ForeFlight adds glide range and checklists

The most visible addition is a glide range ring that graphically shows how far a pilot can expect to get in case of a total power loss.

ForeFlight isn’t the first avionics company to offer this technology or build it into an app—but it’s tremendously useful, easily understandable, and answers a question that single-engine pilots ask themselves repeatedly while flying cross-country: If the engine were to quit right now, where should I land?

ForeFlight has added electronic checklists that pilots can modify and share; a “device disconnect” alert that notifies users when connected avionics lose weather, traffic, or AHRS data; electronic logbook enhancements that track CFI currency and keep running totals for each airplane a pilot flies; the ability to switch to a dark background to reduce screen brightness while flying at night; and customized map overlays that ForeFlight said flight schools, powerline patrol firms, and others have been requesting.

For pilots who like listening to satellite radio while airborne, ForeFlight and SiriusXM have teamed up on an audio subscription service that includes both weather and entertainment channels. ForeFlight customers with an XM weather subscription ($39.99 a month) can add audio for an additional $10.99 a month.

As is its custom, ForeFlight, a private company based in Houston, Texas, declined to say how much of the general aviation, corporate, airline, or military market it serves—but Stephen Newman, ForeFlight’s executive vice president for sales and marketing, said business is brisk.

“Our business is doing very well,” he said. “We’re growing substantially in all segments.”