A Dumb Foreflight Question

[MBDiagMan]

I haven't exhaustively researched this, so forgive me.

I am trying to figure out if a Waypoint other than an airport, can be incorporated into a route.

Thanks for any help you can offer, and if I need to wear the dunce cap for such a dumb quesiton, no problem. I am quite accustomed to wearing a dunce cap due to my recent mind block in tail wheel training.

Doc

 

[AggieMike88]

Yes.

From the FAQ page at Foreflight.com

you can create, name, and store your own waypoints which allows you to locate these on a map anytime and even include them in your routes and flight plans. View our import instructions to add waypoints in bulk.
​

To do it one at a time, touch and hold the point on the map until the menu pops up. You can touch the white area to add it to the flight log (and line) for a single use.

To save that point, touch the "plus" icon on the right hand side and the screen to add the "save user waypoint" will show. A short name is required (I use a 6-character sequence to differentiate from other naming conventions), and a longer description can be added. Lat/Long can be edited if needed.

For example, I have the SW end of the Lake Ray Robert's Dam saved as a "user waypoint" since for northbound traffic, this is just about the northern most edge of the DFW Bravo space, and a very visible landmark. Plus, if you line up on and fly the couse the dam is "pointing" at, you fly right over the Bonham VOR. It was a very useful point during my long XC's while training.

This point is saved on both my iPhone and iPad as RAYROB. If I was to plan a flight to your field, I could easily select KDTO RAYROB F00 and the sequence of airport > dam > airport shown on the map and log.

 

[GeorgeC]

Sure. NDBs, VORs, fixes, and user-defined waypoints all work in addition to airports.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks for the response and the screen shots.

I have the waypoint saved as you describe, no problem. What I can NOT do is see it recognized as a route. I key in F00 (name of my home airport) and HOME (the name of the waypoint) and it won't recognize HOME.

I will dink with it some more.

Woops, I think I found the problem, HOME is evidently the designation for an airport in South America or somewhere. I'll try naming it something that can't be an airport. I don't have a signal right now, so I'll try it later.

Thanks very much.
Doc

 

[AggieMike88]

Hmmm....

Without sitting next to you as I watch you push buttons, I don't know.

I just did a trial with selecting a waypoint out in the middle of the lake, naming it HOME, and then doing KDTO > HOME on the maps page and it worked okay.

 

[AggieMike88]

Another way to add (and edit) user waypoints is to tap the Waypoints icon (yellow flag on the "2nd" page of icon selection) and go through it from there.

This thread brings up a decent idea about using this feature to mark reporting points at airports you frequent.

At KDTO, we have some that are used both as our reporting point and something of a "gateway". While no requirement from a reg standpoint, the busy tower is happier when you comply with "Report the Denton water tower" or "Report highway 380 and railroad tracks" and that's where you are when you say "over the water tower" or "over the RR tracks".

Now I know how to put those points in the FF and quickly bring them up for display as needed.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Hmmm....

Without sitting next to you as I watch you push buttons, I don't know.

I just did a trial with selecting a waypoint out in the middle of the lake, naming it HOME, and then doing KDTO > HOME on the maps page and it worked okay.

Maybe mine tried to connect to a crazy location because I am in a building with no signal. Now that I know it can be made to work, I will make it work especially with all your help and confirmation that what I'm trying is not off base.

I wanted to fly over my place this afternoon and was just doing this as an experiment. I can easily find my place from the air, but I just wanted to get more experience with the GPS foreflight in the process.

Thanks to all!
Doc

 

[midlifeflyer]

The import feature also works well. I've had a database of Colorado mountain passes that I originally put together for my old Garmin 296 and now have inn my 396. A couple of tweaks and they are in my iPad.

 

[denverpilot]

The import feature also works well. I've had a database of Colorado mountain passes that I originally put together for my old Garmin 296 and now have inn my 396. A couple of tweaks and they are in my iPad.

Ooh. That's a cool idea.

I have a user waypoint in FF on the iPad for my dad's house. He likes it when we fly over.

What I wish FF had a sync system for user waypoints. I "share" mine, you share yours, I can move them from iPad to iPhone, etc.

 

[AggieMike88]

What I wish FF had a sync system for user waypoints. I "share" mine, you share yours, I can move them from iPad to iPhone, etc.

Post the document as an attached file here. Then others can grab as they wish.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Post the document as an attached file here. Then others can grab as they wish.

