rating is an authorization required for a pilot to fly under instrument flight rules (IFR). In the United States, the rating is issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flight service station</span>

A flight service station (FSS) is an air traffic facility that provides information and services to aircraft pilots before, during, and after flights, but unlike air traffic control (ATC), is not responsible for giving instructions or clearances or providing separation. They do, however, relay clearances from ATC for departure or approaches. The people who communicate with pilots from an FSS are referred to as flight service specialists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flight planning</span>

Flight planning is the process of producing a flight plan to describe a proposed aircraft flight. It involves two safety-critical aspects: fuel calculation, to ensure that the aircraft can safely reach the destination, and compliance with air traffic control requirements, to minimise the risk of midair collision. In addition, flight planners normally wish to minimise flight cost through the appropriate choice of route, height, and speed, and by loading the minimum necessary fuel on board. Air Traffic Services (ATS) use the completed flight plan for separation of aircraft in air traffic management services, including tracking and finding lost aircraft, during search and rescue (SAR) missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada Flight Supplement</span> Canadian airport directory

The Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) is a joint civil/military publication and is a supplement of the Aeronautical Information Publication. It is the nation's official airport directory. It contains information on all registered Canadian and certain Atlantic aerodromes and certified airports.

Jeppesen is an American company offering navigational information, operations planning tools, flight planning products and software. Jeppesen's aeronautical navigation charts are often called "Jepp charts" or simply "Jepps" by pilots, due to the charts' popularity. This popularity extends to electronic charts, which are increasingly favored over paper charts by pilots and mariners as mobile computing devices, electronic flight bags, integrated electronic bridge systems and other display devices become more common and readily available.

Direct User Access Terminal Service (DUATS) was a weather information and flight plan processing service contracted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for use by United States civil pilots and other authorized users. The DUAT Service was a telephone- and Internet-based system which allowed the pilot to use a personal computer for access to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) database to obtain weather and aeronautical information and to file, amend, and cancel domestic IFR and VFR flight plans. DUATS provided direct access to weather information via a National Airspace System (NAS) Data Interchange Network II (NADIN-II) interface to the Weather Message Switching Center Replacement (WMSCR) System and the Air traffic control (ATC) Facilities for filing flight plans. The pilot users could interface DUAT Services via the FTS-2001 toll free telephone numbers or via an Internet Interface into the Contractor's Facility. The service could be accessed by direct dial, and the Internet via Telnet or HTTP.

In aviation, a standard terminal arrival (STAR) is a published flight procedure followed by aircraft on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan just before reaching a destination airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special use airspace</span>

Special use airspace (SUA) is a type of special airspaces in the United States designated for operations of a nature such that limitations may be imposed on aircraft not participating in those operations. Often these operations are of a military nature. The designation of SUAs identifies for other users the areas where such activity occurs, provides for segregation of that activity from other users, and allows charting to keep airspace users informed of potential hazards.

An aeronautical chart is a map designed to assist in the navigation of aircraft, much as nautical charts do for watercraft, or a roadmap does for drivers. Using these charts and other tools, pilots are able to determine their position, safe altitude, best route to a destination, navigation aids along the way, alternative landing areas in case of an in-flight emergency, and other useful information such as radio frequencies and airspace boundaries. There are charts for all land masses on Earth, and long-distance charts for trans-oceanic travel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Approach plate</span> Publication of an aircraft landing procedure

Approach plates are the printed or digital charts of instrument approach procedures that pilots use to fly instrument approaches during instrument flight rules (IFR) operations. Each country maintains its own instrument approach procedures according to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.

Standard instrument departure (SID) routes, also known as departure procedures (DP), are published flight procedures followed by aircraft on an IFR flight plan immediately after takeoff from an airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airspace class (United States)</span> U.S. airspace system classification scheme

The United States airspace system's classification scheme is intended to maximize pilot flexibility within acceptable levels of risk appropriate to the type of operation and traffic density within that class of airspace – in particular to provide separation and active control in areas of dense or high-speed flight operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual approach</span> Aircraft landing procedure under clear weather conditions

In aviation, a visual approach is an approach to a runway at an airport conducted under instrument flight rules (IFR) but where the pilot proceeds by visual reference and clear of clouds to the airport. The pilot must at all times have either the airport or the preceding aircraft in sight. This approach must be authorized and under the control of the appropriate air traffic control (ATC) facility. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) definition adds that the visual approach can commence when "either part or all of an instrument approach is not completed", varying only slightly from the Federal Aviation Administration regulation and is essentially identical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Canada Flight 759</span> 2017 aviation incident

On July 7, 2017, an Airbus A320-211 operating as Air Canada Flight 759 was nearly involved in an accident at San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County, California, United States. The flight, which originated at Toronto Pearson International Airport, had been cleared by air traffic control to land on runway 28R and was on final approach to land on that runway; however, instead of lining up with the runway, the aircraft had lined up with the parallel taxiway, on which four fully loaded and fueled passenger airplanes were stopped awaiting takeoff clearance. The flight crew initiated a go-around prior to landing, after which it landed on 28R without further incident. The aircraft on the taxiway departed for their intended destinations without further incident. The subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the Air Canada airplane descended to 59 feet (18 m) above the ground before it began its climb, and that it missed colliding with one of the aircraft on the taxiway by 14 feet (4.3 m).

References

  1. 1 2 "The best iPad for ForeFlight". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  2. ↑ "Question – Weletutors". WELETUTORS. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  3. 1 2 3 "ForeFlight's Latest Update Includes New Hold Advisor Feature". Flying Mag. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  4. ↑ "A New Weather Forecast Feature In The Latest ForeFlight Version That We Love". Plane & Pilot. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  5. 1 2 "Software to help trip planning and flight support". Business Airport International. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  6. ↑ "The 7 Best Aviation Apps For Flying". Inflight Pilot Training. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  7. ↑ "Honeywell Forge: Your All-in-One Flight Planning Source". Honeywell. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  8. ↑ "ForeFlight VFR Navigation Log". Holladay Aviation. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  9. ↑ "I can't believe I just did that". General Aviation News. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  10. ↑ "Not that ignorant after all". General Aviation News. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  11. ↑ "Flying High and Landing Safely: a history of aeronautical mapping". Directions Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  12. ↑ "UAS Demos Self-service Flight-planning Platform". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  13. ↑ "ForeFlight Releases Jeppesen Chart Option". Flying Mag. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  14. ↑ "Boeing scraps plan for services revenue to hit $50 billion this decade". Flight Global. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  15. ↑ "ForeFlight Grows Business Aviation Services". Aviation International News. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  16. ↑ "Jeppesen 'Cyber Incident' Affects Services (Updated)". AvWeb. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  17. ↑ "FOREFLIGHT SHOWS FLIGHTAWARE TRACKING". Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  18. ↑ "ForeFlight Release Lets Pilots Multitask". Flying Mag. Retrieved 2023-01-26.
  19. ↑ "ForeFlight Launches Voyager App for Apple Vision Pro". ForeFlight Blog. 2024-02-01. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
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