ForeFlight Update Includes Dynamic WX, Background Downloads

How many times has it happened to you? Having your mobile device fall asleep or you need to cycle through to another app in the midst of a big Airport Data download to ForeFlight? The app will now continue to download the charts and data selected when the app shifts to the background, so pilots can use other apps without interrupting the stream. The ability to drag and drop multiple files at the same time has also been added—and it works with any Document Drive docs or folders.

New features in the late-April release include special capabilities to help pilots prep for night flight—the app toggles between Day and Night modes, and shows “realistic” Runway Lights in its Airport 3D mode, for those users on the ForeFlight Performance plan. The edge lighting is the basic lighting shown for most airports open at night, with additional lighting available, such as centerline and touchdown zone lighting, functional PAPIs/VASIs, and end light flashers. The daytime mode is the default mode for the first time an airport is viewed in 3D, but ForeFlight will retain the mode you last selected when toggling back to 3D mode—so it will stay in night mode if that’s how you last viewed the airport. Not only does this reinforce the sight picture, but it will also help reduce blue light on the flight deck if you view the app prior to the approach after darkness falls outside.

The app’s new Dynamic Winds and Temperatures features land alongside a new color legend poised just above the time slider on graphical weather pages. The legend appears any time the following layers are activated: Radar (Composite, Lowest Tilt, ADS-B, Sirius XM), Enhanced Satellite, Color IR Satellite, Icing and Turbulence (US, Global, ADS-B, Sirius XM, 557WW), Clouds, and Winds (Temps) and Winds (Speeds) layers—the last two being the latest weather additions.

ForeFlight has a new interactive series of features within its ForeFlight Labs section, with the first being Taxi Routing. By using the feature and giving feedback to the developers at the company, pilots can improve functionality. Taxi Routing allows pilots to chart a path to or from the active runway with an interactive and “contextually aware” taxi route bubble editor. ForeFlight also just finished its compatibility testing between the app and iOS/iPad 14.5.1 and users have the “all-clear” to proceed under the new operating system. The latest release joins recent updates to the app that include improved aircraft tracking features.