Foreflight is kicking some butt

I was an early adopter of Brand-X, and bought a lifetime subscription. But about a year and a half ago I bought FF, and upgraded to their almost top of the line plan. It is nothing short of miraculous. The support is extraordinary. I just wish Boeing had not bought them. I think that will ruin the company. But until then, I will just remain amazed. The additional features they've added just since I bought the program have been stunning. If you have a Flight Stream, it's an incredible system.
 
LesGawlik said:
I just wish Boeing had not bought them.
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I am okay with Boeing owning them. There are likely more than a few features that I now rely on that are here sooner because Boeing funded the R&D.

and in more than one spot, if you hold it up to the light and squint just so, you can see the meld between FF and Jepp Flight Deck Pro.
 
I agree but why did they change to reloading the entire database, (or so it seems) for updates? What used to be a five minute event is now around 30-45 minutes.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I agree but why did they change to reloading the entire database, (or so it seems) for updates? What used to be a five minute event is now around 30-45 minutes.
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What do you mean? I just now upgraded to 13.5 in a couple of minutes. It's not reloading the entire database. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
 
BrianNC said:
What do you mean? I just now upgraded to 13.5 in a couple of minutes. It's not reloading the entire database. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
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Next time it will time it.
 
Dave Theisen said:
it just gives me the option to open my current edition, not update to 13.5
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It did for me at first, then it changed to update. Give it another try, they must roll the update out over time.

The hold feature seems cool.
 
Mine did update, now.
 
bflynn said:
I did the update. I dunno, first flight out it was telling me I was on the verge of stalling and needed to lower the nose.




Too soon?
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No, pretty good actually....
 
Dave Theisen said:
it just gives me the option to open my current edition, not update to 13.5
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It may be due to your version of IOS. Some of the FF updates will not run on an older IOS, and a newer IOS cannot be loaded on an older device. I can't get the newer version on my phone, because it is an older model.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I agree but why did they change to reloading the entire database, (or so it seems) for updates? What used to be a five minute event is now around 30-45 minutes.
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I don't know about Foreflight but earlier this year the FAA Changed how they release Sectional Charts from every 6 months to every 56 days so that every time you get a new cycle you have to download every sectional from the FAA. Foreflight may just be tracking that data directly instead of generating smaller differential updates.
 
Dave Theisen said:
I don’t see 13.5 as an option.
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On my phone I searched in Apple apps for Foreflight. It was still the same version. But then I tapped on one of the pics they show for the app, and when that opened it had the new version.
 
The holding pattern if you have, say, a GNS which does not let you do them in the navigator. You can even do an offset hold, like "hold west of the 10 mile fix on..."
 
midlifeflyer said:
The holding pattern if you have, say, a GNS which does not let you do them in the navigator. You can even do an offset hold, like "hold west of the 10 mile fix on..."
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It won't drive the autopilot around the hold, though, so I'm not sure it would be all that useful for IFR. But to be fair, I haven't tried it, because my GTN supports holds (as does Avidyne's IFD series).
 
David Megginson said:
It won't drive the autopilot around the hold, though, so I'm not sure it would be all that useful for IFR. But to be fair, I haven't tried it, because my GTN supports holds (as does Avidyne's IFD series).
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Thats true. But I wasn't even thinking of the AP piece. After all, even a GTN and IFD can't drive a legacy autopilot without GPSS around a hold.

That's why I mentioned the GNS specifically. It would be interesting to see if a FlightStream connection will lead the GNS to create something it can't - paint a random hold - but I doubt it. OTOH, given all the difficulties folks have with holds, the situational awareness it provides will be a huge help for the HDG-NAV-HDG-NAV sequence.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I agree but why did they change to reloading the entire database, (or so it seems) for updates? What used to be a five minute event is now around 30-45 minutes.
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BrianNC said:
What do you mean? I just now upgraded to 13.5 in a couple of minutes. It's not reloading the entire database. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying.
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I'm not sure what happened, but my last update was really long. I'm not talking about updating to 13.5 (my version is still 13.4.1). The data download, new charts and other data, was a lot longer. This was just last Saturday. Other internet things seemed normal.

Edit: I just saw the software update which loaded and installed in just a few seconds.
 
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Cap'n Jack said:
I'm not sure what happened, but my last update was really long. I'm not talking about updating to 13.5 (my version is still 13.4.1). The data download, new charts and other data, was a lot longer. This was just last Saturday.
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Yeah, that was a. big update. Took me longer too. Then if your Internet isn't running fast for some reason...

@Morgan3820 Maybe you hadn't done the monthly update yet so when you upgraded it installed that too?
 
