ForeFlight, new (to me) feature

timwinters

timwinters

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For the first time in a couple of weeks we had flyable weather yesterday so I flew the plane to its new (temporary) home (KLBO).

I hadn't flown in a month and, since most of my flights over the winter were just local pleasure flights, I likely haven't flown with my ipad for 4 or 5 months.

Anyways....

I noticed yesterday that they added a nearest airport distance and heading on the left side of the information banner across the bottom.

COOL! That's the best safety feature they've added in a while, IMO. When did they do this?

Kudos to the boys and girls at ForeFlight for this one!
 
The fields in that banner are configurable. That is one that I have set up. It’s great for all sorts of things, including calling CTAF or a class D tower with “5 miles northwest” or the like. Touch and hold a field for options to change it to. I think you get one or two extra fields in landscape compared to portrait orientation so think about those, too.
 
iamtheari said:
The fields in that banner are configurable.
Click to expand...

This. So many people don’t realize that. All sorts of useful things available in there. I personally like Descent Rate to Destination in one of the boxes toward the end of a long XC.
 
Agreed, good features in that bar.
I keep forgetting about some of the features so keep the suggestions coming, guys, I need a refresher. :)
 
denverpilot said:
This. So many people don’t realize that. All sorts of useful things available in there. I personally like Descent Rate to Destination in one of the boxes toward the end of a long XC.
Click to expand...


[whispering]

Where is that box?
 
Timbeck2 said:
[whispering]

Where is that box?
Click to expand...

Tap on any of the bottom ribbon info boxes and a menu of items that box can show comes up. You can change all of them or reorder them however you like!

eeec21373e7c63694354807714f7a9a3.jpg
 
Processing power be damned. I wish you could make the info ribbon instruments double high.
 
Add me to the list of folks that find that ribbon bar useful.


What would make it even more useful is having additional ones we can configure for different phases of flight or types of flights.

For VFR, I might want that bar configured a certain way, but for IFR, I want different items there. Or one for cruise versus one for approach/landing.

A simple swipe gesture would switch the ribbon.

===============================

This doesn't appear to be difficult to program. So if you like this idea, type up a request and send it as an "Enhancement Request" to team@foreflight.com.

This is what I sent a few months ago if you want to just copy and paste it....

The instruments shown at the bottom of the screen is a favorite feature. But there are more favorites than you provide spots on the bar to display. Currently, I frequently turn on and off the ones I want to see depending on the phase of flight.

My suggestion is to provide the means for multiple versions of the instrument bar, maybe like three of them.

In my mind, I see one with the instruments for take off and cruise, and a second for approach and landing. Then the third can be for the additional "nice to see" items.

When the bar is displayed, the user can flick up or down on the bar to roll the bar between the three. Or if the gesture won't work, then a small stacked boxes with 1, 2, and 3 inside the box. Tapping the number rolls the bar.​
 
AggieMike88 said:
Add me to the list of folks that find that ribbon bar useful.


What would make it even more useful is having additional ones we can configure for different phases of flight or types of flights.

For VFR, I might want that bar configured a certain way, but for IFR, I want different items there. Or one for cruise versus one for approach/landing.

A simple swipe gesture would switch the ribbon.

===============================

This doesn't appear to be difficult to program. So if you like this idea, type up a request and send it as an "Enhancement Request" to team@foreflight.com.

This is what I sent a few months ago if you want to just copy and paste it....

The instruments shown at the bottom of the screen is a favorite feature. But there are more favorites than you provide spots on the bar to display. Currently, I frequently turn on and off the ones I want to see depending on the phase of flight.

My suggestion is to provide the means for multiple versions of the instrument bar, maybe like three of them.

In my mind, I see one with the instruments for take off and cruise, and a second for approach and landing. Then the third can be for the additional "nice to see" items.

When the bar is displayed, the user can flick up or down on the bar to roll the bar between the three. Or if the gesture won't work, then a small stacked boxes with 1, 2, and 3 inside the box. Tapping the number rolls the bar.​
Click to expand...