I don't think you can export user waypoints created in FF only import them. Although I do manually add to my csv file when I add one to FF. I added Teton Pass and Bear Lake (on the ID-UT border) while on trips this summer.

While I probably would give my FF compatible data file to someone I knew who asked me for it, I wouldn't post it generally.

 

[denverpilot]

Yeah, now that I think about it, I see why there's no export. Little bit of liability there.

 

[Mike I]

Speaking of user waypoints, is there a way to display multiple ones on a map at the same time, just as points (without routing to/from them)? This is something almost all GPS units will do, but I haven't seen how to do that in FF. Displaying one's simple, but multiple ones not so much. Also waypoint labels on map view would be great.

 

[jason]

Yeah, your HOME waypoint probably needs to be longer. I name mine over five characters so that I know that I won't have a conflict. Try naming it MYHOME instead.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks everyone. I have this one all worked out now.

Here's another question for you:

When reading the information on a route, does the heading given by foreflight already have magnetic variation calculated into it.

Thanks in advance.
Doc

 

[MBDiagMan]

I looked through the manual and couldn't find the answer for magnetic deviation. When I get home, I'll get out my old fashioned plotter and chart to see if the heading calculated from the Foreflight route agrees with is what's on the chart with or without variation. That will answer the question.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Just run FF between two points on an airway and see if the FF-generated heading matches the airway's course. If they match (approximately) the answer is magnetic (which I am betting it will be - the app calculates for you and doesn't require you to do additional calculations of that type. Giving you true courses makes no sense.)

 

[LDJones]

When reading the information on a route, does the heading given by foreflight already have magnetic variation calculated into it.

.

I'm 95% sure it does based on three months of flying with it.

 

[midlifeflyer]

Just looked to check. My assumption was correct although I didn't have to go that far.

That "°M" in the heading column was a pretty good clue.

So, is a "dumb question" about a product one that can be answered by merely looking at the product? This one might actually qualify since it comes down to:

When reading the information on a route, does the heading given by foreflight that's shown as "13°M" already have magnetic variation calculated into it.

 

[AggieMike88]

So, is a "dumb question" about a product one that can be answered by merely looking at the product?

There was a reason that when I worked my college job at a computer lab help desk, I wore a cap like the one shown here

And I'm not immune to calling the support group for my primary business software during a momentary brain lock on something, and the guys (who know me too well) respond, "Is your brain hearing what your mouth is saying?" then a long pause by me as the gears finally turn and I figure it out for myself.

Kinda like the commercial for State Farm that has Jerry and his car up a pole..... again.

 

[midlifeflyer]

No one's immune. More than once I've found myself acting for directions to "Sports" in a department store. The staff pointed to a sign 20 feet away, to which I reply, "Oh, you must mean the place with the big SPORTS sign hanging over it."

 

[AggieMike88]

Bill Engval moments?

 

[MBDiagMan]

Okay! Give me my lashing and let me go fuel up and get back in the air. At least I pointed out that it was going to be a dumb question.

I flew a 20NM route this morning and followed the 61 degree heading as Foreflight indicated. I then flew 241 degrees on the way back. I was flying by the DG, but observing the route path on my IPhone. I was dead on the route all the way there and all the way back.

At least it gave me some confidence about my ability to fly a compass heading.

Now everyone get their giggles and let me go. I guess the worst of it is taking a ribbing from an Aggie on something that sounds like an Aggie joke! Of course, the Aggies get it from all sides, so I guess they deserve a little turn about from time to time.
Doc

 

[AggieMike88]

Now everyone get their giggles and let me go. I guess the worst of it is taking a ribbing from an Aggie on something that sounds like an Aggie joke! Of course, the Aggies get it from all sides, so I guess they deserve a little turn about from time to time.
Doc

REVENGE!!!!! (/mad_cackle)

An Aggie was down on his luck so he decided to go out and kidnapped a child to get the ransom. He went to the park and snuck up on one of the kids. He grabbed him and took him behind a tree.

He told the kid that he was kidnapped and pinned a note on the kid's shirt that read, "I have kidnapped your child. If you want to see him again, put $20,000 in a sack and leave it in front of the tree at the park. An Aggie." He told the child to make sure his parents saw the note and sent the child home.

The next day the Aggie went to the tree to find the sack. He looked inside and found the money he had asked for and a note that read, "How could one Aggie do this to another Aggie"?

--------------------------

You heard about the Aggie pilot and his co-pilot that were flying across the Atlantic and discovered they were would not make it because they were too heavy and running low on fuel. The Aggie decided to lighten the load by jettisoning some fuel.

