ForeFlight 6.4

PedroB801

PedroB801

Filing Flight Plan
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Jun 27, 2014
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Conroe, TX
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PedroB801
Has anyone heard anything regarding the release of ForeFlight 6.4? Seems like it has been a while since the announcement, and it's unlike them to delay. Also, looks like they removed the press release of the ex CEO of American joining their board from their website.
 
Having spent much of my career working for software companies of sizes similar to Foreflight, I understand the kinds of challenges they deal with. I also feel that I know how to recognize a good software development and support organization. I fully expect that whatever, if any, challenge they might be facing will be temporary.

I would be surprised if there has ever been a software company that didn't miss a projected release date at one time or another.
 
MBDiagMan said:
I would be surprised if there has ever been a software company that didn't miss a projected release date at one time or another.
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Which is why many do everything they can these days to NOT project a release date. I always enjoy watching a CEO try to explain that during shareholder meetings. It'll be done when it's done and even then it won't be done.
 
I wonder if all of the little glitches I am having with IOS 8.1 on my Ipad3 and Iphone 5S make a difference?
 
The new iOS 8.2 is supposed to fix those crashing problems.
 
Yep, 8.2 is SUPPOSED TO FIX those issues. After others have completed apple's beta testing for them and it is sorted out, I will install it. Being among the first to install latest releases, is asking for headaches.
 
Aircraft profiles....not to be overly demeaning, but Laurie Davis' CoPilot has had this for years, from the beginning when it was an app on the Palm, then migrated to iOS.

But in all fairness, CoPilot is more flight planning than inflight. And doesn't have the charts.
 
Is there some reason that synthetic vision hasn't come to foreflight yet? I am beginning to wonder if it isn't possible due to some patent. Seems odd that they would let other apps take the lead in this area.
 
murphey said:
Laurie Davis' CoPilot has had this for years, from the beginning when it was an app on the Palm, then migrated to iOS.
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Laurie Davis' CoPilot is available on iOS????!!! Wow!

But, as I recall, we had to input the information for an aircraft profile in CoPilot. AFAIK, ForeFlight always has had that capability.
 
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midlifeflyer said:
Laurie Davis' CoPilot is available on iOS????!!! Wow!

But, as I recall, we had to input the information for an aircraft profile in CoPilot. AFAIK, ForeFlight always has had that capability.
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I don't know about always, but I've used Foreflight since the Spring of 2011 and it's been there since then. But from where I sit, flight planning is a tiny little side benefit of Foreflight. Foreflight is so much more than flight planning, that if there were no flight planning it would still be very valuable to me.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Laurie Davis' CoPilot is available on iOS????!!! Wow!

But, as I recall, we had to input the information for an aircraft profile in CoPilot. AFAIK, ForeFlight always has had that capability.
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With CoPilot there's this HUGE collection of already created profiles, download the one closest to your aircraft then munge it for the details. It's always had climb/cruise/descent profiles (speed & fuel). I started using it back in the PalmPilot days. Got it as soon as he migrated to iOS and provided the aircraft profile database. But again, it's really only for flight planning 'cuz there's no charts, no moving map, etc.

I took ground in the late 90s at the local college when paper sectionals were the only option. I finished flight planning in a matter of minutes when everyone else was still trying to find their plotter.
 
One thing I really wish was in ForeFlight would be the ability to import User Waypoints. I'd much rather type stuff in on a real computer and import them into ForeFlight than have to tap em in on the iPad
 
JeffDG said:
One thing I really wish was in ForeFlight would be the ability to import User Waypoints. I'd much rather type stuff in on a real computer and import them into ForeFlight than have to tap em in on the iPad
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I have to assume that all of the cloud sharing of data to sync between devices will make this sort of thing easier down the road. The relatively recent addition of Track Logs forced them to build out the infrastructure to allow individual logins to the Foreflight.com site. I really hope the next step is to fill out the website with additional functionality so that we can use a computer, iPad or iPhone for any of the preflight tasks (ideally, including a Skyvector-like interface) and have it auto-sync to the other devices.
 
JeffDG said:
One thing I really wish was in ForeFlight would be the ability to import User Waypoints. I'd much rather type stuff in on a real computer and import them into ForeFlight than have to tap em in on the iPad
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It can. For quite a while. For the 3 years I've used it.

When I was in Colorado I had a set of user waypoints for the mountain passes I flew. Imported them into FF as soon as I moved to it from my Garmin handheld. Try googling something like, oh, foreflight import user waypoints
 
And it would be really great if the documentation was up to date.
And the link to setting up W&B wasn't a dead Dropbox.
 
The flight planning function _still_ doesn't allow different speeds for different altitudes.

Fltplan.com has this.
 
murphey said:
And it would be really great if the documentation was up to date.
And the link to setting up W&B wasn't a dead Dropbox.
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There were obviously anxious to get this out. The What's New on the website hasn't been updated yet, either.

But I'm delighted to see they got the aircraft profiling sync working. I didn't want to re-enter those into my new iPhone!
 
Well, now that i've upgraded to 6.4, and airplane syncing has happened, i find duplicate airplanes on my iphone and ipad, since i'd entered them separately in the past. Easy to delete, but a pain.
 
bbridges51 said:
Well, now that i've upgraded to 6.4, and airplane syncing has happened, i find duplicate airplanes on my iphone and ipad, since i'd entered them separately in the past. Easy to delete, but a pain.
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Brian, if the details of an aircraft with the same tail # aren't 100% identical on each device, then it treats the profile on each device as a separate plane even if the tail #s are the same.

