How exactly do you get accidental route changes? I've never had that happen.
Saving as a favorite is a good tip anyway, though - And don't forget that you can tap the clock icon and go to the previous flight plan as well (there'll be a new one in there for every change you make). That way if you've already substantially modified your plan from the favorited version and make a mistake you can still go back easily.
Well, I wish I could tell ya. I got a "cleared direct" to HUT VOR on my route out of 1k1 the other day instead of intercepting the filed airway, so I utilized the (very useful) Direct button on the flight plan listing.
What I ended up with was three pink radials out of HUT going backwards toward 1k1 and a gap from HUT to the next VOR.
What I *suspect* happened was that previously I had selected the text route box and was scrolling left/right in it to review the route and left the cursor active inside it somewhere beyond HUT. Probably past "Vxxx" airway number. Foreflight acted like I wanted to go backwards from HUT back to the airport.
I didn't have time to mess with it. I flew the real VOR CDI and hit the Favorite to put it back the way it was on departure. I was just "cheating" anyway to get a heading. The airplane is /U (normally /A... she's back at the shop today to fix that -- GRIN!) so, primary nav is the CDI anyway.
Being /U or /A I like to file the Airway names themselves. I have come to hate that text box for certain things... Like a "direct" given while direct fixes on a long airway segment that Foreflight only knows in the text box as "Vxxx". Things get squirrelly. Foreflight likes individual waypoint names or seems more suited to /G operation than airways.
I also REALLY hate trying to type into the text box, and it's not the size. It's the way the text box widget handles cursor placement. It always starts at the end. I wish it would track where you are in the flight and move the text cursor between the two current waypoints. Scrolling left and right in turbulence is virtually impossible. And there are certain times it would just be easier to type. You spend more time doing scrolling target practice than actually typing. The text window is also way too small. If it were long enough to see most of a long route, one could tap and hold right on the spot you needed to edit.
Finally when doing /U or /A flight planning on the ground, one comes to hate that every change to the route causes a reset of the map centered back to the starting point of the flight. I usually put in starting airport, destination airport, and then zoom and scroll the map to look for the Victor airways that will handle that path. Add one, and an endpoint to the text, I'm back at the starting airport. Now I have to scroll to the endpoint I just entered on the map and look for the next one. Type in next Victor airway and an exit point and map resets to starting point again.
So I tried a new technique. Let's use rubber banding. We'll rubber band the flight onto the entry and exit points all the way to the end, and then edit the text. Problem there is... You still have to scroll around to find the Victor airway numbers after setting the route and now you're fighting the above "always jumps to end" of the text box problem every time you switch focus from the map scrolling to the text box, and then scrolling left to find where to insert the "Vxxx" into the route. And... Once you do... The map, jumps to the starting airport again.
Setting up Victor Airway routes is really clunky. Got any better ideas?
I didn't realize the clock kept a history like that. That's really useful. Will play with that one more.
Noticed one more really subtle thing. I think FF is drawing great circle courses on Airways. I need to find a really really long straight one to be sure. It's supposed to draw them straight down the airway.
Almost imperceptible and I could be wrong. Well within the 4nm limits, probably more like within a few hundred feet. I just noticed it when playing with some enormously long fake routes the other day. It seems to counter this by adding a bejillion entry/exit points to the route along the airway. Nice that it adds them for doing shorter timed legs, but of you already did some paper planning you have to remove them to line up the on-screen flight plan with the one in your lap. It also gets hilarious when it adds three or four near the VOR within a few miles of each other. I wanted the airway, not a waypoint every three miles.
Trivia: Anyone know the longest straight Victor Airway in the Lower 48? (I haven't looked. Just think it's an interesting side-question.)
As always, these are just UI nit-picks and the software does what it's supposed to do, well. It just doesn't "amaze" me when it comes to Victor Airway routing. It likes direct.
Thanks for the heads-up on the clock icon.