Foreflight 5 is here.

I like FF a lot, but the traffic thing is wearing kinda thin.

WingX and the Flightguide app allow display of data from a Zaon unit, and Garmin displays data from a GDL-39. Plus Zaon is coming out with its MX1090 device, which will transmit both PCAS data and ADSB traffic data.

Richman
 
midlifeflyer said:
It's a general problem with GPS going way back. A recommendation to give yourself a few miles of clearance rather than use GPS to go right up against it has existed for a long time.
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This is not a GPS problem, it is specifically a problem with how the FAA digitizes the sectionals. The problem does not occur, for example, with IFR enroute charts, and the sectional inaccuracy presents itself with navaids and airport locations as well. ForeFlight is telling me that as the FAA's process evolves to be all electronic, the problem will likely resolve itself.


JKG
 
Richman67 said:
I like FF a lot, but the traffic thing is wearing kinda thin.
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ADS-B traffic on an airplane not equipped with ADS-B Out is useless and borderline dangerous. I hope they don't give in and do it until a significant percentage of the fleet is equipped. Look out the damn window. Please. :nono:
 
flyingcheesehead said:
ADS-B traffic on an airplane not equipped with ADS-B Out is useless and borderline dangerous. I hope they don't give in and do it until a significant percentage of the fleet is equipped. Look out the damn window. Please. :nono:
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I hope they do. I suspect that there is a significant percentage of the fleet that is equipped in TIS-B areas, or at least enough to beneficially trigger the TIS-B broadcast to aircraft that are not equipped. With all of the major competition displaying at least TIS-B information, and with the ADS-B Out adoption rate growing, I'm not sure what they have to gain by holding out.

As is the case with terrain and obstacle display and warnings, traffic display is a supplemental enhancement to safety, not a substitute for diligence on the part of the pilot(s).


JKG
 
flyingcheesehead said:
ADS-B traffic on an airplane not equipped with ADS-B Out is useless and borderline dangerous. I hope they don't give in and do it until a significant percentage of the fleet is equipped. Look out the damn window. Please. :nono:
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Unless you are in the vicinity of another airplane with ADS-B out which is the case in NYC where I fly. IMHO having additional information regarding traffic in addition to your eyes can't hurt. Even if it points out 1 target when there are 5 others around as long as I know I need to scan our the window as well.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
ADS-B traffic on an airplane not equipped with ADS-B Out is useless and borderline dangerous. I hope they don't give in and do it until a significant percentage of the fleet is equipped. Look out the damn window. Please. :nono:
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Slow your roll there, chief. Do you think your fellow pilots are ALL drooling morons who fixate on a pretty picture in the cockpit? Ever stop to think that my airplane IS equipped with ADS-B out?

Any additional information that can be provided is always an asset. How many times has the NTSB said that there are significant flaws in depending on "see and avoid"? If a partial ADS-B hit is enough to assist you in spotting conflicting traffic just one time, then yea, it's worth it. The clean underwear you save may just be your own.

Besides, we're not just talking about ADS-B. The Zaon PCAS unit is also darn handy when it comes to assisting with spotting traffic, and it works with ANY transponder equipped aircraft. Both FlightGuide's app and WingX allow for Zaon data to be presented. I currently send the output of mine to a small AV8OR to display which I bought for exactly that purpose (albeit when they went on sale). It's a huge improvement in SA over the stock display, but it would be better if I could eliminate it and display the data on my ipad.

Richman
 
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Did the last database updates and FF crashed twice while doing the update. That hasn't been an issue before - I did get things updated, but it has lessened my confidence a hair.
 
wsuffa said:
Did the last database updates and FF crashed twice while doing the update. That hasn't been an issue before - I did get things updated, but it has lessened my confidence a hair.
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It updated fine on the iPad but has failed numerous times on the iPhone 5.
 
wsuffa said:
Did the last database updates and FF crashed twice while doing the update. That hasn't been an issue before - I did get things updated, but it has lessened my confidence a hair.
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No problems with my iDevices. But I only have few states. ;)

Cheers
 
wsuffa said:
Did the last database updates and FF crashed twice while doing the update. That hasn't been an issue before - I did get things updated, but it has lessened my confidence a hair.
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Marauder said:
It updated fine on the iPad but has failed numerous times on the iPhone 5.
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Bill and Marauder,

Please go here: http://www.foreflight.com/support/crash-logs

Follow the directions and send them your crash logs - That'll help them fix it ASAP.

FWIW, I had no problems on my iPhone 4S or either of my iPads, so it may be something that only happens rarely - So, those crash logs will be a big help. Thanks on behalf of us beta testers and all ForeFlight users! :)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
FWIW, I had no problems on my iPhone 4S or either of my iPads, so it may be something that only happens rarely - So, those crash logs will be a big help. Thanks on behalf of us beta testers and all ForeFlight users! :)
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Same here! My iPhone 4s and my iPad mini have updated and worked flawlessly. :yesnod:
 
Next Update Idea: Sectional chart overlay on the high res terrain map

This update has worked great on my iPad mini!
 
I'd really like to see audio alerts for approaching terrain conflicts.

The Garmin handhelds do it, and as a terrain-paranoid person, I love that feature!

