Campaign Monitor Newsletter

Greetings Pilot!

ForeFlight Mobile 5.6 is now available for download at App Store. The highlights of this update include enhanced flight plan filing options, including ICAO flight plan form support. Check out our related Tools To Help You File Smarter blog post for some additional insight on how ForeFlight can help you file smarter.

Please note that the 5.6 update requires iOS 6 or later.

As always, we are on frequency at team@foreflight.com to assist with any questions you have.

Blue skies,
-Team ForeFlight

Filing Smarter with ForeFlight Mobile and Lockheed Martin AFSS

We are always looking for ways to make you more productive and efficient during every flight. Modernized briefings and flight plan filing is an important goal of ours this year, and with this update we continue to build a foundation that streamlines those activities. Our latest video shows you how to file your flight plans with ForeFlight Mobile.

ForeFlight now primarily files flight plans directly via the modernized Lockheed Martin Flight Services AFSS interfaces. We also continue to file via DUATS if that is your preference. The benefits of using the AFSS interface include: Flight Service specialists have immediate access to your flight plan details enabling them to more quickly provide you briefings and open VFR flight plans; faster search and rescue response times in the event they are needed; and your IFR flight plan being passed immediately to Traffic Flow Management, up to 17 hours before your departure time (you can read more about TFM in our related blog post).

You don’t need to do anything special to take advantage of the AFSS interfaces. Whether you have entered your DUATS credentials or not, the ForeFlight servers always send a copy of your flight plan to Lockheed Martin Flight Services whenever you file via ForeFlight Mobile.

For more information, we have a new flight plan filing FAQ resource on our website.

File ICAO with ForeFlight Mobile

Once you have planned your route using the Airport and Maps view, you are only a few taps away from filing your plan via the app. Simply tap the Send To button on the Route Editor/NavLog and select File & Brief. Or, go to the File & Brief view and tap New Flight Plan. On the flight plan form is a new field labeled Form Type that allows you to choose between FAA/Domestic or ICAO flight plan forms.

The Send To button is highlighted in the lower right corner of the Route Editor.	Upper portion of the File & Brief view showing new Form Type drop down.
Report various Flight Status categories with the selector shown.	ICAO has options to note emergency equipment like survival gear and additional radios.

When flying internationally or crossing foreign airspace (common in the great lakes regions), you must file ICAO flight plans to be compliant with the regulations. However, there are reasons you may be required to file using the ICAO format for US Domestic flights, like Performance Based Navigation, RVSM, or ADS-B.

The ICAO format collects additional bits of information about your flight and aircraft profile that increase safety and may help with potential search and rescue efforts. If you are flying over remote areas, you can indicate what survival gear or emergency radios you have onboard. Flying over the Great Lakes? You can report details about dinghy equipment.

ICAO also has a field for special flight status, such as medical flight, medical evacuation, fire-fighting, search and rescue, or humanitarian. Additionally, you can note the type of radio and surveillance equipment you have. Communicating these extra details to Flight Service or ATC before you even depart can make your flight handling go more smoothly.

As we expand our geographic coverage, so does our flight plan filing support. With ICAO, you can file IFR flights to and from the US and within Canada, Caribbean, Bahamas, and Mexico.

But Wait, There’s More

Besides being immediately integrated with Flight Services, filing directly through ForeFlight gives you digital notifications, aircraft profile management, and stored access to previously filed flight plans.

Email notifications from ForeFlight document and timestamp the filing process so you know your request is in the system. You will receive up to three emails after you Brief then File your plan:

One is a summary and confirmation of your filed flight plan.
The second email is a record of your weather briefing. This briefing contains much of the same information you would receive calling 800-WX-BRIEF and speaking with a Flight Service Specialist. You can also revisit the briefing anytime within the app by tapping Brief in the File & Brief view.
If you have a ForeFlight Mobile Pro subscription and you file IFR, you will receive a Flight Alert email with your expected route, if available, or a note that an expected route was not received from ATC.

You will receive a summary email of your filed flight plan.	With ForeFlight Mobile Pro, you also receive expected route notification Flight Alerts.
Tap the Flight Alert for the 'Load into Maps' prompt. The NavLog is automatically updated.	In the Brief view, tap on the bolded lines to view the information for that section.

In addition to Flight Alert emails, iOS technology also allows us to deliver Flight Alert push notifications directly to all your iPads and iPhones (a ForeFlight Mobile Pro feature). Flight Alerts notify you when an expected route is issued by ATC. Tap on the notification to automatically update your NavLog and your in-flight moving map is ready to go with the changes.

Managing your aircraft profile(s) in the app is easy, and once established, your default values are automatically copied into your next flight plan. Previous flight plans may also be stored so you can copy, edit, and re-file without having to start from scratch.

It’s all about refining and streamlining the steps to get you in the air. There is more to come, but it starts with using mobile technology to do more of the work so you can focus on flying the plane.

Enable Ownship Setting

One final note for our customers with limited approval for use of the ownship feature, we have modified the Disable Ownship setting to Enable Ownship and added an option for ownship location to automatically be shown on the airport diagram when traveling at 40 knots or slower. This feature allows you to see the ownship during taxi, but removes it during flight per applicable regulations.

The Enable Ownship setting is in More > Settings > then scroll down to Preferences	The new options include: Always, Never, and When speed is under 40 kts.

You’re receiving this because you’re an awesome ForeFlight customer or subscribed via our site.

Purchase or Renew | Support | Training | Unsubscribe