Latest Iteration Includes New 'Advisor' Features

ForeFlight has released the latest version of its flight planning app which the company says greatly improves route selection and editing. This release introduces three of what the company calls “Advisors” ... helpful features that make flight planning and decision making simpler. Route Advisor, Procedure Advisor, Altitude Advisor, and an all new route editor – work in concert to save time in the flight planning process.

Route Advisor shows high and low airway auto-route suggestions, preferred routes, tower en-route control (TEC) routes, and a greatly expanded set of previously flown / assigned routes between airports. Procedure Advisor will help in the selection of SIDs, STARs, and transitions. Lastly, Altitude Advisor helps the pilot find the right altitude for your direction of travel and whether you are flying VFR or IFR. Then use the new route editor to re-arrange waypoints, insert waypoints, or drag them away from the editor to delete them.
 
The app update also includes Stratus 2.1 firmware, which unlocks new Stratus capabilities and greatly improves GPS and battery performance. Stratus is the highly acclaimed (read here, here, and here) portable ADS-B receiver made by Appareo Systems and available exclusively at Sporty’s.

Among the features in the lastest version are:

• Route Advisor: support for airway auto-routing, preferred and terminal en-route control (TEC) routes, more ATC-assigned routes between airports (up to one year’s worth, giving you lots of options).
• Altitude Advisor: displays a list of altitudes, wind effects, and adjustments for VFR, IFR, and direction of flight.
• Procedure Advisor: displays a list of SIDS, STARs, and their associated transitions, simplifying SID/STAR procedure selection.
• Intelligent editor: an innovative new route editor that adds drag and drop ordering of waypoints, helpful altitude selection, SID/STAR selection, and route validation as you type.
• Fast search: keyword search on Airports view is significantly faster.
• Map search: searches for single waypoints on the map do not alter the active flight plan.
• New weather stations: support for off-airport weather stations, like mountain passes and Gulf of Mexico reporting stations.

ForeFligth says on its blog that the new advisors in ForeFlight Mobile 4.6, combined with the all new route editor, are another step towards much more efficient flight planning and flying.

(Image from ForeFlight demo video)

FMI: www.foreflight.com