14 January 2014

Does ForeFlight miss Canadian info?

CYVR proceduresCYVR airport chart from Nav Canada

 

Is your ForeFlight Mobile missing some key Canadian Charts? You will note in the above screen capture from my iPhone 5 that no Aerodrome Chart is listed for Vancouver International Airport CYVR. This could be unhealthy for Instrument pilots departing Vancouver since they will be missing the Takeoff minima that is on the bottom left of Nav Canada’s Aerdrome Chart for Vancouver (also shown above). Takeoff minima climb gradients in Canada is adjusted to reflect obstacles (mountains) in the departure path. Without the noted chart in ForeFlight we may be exposed to this potential risk.

For Ottawa CYOW ForeFlight provides the French Carte d’AĆ©rodrome which does include Takeoff Minima, but only in French. I don’t think I have miss-checked a feature in the Download section of ForeFlight, but that is a possibility I am exploring that with the ForeFlight Team.

Still ForeFlight is a great aid and I would hate to loose it.

4 comments:

ForeFlight said...

Michael,

The Aerodrome diagram is available under the "Taxi Diagram" button at the top of the airport view on your iPhone or the "Taxiways" button on your iPad. We want to make sure that diagram is quickly accessible on every airport.

Please email us at team@foreflight.com if you have any more questions.

Best
Adam Houghton
Principal, ForeFlight

Michael Shaw said...

Nav Canada has a "taxi chart" for Ottawa, why is ForeFlight not showing it under Taxi Diagram?

I started looking for IFR takeoff minima. With that in mind I looked in Procedures and found only the procedures in French. It is not intuitive or logical to expect English speaking pilots (including from those from the USA)to look for IFR procedures under Taxiways or Taxi Diagrams. Take off minimums for US airports are under Procedures.
It is all very confusing and illogical.

Adrian said...

Hello Michael,

Glad to hear you found both the Aerodrome chart and Departure Procedures. In hopes of making these two key pages more accessible to pilots, we located them under the "Taxiways" button, so there's less tapping involved. Other procedures are found under Procedures -> Airport.

I find it's a logical placement to have the Aerodrome Chart located under the "Taxiways" button on the main airports page. It does make the Aerodrome Chart more easily accessible.

The reason Departure Procedures are also located here is because NAV CANADA combines Departure Procedures with the Aerodrome chart. As you can see, the departure procedures are officially listed on "Aerodrome Chart (page 2)." As an example, if I wanted to check the departure procedures outside of ForeFlight, I would use the CAP, lookup Ottawa, find the Aerodrome Chart for CYOW, then flip to the next page to find the Departure Procedure. Similarly for take-off minima. As an instrument rated pilot, I know that NAV CANADA lists take-off minima on the Aerodrome Chart. If I was looking for take-off minima in ForeFlight or in the CAP, I would look to the Aerodrome chart.

We always appreciate feedback from Canadian pilots, whether it's about things they like or about things they would like to see improved. I will gladly look into the possibility of adding the Aerodrome Chart/Departure Procedure to the Procedure -> Airport list, so it's listed there as well.

Thanks and fly safe!

Adrian Tegler
team@foreflight.com
ForeFlight LLC

Michael Shaw said...

Still waiting for Foreflight mobile to show a taxi diagram for largers Canadian airport with labelled taxiways. No labels for Ottawa CYOW's taxi diagram.