David Megginson said:
It won't drive the autopilot around the hold, though, so I'm not sure it would be all that useful for IFR. But to be fair, I haven't tried it, because my GTN supports holds (as does Avidyne's IFD series).
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With the GFC and GTN combo, one can get spoiled quickly to letting George fly the holds
 
So what's the preferred model of iPad these days for ForeFlight? I have been out of the loop for a while and my last iPad died a couple years ago. Might get a new one.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Thats true. But I wasn't even thinking of the AP piece. After all, even a GTN and IFD can't drive a legacy autopilot without GPSS around a hold.

That's why I mentioned the GNS specifically. It would be interesting to see if a FlightStream connection will lead the GNS to create something it can't - paint a random hold - but I doubt it. OTOH, given all the difficulties folks have with holds, the situational awareness it provides will be a huge help for the HDG-NAV-HDG-NAV sequence.
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I would think it can. It looks like it just creates several points for the turns. I will try with my gfc500 and gnx375 this weekend. I know if I draw random points on FF and send to the 375 it will fly whatever I created.


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flhrci said:
So what's the preferred model of iPad these days for ForeFlight? I have been out of the loop for a while and my last iPad died a couple years ago. Might get a new one.
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I think probably most use the mini. That's what I use. Easier to mount if you want to mount it.
 
Indiana_Pilot said:
I would think it can. It looks like it just creates several points for the turns. I will try with my gfc500 and gnx375 this weekend. I know if I draw random points on FF and send to the 375 it will fly whatever I created.
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midlifeflyer said:
That's why I mentioned the GNS specifically. It would be interesting to see if a FlightStream connection will lead the GNS to create something it can't - paint a random hold -
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Your 375 can create holds. You can do exactly what Foreflight does on your 375 without Foreflight, so I expect it will work. A GNS series navigator cannot.
 
BrianNC said:
I think probably most use the mini. That's what I use. Easier to mount if you want to mount it.
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Apple is supposed to be coming out with a new mini in the fall, so you may want to wait.
 
AggieMike88 said:
With the GFC and GTN combo, one can get spoiled quickly to letting George fly the holds
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No kidding. I still have the Piper autopilot, but the g5 gives me gpss. Even without knowing the winds the GTN compensates for them and does a FAR better job than I can. It's fun to watch it make adjustments on each lap.
 
FWIW, I got rid of the mini when I upgraded to the iPhone Max. It doesn’t have split mode, but has GPS, is super fast, and very easy to find a place to mount it, but big enough to read.
I use my 10” iPad to do the flight planning, preflight weather evaluation.
 
midlifeflyer said:
It would be interesting to see if a FlightStream connection will lead the GNS to create something it can't - paint a random hold - but I doubt it. OTOH, given all the difficulties folks have with holds, the situational awareness it provides will be a huge help for the HDG-NAV-HDG-NAV sequence.
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Update. I came across a post from @John Collins indicating that the new holding function is not currently supported by FlightStream and that even if it did, the receiving GPS would need to support holds.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Update. I came across a post from @John Collins indicating that the new holding function is not currently supported by FlightStream and that even if it did, the receiving GPS would need to support holds.
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If you have a GTN and a GNS in the same panel, even with crossfill, a holding pattern created in the GTN will not crossfill into the GNS. Just saw this again last week. So yes, I believe it would be the same for an iPad/Flightstream combo.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Update. I came across a post from @John Collins indicating that the new holding function is not currently supported by FlightStream and that even if it did, the receiving GPS would need to support holds.
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It certainly sounds as if ForeFlight plans to work on a Flight Stream transfer of holding patterns, at least for GPS units that support holds. Here's a quote from the iOS App Store description of the 13.5 update. "ForeFlight does not yet support sending holding patterns to connected avionics via Flight Plan Transfer"
 
Even without RNAV, holds are fairly straight forward, though it might take a couple of laps to get the wind correction and outbound leg time right. As soon as you add even the most-basic GPS (anything that displays your track), you get the wind correction angle instantly for free, and if it has a moving map, you can also see your position relative to the navaid or waypoint.

Adding hold support for an EFB tablet app smells a bit like Rampant Featuritis (an incurable marketing disease that also affects competitors like Garmin Pilot); symptoms include pushing your app closer and closer to a Rube Goldberg machine by obsessively tacking on elaborate "solutions" to trivial non-problems.
 
The hold feature looks interesting, but I wonder how often I will ever use it. Considering I can count the times I have gotten an unpublished hold on one hand. Or zero hands. The augmented approach feature is nice. Displaying the altitudes on the plan view for each fix is handy.
 
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