Winds aloft data in ForeFlight's NavLog is derived from the ForeFlight Global Winds Engine, which provides forecasts for any location on the planet up to 54,000 feet (FL540). ForeFlight Mobile uses this data to calculate wind impacts for flight plans, whether they include airways, SIDs, STARs, airports, waypoints, or custom user waypoints and lat/long entries.
The Global Winds Engine blends observed data from the National Weather Service and computer models to generate winds, temperatures, turbulence, and icing forecasts. These forecasts are updated four times daily and apply to any length of flight anywhere in the world. The wind data is based on the Global Forecast System (GFS) model. This highly advanced weather prediction tool processes global weather observations to create a three-dimensional view of the atmosphere. The model uses surface, aircraft, and satellite data and computes wind, temperature, and other atmospheric parameters.
In the NavLog, ForeFlight interpolates wind data at different positions and altitudes to calculate projected groundspeed, time, and fuel burn for each flight segment. For instance, if a flight climbs to 9,000 feet and the winds vary significantly at 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000 feet, ForeFlight accounts for these differences when calculating the climb, cruise, and descent phases.
ForeFlight breaks the route into smaller segments for longer flight legs to calculate wind effects more accurately. However, legs in the 40-60 nm range are not segmented.
Last Updated: