ForeFlight Useful for Flightsimulation?

[Ricardo41 5,949]

Been debating whether to spring for the yearly subscription of their basic plan which includes. It looks like it's only available for IPad?

Is anyone using ForeFlight for MSFS?

[JRBarrett 3,076]

It is available for both iPad and iPhone, and the basic subscription allows you to use it on both platforms at no extra charge.

I have been using it for several years with P3D, X-Plane and now, MSFS.

Since I do most of my sim flying in the US, it has everything I need. I enter my flight plan into FF, and track the aircraft position in real time using XMapsy to link the sim to FF via WiFi. (There are several apps that can link the sim to Foreflight. XMapsy works with all 3 major simulators).

It has NOS charts for all US airports, including taxi diagrams, approach charts and SIDS and STARS.

FF will download updated charts and nav data every 28 days when a new AIRAC cycle is released, and this is free as part of the basic subscription.

The main FF map can be set to display in several modes. Basic aeronautical data from FF’s own database, or VFR sectional charts, or IFR low altitude or high altitude enroute charts. You can set the background image to display terrain with detailed streets and cities, or aerial imagery. 

It will allow you to look at multiple types of weather data. METARS and TAFS from any worldwide airport that reports them, NEXRAD radar for the US/Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia, current satellite cloud photos, upper level winds for all altitudes from the surface to 55,000 feet, as well as a whole suite of weather charts from aviationweather.gov.

You can enter multiple aircraft types and assign tail numbers, with performance data. If you enter an aircraft type and cruise altitude, along with a flight plan, it will calculate a complete nav log with courses, distances and estimated time enroute for each leg based on current winds aloft.

The basic subscription is $99 per year. I have the intermediate subscription at $199 which includes georeferenced approach plates which allows you to see your aircraft overlaid on the chart as you fly an approach when using a sim-to-FF link.

Although the basic subscription only includes US procedure charts, the AIRAC data contains all SIDS and STARS for all worldwide airports, as well as all airways and waypoints, so if you enter a flightplan between two European airports, (example) with SIDS and STARS, the entire route will be correctly depicted on the aeronautical map.

Charts for outside the US are available, but that can become extremely expensive since FF is certified for use in real aircraft, and you pay the full Jeppesen price. For my flying outside of the US I use the Navigraph charts app.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by JRBarrett

[Redge 241]

If you have a ForeFlight plan with charts for another area (Canada or Europe) and would still like VFR Sectionals for the US, this website lets you generate current georeferenced mbtiles format charts, which you can import into ForeFlight and load up on the world maps (just as you would with the paid ones).

https://www.chartbundle.com/v2/chart.cgi?fmt=mbtilesp&cht=sec&.submit=Show+Charts

I’ve only found a source for the VFR charts I’m afraid. No free IFR charts that I know of.

 

[qqwertz 782]

That sounds pretty expensive. What is the advantage over using Navigraph charts, or  Aerosoft Navdata charts, or Skyvector?

[nbhall68 106]

The main advantages of Navigraph Charts are its reasonable cost (< $100 a year) and it includes Jeppesen charts for the entire world.  The Navigraph Charts app is really very good and has a cloud based PC client as well as iPad.  I use it on both PC and iPad and highly recommend it as a nice practical choice for flightsims.  It can also show your position in the sim real-time via Navigraph Simlink and has Simbrief integration which is also very nice.

Having said that, I do have a subscription to Foreflight including Jeppesen charts for the US which is very expensive.  I think I'm paying something like $500 a year in total which is pretty pricey unless you're a real world pilot.  It's an amazingly good product though and I use it all the time.  It's more complex than Navigraph so there's somewhat of a learning curve but I find it to be very intuitive and easy to learn.  By the way, there is a browser based version (including with your subscription) that's pretty good but lacks some of the features and functionality of the iPad version.

I've never used Aerosoft Navdata charts but I suspect it's very good too.

Skyvector is a decent free option if you can stand all the advertising all over the site (which I cannot!).

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by nbhall68
grammer

[Flyfaster_MTN002 412]

Yes - very. It is basically the de-facto product for real world flying. Short learning curve which increases exponentially as you get into IFR and more detail analysis for x-country and weather related. To add to the above it works on web browser as well:

https://plan.foreflight.com/

Another benefit is having the ability to take it flying (GA or airline) and watch your flight with traffic, weather, etc.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Flyfaster_MTN002

[pgreenx 1]

Can you import flight plans from FF into sim (ie xplane)?

[ark 1,290]

Another option is FltPlan Go  https://flttrack.fltplan.com/FltPlanInfo/FltPlan_Go-Android-iPad_Info.html    FltPlan Go is "similar" in concept to ForeFlight, provides charts, etc, and is FREE. Although FltPlan Go was originally developed for FSX and P3D, you can find videos on Youtube on how to use FltPlan Go with MSFS.

Al

Edited January 7, 2022 by ark

[jpe828 624]

fltplango is a free app that is great to run with the sim and does alot of things foreflight does.

[FakeWayne 84]

9 hours ago, pgreenx said:

Can you import flight plans from FF into sim (ie xplane)?

I do it all the time.  I email the flight plan to myself via foreflight, then use https://fpc.kognise.dev/ to convert the flight plan to a .pln.

[regis9 4,014]

I just wish Navigraph had VFR charts…that’s the biggest missing piece IMHO.

I’ve contemplated trying a ForeFlight subscription but it seems like a lot (especially since I’d want Canada and US at minimum).

[Bobsk8 12,735]

11 minutes ago, regis9 said:

I just wish Navigraph had VFR charts…that’s the biggest missing piece IMHO.

I’ve contemplated trying a ForeFlight subscription but it seems like a lot (especially since I’d want Canada and US at minimum).

Well the deal with MSFS, is you can fly anywhere in  the world now . I have been flying lately in New Guinea, this morning in Indonesia, now I am in the Bahamas, this afternoon maybe Spain. Something that restricts, you to one area of the world, is way to limiting for me. I use Avliasoft EFB, and it gives me all the charts I need . 

[vbazillio 2,234]

On 8/6/2021 at 12:58 PM, Ricardo41 said:

Been debating whether to spring for the yearly subscription of their basic plan which includes. It looks like it's only available for IPad?

Is anyone using ForeFlight for MSFS?

Depends on what you do with MSFS? If you're a worldwide tube liner, it's going to be expensive. But if, as me, you're a private pilot, using for real, Foreflight as your main navigation and charts EFB (with backup/Plan B of course), then Foreflight + MSFS is a great training tool.

[Stearmandriver 2,296]

The main advantage to using Foreflight for simming is that you're using the same tools the same way you'll use them for real-world GA flying (you'd be using the Jepp app in airliners.)

If you're flying in the real world, there's a large training value in being able to use the same tools in the sim.

If you aren't also flying in reality, I don't personally see the point.  FltPlanGo is fine if you want ownship position on a moving map, but seeing as how glass panels are so ubiquitous in this sim you probably already have that, and as everyone has mentioned already, there are plenty of sources for charts.