---------------------------

Aggie pilot after a rough landing: "Whew! That is shortest runway I ever saw!"

Aggie co-pilot: "Yeah, but look how wide it is."

 

[MBDiagMan]

LOL! The best Aggie jokes always come from the Aggies.

The bad thing in the above post is that I was all ready to tell that last joke, but you beat me to it.

I guess maybe I earned an honorary A&M degree from this thread, or maybe it just means I sat in on a class or two.

Doc

 

[AggieMike88]

Just thought of a an addition to the vanity N-number thread....

Eight-Three Victor Oscar.

Stylize the 8 to look like a "B" and the 3 to look like a backwards "E"

Why??? Read on:

How t.u. got a longhorn as their mascot and how it became known as BEVO

Origins:
Bevo, the longhorn steer mascot of the University of Texas t.u., made his debut on Thanksgiving Day, 1916. During halftime of the annual rivalry game against Texas A&M, a group of Texas supporters led by Stephen Pinckney presented the the steer to the Texas student body. Pickney, who had graduated several years before and had long sought to give his alma mater a live longhorn mascot, found the steer while assisting in some West Texas cattle raids. Pickney gathered up contributions from 124 fellow alumni and shipped the steer by rail to campus just before Thanksgiving. It arrived on gameday.

Mascot BBQ:
Texas beat the Aggies, 22-7. But the new mascot didn’t seem too happy about it. Possibly because he was shipped to Austin without any food or water, Bevo was in a foul mood and even charged a photographer trying take his portrait. Things got worse a few months later, when Aggie fans snuck into Austin and branded Bevo with a “13-0” -- the score of a recent A&M win over Texas. Bevo was soon afterward shipped to a ranch outside of Austin. He remained there until 1920, when the University tired of paying 50 cents a day to keep him fed. So the original Bevo ended up being served, as dinner, at that year's football banquet.

The Bevo Myth:
Texas legend states that the name "Bevo" originated from the Aggie's “13-0” brand. According to this popular story, when Texas undergrads discovered the brand, they tried their best to alter it, turning the "13" into a B, the hypen into an "E", adding a "V", and keeping the zero, thus making the score into the name “Bevo.”

 

[MBDiagMan]

Just thought of a an addition to the vanity N-number thread....

Eight-Three Victor Oscar.

Stylize the 8 to look like a "B" and the 3 to look like a backwards "E"

Why??? Read on:

How t.u. got a longhorn as their mascot and how it became known as BEVO

Origins:
Bevo, the longhorn steer mascot of the University of Texas t.u., made his debut on Thanksgiving Day, 1916. During halftime of the annual rivalry game against Texas A&M, a group of Texas supporters led by Stephen Pinckney presented the the steer to the Texas student body. Pickney, who had graduated several years before and had long sought to give his alma mater a live longhorn mascot, found the steer while assisting in some West Texas cattle raids. Pickney gathered up contributions from 124 fellow alumni and shipped the steer by rail to campus just before Thanksgiving. It arrived on gameday.

Mascot BBQ:
Texas beat the Aggies, 22-7. But the new mascot didn’t seem too happy about it. Possibly because he was shipped to Austin without any food or water, Bevo was in a foul mood and even charged a photographer trying take his portrait. Things got worse a few months later, when Aggie fans snuck into Austin and branded Bevo with a “13-0” -- the score of a recent A&M win over Texas. Bevo was soon afterward shipped to a ranch outside of Austin. He remained there until 1920, when the University tired of paying 50 cents a day to keep him fed. So the original Bevo ended up being served, as dinner, at that year's football banquet.

The Bevo Myth:
Texas legend states that the name "Bevo" originated from the Aggie's “13-0” brand. According to this popular story, when Texas undergrads discovered the brand, they tried their best to alter it, turning the "13" into a B, the hypen into an "E", adding a "V", and keeping the zero, thus making the score into the name “Bevo.”

​

Alright Mike, You've CROSSED THE LINE NOW!:wink2: My son is a UT grad.(Too bad there's no Hook 'em Horns smiley.)

On the other hand I do have tolerance for both schools since my Great Uncle, Dana X Bible, was the Head Footbal Coach at A&M from 1919-1928, but then Head Football Coach at University of Texas from 1937 to 1946. Also, since this is an aviation forum, in 1917 he completed aviation ground school in Austin, completed flight training at Love Field in Dallas and then flew fighters in France in World War I.

BTW, I guess some folks in Austin think that Bevo was a guy that started a book store.

Larry