Look at the upside: figuring out which to delete is also a great opportunity to make the remaining one more correct by adding the Climb/Cruise/Descent details on the More > Aircraft page. :D

- Josh
 
I realize we'll never be satisfied....but now that Aircraft are sync'd (thank you!), can we just sync the W&B profiles, too? The two go hand-in-hand.
 
happypilot876 said:
Brian, if the details of an aircraft with the same tail # aren't 100% identical on each device, then it treats the profile on each device as a separate plane even if the tail #s are the same.

Look at the upside: figuring out which to delete is also a great opportunity to make the remaining one more correct by adding the Climb/Cruise/Descent details on the More > Aircraft page. :D

- Josh
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Of course, you're right. This new feature is a great benefit and an opportunity.
 
JeffDG said:
One thing I really wish was in ForeFlight would be the ability to import User Waypoints. I'd much rather type stuff in on a real computer and import them into ForeFlight than have to tap em in on the iPad
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Why not go to that location on a chart in Foreflight, click on it and name it, rather than keying in all those characters?
 
dans2992 said:
The flight planning function _still_ doesn't allow different speeds for different altitudes.

Fltplan.com has this.
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Maybe you could download fltplan.com to your IPad and fly with it instead.

Adding features to a software product takes time. Show me a software company, and I'll show you a Product Manager in that company that manages a want list of features to add. They can't add them all at the same time. The features have to be prioritized while taking many different issues into consideration. Been there, done that.

With almost 20 years software industry experience under my belt I can promise you that if you had every possible feature you could think of, successfully and reliably incorporated into your product, there would still be people asking you why you haven't added feature X, Y and Z.

Foreflight is a QUALITY software product, with QUALITY support behind it. I would suggest that any feature you would like to see added to the product, simply send them a respectful email asking for it. They need these kinds of requests in order to know what their customers want. Unfortunately, most software product customers would rather complain about a particular feature not being incorporated, than to let the company know what they would like to see. Just human nature I suppose.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Maybe you could download fltplan.com to your IPad and fly with it instead.

Adding features to a software product takes time. Show me a software company, and I'll show you a Product Manager in that company that manages a want list of features to add. They can't add them all at the same time. The features have to be prioritized while taking many different issues into consideration. Been there, done that.

With almost 20 years software industry experience under my belt I can promise you that if you had every possible feature you could think of, successfully and reliably incorporated into your product, there would still be people asking you why you haven't added feature X, Y and Z.

Foreflight is a QUALITY software product, with QUALITY support behind it. I would suggest that any feature you would like to see added to the product, simply send them a respectful email asking for it. They need these kinds of requests in order to know what their customers want. Unfortunately, most software product customers would rather complain about a particular feature not being incorporated, than to let the company know what they would like to see. Just human nature I suppose.
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Okaaayyyyyy then.

I've emailed them about this one, and other feature requests trust me. Unfortunately, since they do not comment on any of their development stuff, it's impossible to know if they've decided to work on it, put it on the back burner, or completely eliminated it as a possibility. I understand their need for secrecy and not committing to anything, but it does sort of make customers feel like the feedback goes into a black hole.

I do use fltplan.com for flight planning, and Foreflight for the actual flight. I'd like to consolidate down to just using Foreflight, that's all.

By far, the biggest feature I'd like to see is audio terrain alerts. It would no doubt save the lives of people who planned their flights poorly. (And yes, I've emailed them this suggestion).
 
The user waypoint sync is pretty cool. If I were asked a way to improve it, let you sync the csv file to the device via Dropbox like you can with other documents...

Otherwise, worked exactly as advertised.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Maybe you could download fltplan.com to your IPad and fly with it instead.
Click to expand...

Um, if he wants to he can.

Fltplan.com has an iOS and Android-compatible app called FltPlan Go! which includes moving map sectionals, high and low en route charts, geo-referenced approach charts, settable timers, rulers, aircraft checklists, AFD airport data, ADS-B and XM weather capability (including recorded briefings), scratchpads ad the ability to write on charts, weight and balance data, eLogbook, various aviation calculators... All free with very minimal advertising.

I'm a big fan of the site; less so of the app which I use for planning but never in the air. But is is available for those who like the interface and its functionality.
 
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I'm glad that everything now syncs across devices, that is definitely helpful. I hope on the next update they adjust the resolution to match the iPhone 6+ since right now it just looks enlarged rather than scaled for the correct resolution.
 
JeffDG said:
Because I have over 100 of them to do.
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Sounds to me like thats even more reason to simply open up maps in FF and go to those locations on the chart, click on it and name it. Seems like that would be much easier than keying in long and lat.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Sounds to me like thats even more reason to simply open up maps in FF and go to those locations on the chart, click on it and name it. Seems like that would be much easier than keying in long and lat.
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Except for the fact that I already have a table of lat/long.

Import worked great.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Jeff,

So you're saying that there is indeed an import feature in Foreflight? If so, that's good info.
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It does, and I learned about it myself in this very thread:

JeffDG said:
One thing I really wish was in ForeFlight would be the ability to import User Waypoints. I'd much rather type stuff in on a real computer and import them into ForeFlight than have to tap em in on the iPad

midlifeflyer said:
It can. For quite a while. For the 3 years I've used it.

When I was in Colorado I had a set of user waypoints for the mountain passes I flew. Imported them into FF as soon as I moved to it from my Garmin handheld. Try googling something like, oh, foreflight import user waypoints

JeffDG said:
Well DAYUM!

Thanks!

http://www.foreflight.com/support/user-waypoints
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