ForeFlight Question about Altitude

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Scott@KTYR

Pattern Altitude
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Scott@KTYR
Today I decided to downloaded ForeFlight and WOW it is Fantastic!!!!!
I have looked in the Manual and the Videos online but cannot find the answer to my question.
In a flight plan with several way points I want to fly at different altitudes along the route.
Is that an option in ForeFlight planning?
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Today I decided to downloaded ForeFlight and WOW it is Fantastic!!!!!
I have looked in the Manual and the Videos online but cannot find the answer to my question.
In a flight plan with several way points I want to fly at different altitudes along the route.
Is that an option in ForeFlight planning?
Click to expand...

No...it presumes same altitude for entire flight. Odds are, you'll be close enough for flight planning purposes.
 
I love FF, but I'm no expert, I don't think what you're looking for is an option.;)
My only real gripe with the flight planning part is that you can't adjust fuel burn and airspeed for climb, cruise and descent, only one fuel flow and airspeed. :dunno:

Scott@KTYR said:
Today I decided to downloaded ForeFlight and WOW it is Fantastic!!!!!
I have looked in the Manual and the Videos online but cannot find the answer to my question.
In a flight plan with several way points I want to fly at different altitudes along the route.
Is that an option in ForeFlight planning?
Click to expand...
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Is that an option in ForeFlight planning?
Click to expand...
Nope... That seems to be a big gripe with many. Without a profile feature, there wasn't as much of a practical use for it; But now with the new profile feature, I'd bet we'll see it fairly soon...
 
N747JB said:
I love FF, but I'm no expert, I don't think what you're looking for is an option.;)
My only real gripe with the flight planning part is that you can't adjust fuel burn and airspeed for climb, cruise and descent, only one fuel flow and airspeed. :dunno:
Click to expand...

I burn 26 on takeoff, decreasing during climb. I burn 10-11 in cruise and 7-8 during descent. I plug in 12 gph and it always works out real close.
 
Fly your airplane a few times and work out an average burn,then input into your aircraft profile. Has worked great for me.
 
RV10flyer said:
I burn 26 on takeoff, decreasing during climb. I burn 10-11 in cruise and 7-8 during descent. I plug in 12 gph and it always works out real close.
Click to expand...

Exactly. It's more than close enough. The fuel totalizer in the airplane will give the exact burn rate.
 
The evil company who shall not be named had climb, cruise, descent profiles per aircraft and their profile view was capable of multiple altitudes enroute on a per leg basis., many many years ago. It looks like FF is headed there, slowly. The single altitude profile view is a basic start. This other company also depicted cloud heights along the route via METAR data, including multiple layers if the METAR said they existed. It kinda had to interpolate on those but it was amazingly accurate for what was mostly a guess between METAR stations. Certainly good enough to know if your VFR flight would put you right at cloud base or 3000' or more below it, at a single glance at their profile view.
 
Foreflight's strengths are primarily that of navigation and not the fine details of fuel consumption. Fuel burn for climb to altitude and descent are usually less critical than overall cruise duration. No one should be planning a cross country flight where the climb or descent phases play a critical role in determining the ability to safely complete the flight.


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Sure, but that info would be great when trying to plan for an altitude that is 1 - fastest or 2 - lowest fuel burn.

Answering the question "is it worth climbing to x,000" is nice as well.
 
I spoke with a FF rep at the AOPA San Marcos fly in and when she asked for feedback on desired features I explained this very topic in great detail. She listened and took notes enthusiastically.

They always seem to respond to consumer demand so send em an e-mail.
 
You obviously don't have a compulsion about exact fuel burn or best route based on altitudes and winds.:D You should try it, predict the amount of fuel needed, then measure it when you land. :D
I've been flying for 30 years and so far I haven't run out of gas, but it is a nice feature to see the predicted burn and compare it to the actual usage.
I hope no ones flight planning is coming down to a gallon or two extra for climb, but having climb and descent speeds and rates do help in the planning stage.;)

Schaps said:
Foreflight's strengths are primarily that of navigation and not the fine details of fuel consumption. Fuel burn for climb to altitude and descent are usually less critical than overall cruise duration. No one should be planning a cross country flight where the climb or descent phases play a critical role in determining the ability to safely complete the flight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
Ok I have another question.
I added a Stratus 2 to the plane.

When I was at 10000 feet altitude the foreflight was reading 10550.

Is there something I need to do to calibrate the unit?
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Ok I have another question.
I added a Stratus 2 to the plane.

When I was at 10000 feet altitude the foreflight was reading 10550.

Is there something I need to do to calibrate the unit?
Click to expand...

If your GPS error was low I wonder if the altimeter was off due to barometric pressure difference. My Bad Elf will show me both lateral as well as vertical error, you might check that
 
Difference between pressure altitude and GPS (geometric) altitude.
 
Last edited:
I just got an email from ForeFlight SUPPORT.

" the altitude being displayed is your GPS altitude, so it can be off by that much depending on the pressure of the air"
 
Scott@KTYR said:
My transponder said the pressure altitude was 10000.
Click to expand...
But your transponder doesn't know anything about the air temperature. Even your altimeter setting can't correct your panel altimeter for temperature at all altitudes.

Your altimeter setting is supposed to make your altimeter read MSL altitude on the ground. So at the surface, barometric and GPS altitude should agree (within 75 feet, if your altimeter and static system are within spec). If the atmosphere were everywhere at standard temperature (which is a function of MSL altitude), then barometric and GPS altitude would continue to agree even at higher altitudes. But if, say, the atmosphere is at higher than standard temperature, the air expands, causing the pressure levels to spread out. As a result, your altimeter will read lower than GPS altitude. The exact opposite will happen if the atmosphere is below standard temperature.

IIRC this is all explained in the Instrument Flying Handbook.
 
High to low look out below

Applies both to pressure systems and temperature

And yes its in the Instrument Flying Handbook
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Today I decided to downloaded ForeFlight and WOW it is Fantastic!!!!!
I have looked in the Manual and the Videos online but cannot find the answer to my question.
In a flight plan with several way points I want to fly at different altitudes along the route.
Is that an option in ForeFlight planning?
Click to expand...
This is an ancient post, but thought I’d point out that ForeFlight now allows you to do exactly what you wanted. You can set an altitude for each individual waypoint. This is a really helpful feature when traversing complex airspace where you need to change altitude several times.
 
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