Marking the sixth major software update of the year, ForeFlight has introduced some great new features to the latest version of its Mobile flight app that received rave reviews from pilots at AirVenture last week — before the update was even available.
The newest version, ForeFlight Mobile 5.3, can now overlay approach plates and airport diagrams directly onto a sectional or IFR low en route chart, oriented where the chart should be in relation to the airport. A georeferenced airplane symbol is shown on the display in track-up or north-up viewing modes.
Another feature IFR pilots are sure to fall in love with is the addition of flight plan alerts that will automatically update your route of flight as soon as the information is released by ATC — normally about 10 minutes before your planned departure time. Another cool update is an aerial map page that let’s you see a bird’s eye view of where you intend to fly.
The plate overlay feature is available to ForeFlight Mobile Pro subscribers only. Company founder Tyson Weihs provided us with a quick demo at AirVenture, and the new feature looks like a good one.
One of the goals, he said, was to allow fast switching between a currently displayed approach plate and another plate you want to load. This is helpful if ATC changes the assigned runway or for training. Weihs said ForeFlight achieved this goal by making the plate interactive: Tap on the plate when it is displayed on the map, and a menu appears making it easy to choose another plate. Once selected, the map will re-center and zoom-to-fit so that you can see the new plate in full.
All the updates in Version 5.3 are available now by downloading the latest version of ForeFlight Mobile in the App store.