A few years ago I requested a way to set up and save custom "views" in Foreflight. For instance, if I'm flying VFR, I probably want a sectional chart, TFRs, radar, etc. If I'm IFR, I may want the Low IFR, no weather layers, etc. This could certainly include the ribbon bar as well. The response I got was that it was a good suggestion that they'd take under advisement, but I haven't heard anything about it since.
 
mjburian said:
The response I got was that it was a good suggestion that they'd take under advisement, but I haven't heard anything about it since.
Click to expand...
I too have gotten the response for a feature suggestion.
As any SW team, they need to analyze and weigh the benefit factor of the feature before they can commit to implementation. And since they are a small team, who knows how much time they are forced to waste on testing and fixing all the iOS bugs that break FF. (OS upgrade testing is also a huge part of our testing matrix for any product - shame) My implied point being that since every iOS update breaks something, the FF team might not have much time to dedicate to "fun" work, such as new feature development.
 
I emailed them and requested that they add a slightly longer delay to when you tap a point on the map, and it quickly opens up a box with info about the place you tapped. It happens much too quickly. More often than not, I am just trying to pan around in the map, and the box unintentionally opens up because I put my finger on the map for a split second too long before I tried to start panning.
I even gave them an example in Garmin Pilot which has a slightly longer delay (1 second) and is much easier to use in this case. I never get the unintended popup as a result.
This is my number one pet peeve with FF. It drives me nuts. I emailed them twice about this. Once I got the canned response that they will look into it and consider it. The other time, it was basically a tough s**t, that's the way FF works.
Am I the only one that is bothered by this?
 
I’d be interested to know what categories everyone uses for their bottom bar. I need to go through and reconfigure mine.
 
I've been begging them to add online pirep submission for a couple years now, like what Aerovie offers, but I just had the epiphany while typing this that you'd need WIFI, which the Stratus inexplicably takes. I currently use a separate tablet to submit them, connected to my phone's hotspot.
 
jimmyjack said:
I've been begging them to add online pirep submission for a couple years now, like what Aerovie offers, but I just had the epiphany while typing this that you'd need WIFI, which the Stratus inexplicably takes. I currently use a separate tablet to submit them, connected to my phone's hotspot.
Click to expand...

A Pirep has to make it back to the FSS. That takes a link of some sort, internet, text, satellite. Cellular doesn't cut it when airborne except at some lower altitudes, not even to mention that it not authorized by FCC. So like Aerovie, the report could be saved until you had an internet connection, but that may make the information stale.
 
John Collins said:
A Pirep has to make it back to the FSS. That takes a link of some sort, internet, text, satellite. Cellular doesn't cut it when airborne except at some lower altitudes, not even to mention that it not authorized by FCC. So like Aerovie, the report could be saved until you had an internet connection, but that may make the information stale.
Click to expand...

Another giant screwup in ADS-B OUT. It should have had limited downlink capability for stuff like that if not full datalink capability for ATC clearance acknowledgment.

If it were truly a safety system as it’s been marketed, anyway. Which we all know it was not truly intended to be.

Especially once UAT got slapped on its happy confused jumble of standards just to handle all of the OUT traffic that 1090 wouldn’t handle. Downlink could have at least been included in the UAT spec.

Oh but wait. Then it would have needed a real ACK/NAK system and confirmed message or packet delivery at Layer 2... Oopsies. :)
 
John Collins said:
A Pirep has to make it back to the FSS. That takes a link of some sort, internet, text, satellite. Cellular doesn't cut it when airborne except at some lower altitudes, not even to mention that it not authorized by FCC. So like Aerovie, the report could be saved until you had an internet connection, but that may make the information stale.
Click to expand...

FCC be damned. I send pireps through Aerovie at 3000' to 7000' frequently.
 
denverpilot said:
This. So many people don’t realize that. All sorts of useful things available in there. I personally like Descent Rate to Destination in one of the boxes toward the end of a long XC.
Click to expand...
YAY! have been requesting that for over a year!
 
Maybe it was several years.
I’d asked here too.
If it has been done, I think they would have responded.
 
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