Dan
 
I can see it now... Flying along with FF standard subscription... A pop-up message appears: "you may be about to impact terrain.. Click here to upgrade your subscription and find out now..." :no:

(your new ad campaign, Hilton?)
 
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Wow... I haven't flown with it since I updated my foreflight subscription. I just landed on a commercial flight in Atlanta. As we pulled off the runway I fired up Foreflight on my iPHone and a second later it says (in a voice) "APPROACHING RUNWAY 8 LEFT 26 RIGHT" and a few seconds later "ENTERING RUNWAY 8 LEFT 26 RIGHT". Cool, I guess that's a good heads up. I didn't go knock on the cockpit door to warn the Captain though.
 
flyingron said:
Wow... I haven't flown with it since I updated my foreflight subscription. I just landed on a commercial flight in Atlanta. As we pulled off the runway I fired up Foreflight on my iPHone and a second later it says (in a voice) "APPROACHING RUNWAY 8 LEFT 26 RIGHT" and a few seconds later "ENTERING RUNWAY 8 LEFT 26 RIGHT". Cool, I guess that's a good heads up. I didn't go knock on the cockpit door to warn the Captain though.
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That feature has actually been present for a few versions now...

I agree that a voice annunciation would be nice on the terrain.
 
This might go a bit further than they'd like, but I would love to be able to load an approach into a flight plan the same way you can now load a traffic pattern. It just seems so natural and so useful to be able to quickly put the waypoints into the nav log.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
ADS-B traffic on an airplane not equipped with ADS-B Out is useless and borderline dangerous. I hope they don't give in and do it until a significant percentage of the fleet is equipped. Look out the damn window. Please. :nono:
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It's out today: http://blog.foreflight.com/

Today at Sun ‘n Fun we are announcing that traffic support will land in ForeFlight Mobile 5.1, available in late April. Along with the traffic announcement, we are announcing support for the second generation Stratus 2, unveiled at Sun ‘n Fun today.
 
dukeblue219 said:
It's out today: http://blog.foreflight.com/

Today at Sun ‘n Fun we are announcing that traffic support will land in ForeFlight Mobile 5.1, available in late April. Along with the traffic announcement, we are announcing support for the second generation Stratus 2, unveiled at Sun ‘n Fun today.
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Yup. I've been testing it for a week or so. It works REALLY well here in the vicinity of Daytona Beach thanks to Embry-Riddle's fleet being equipped and constantly flying. It'd be great if I flew an ADS-B Out equipped plane. Otherwise... Well, I talked to Tyson today and he said they will be displaying a warning for non-ADS-B equipped planes.

I'll probably upgrade to the Stratus 2 soon. I pestered those guys about some other issues today, too...
 
OBTW - Flying Magazine had an article stating that the original Stratus did not support traffic.

This is NOT TRUE. When ForeFlight 5.1 hits the App Store, those with the "Stratus 1" will see traffic in ForeFlight. The "Stratus 2" adds AHRS.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
OBTW - Flying Magazine had an article stating that the original Stratus did not support traffic.

This is NOT TRUE. When ForeFlight 5.1 hits the App Store, those with the "Stratus 1" will see traffic in ForeFlight. The "Stratus 2" adds AHRS.
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Thanks for the note. I got the impression (from 10 seconds skimming the link) that I needed the new model for traffic, and I completely missed the AHRS announcement somehow! Hmm. No need for either, but tempting nonetheless :)
 
When the original Stratus was announced I was excited and then realized that pretty much anywhere I wanted to fly had no ADS-B coverage. I said I'd wait for coverage and then re-evaluate. Well, it turns out the product page for the Stratus 2 shows an updated coverage map that covers a lot of my flying range, so I ordered one. Looking forward to having that data in all the planes I rent.
 
Hypothetical question:

If I have, say, a GTX330ES and transmitting out on 1090MHz, I assume the Stratus 2 will pick that up. Will Foreflight be displaying a contact right under my aircraft icon all the time? Might there be a way to filter out my own aircraft?
 
The Garmin GDL-39 filters out your own ship based on its own GPS receiver data(and probably barometer as a cross check in non-pressurized aircraft) so I assume that any other vendor would do the same.
 
Can you connect two devices to one Bluetooth sender? I haven't tried, but wondering if one XGPS-150 can send position signals to both my iPad and my iPhone at the same time. Having Xavion running on the iPhone got this question rolling around in my head.
 
Bluetooth devices can support multiple simultaneous connections. However it doesn't look like the XGPS-150 does. The Bad Elf Pro(the bluetooth one) says it supports up to 5. Most of the ADS-B devices(WiFi or Bluetooth) support multiple devices with their GPS feed.
 
chartbundle said:
Bluetooth devices can support multiple simultaneous connections. However it doesn't look like the XGPS-150 does. The Bad Elf Pro(the bluetooth one) says it supports up to 5. Most of the ADS-B devices(WiFi or Bluetooth) support multiple devices with their GPS feed.
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I finally had a chance to test it this morning; you're right, the XGPS150 won't connect to more than one device. Both my iPhone and iPad see the XGPS150 as soon as it is powered on, but whichever device grabs it first wins.

Looks like the new XGPS170 will support up to two simultaneous connections.

http://gps.dualav.com/explore-by-product/xgps170/
 
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