ForeFlight on airline HACK!

[201Steve]

As a curious passenger on the bus, I like to track the ATC comms on Live ATC and keep an eye on things up front with ForeFlight data. Most of the time, the built in iPad GPS will not identify the satellites and it won’t locate. However…. I found the hack. If you open the Google Maps app (not the Apple map version) it immediately captures your GPS location. If you then go back to ForeFlight…. Voila! The Google maps app warms it up? ForeFlight requires a different signal strength to initialize? I don’t know, but there you have it. 

[65MooneyPilot]

In the thousands of hours I spent in the back of an airplane positioning to go to work I found out a few things in regards to the iPad and iPhone. They both like the internet better than the network. So, to find your position while flying in the back you need to turn off the internet that is logged on the aircrafts onboard internet. Hold it up to the window and it will find your position. When you land if you have the aircrafts internet on again you need to turn it off to call on the network or it will fight you from making a call. My iPad does not have the GPS chips in it, I always used an external GPS receiver for it. Your discovery is great and if it keeps working use it. 

[Pinecone]

I have had no issue with my Mini 6 getting a position.  Even in non-window seats.  

I have not tried my iPhone 14, but my previous Xr did not work well on airplanes.

[201Steve]

I haven’t tried the iPad, just my phone. 

[N201MKTurbo]

I take the Stratus along. Then I get traffic, position and altitude. And weather. It does a better job of getting a GPS fix than the IPad.

[201Steve]

 Now that’s next level

[N201MKTurbo]

Call me an airplane geek, (well aren’t we all?) but I get a thrill out of watching traffic and seeing us crossing paths with another airplane at FL380 or so and looking out the window and seeing it go by.

[N201MKTurbo]

I also love it when I’m in the center seat, and the passenger in the window seat asks how much longer till we get there and I say “hold this thing up to the window for a bit and I’ll let you know”.

[N201MKTurbo]

BTW, I get the flight plan from FlightAware before we get on the plane and put it in. You kind of have to guess at the departure and arrival runways, but you can look at the internet traffic at both airports and figure out which runway and arrival they are using right then. And you can always update it when you get close.

I love to tell my seat mates, “they are going to turn left right now” and then the plane banks left. I’m probably just annoying them, but some think it is cool.

[midlifeflyer]

8 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You kind of have to guess at the departure and arrival runways, but you can look at the internet traffic at both airports and figure out which runway and arrival they are using right then

Not that much of a guess. Internet traffic or METAR/TAF usually takes care of it. Same principle as loading the expected approach before departure. Only time I've had to update is when there are multiple parallel runways, but even that's been rare. 

[Huckster79]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:50 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

BTW, I get the flight plan from FlightAware before we get on the plane and put it in. You kind of have to guess at the departure and arrival runways, but you can look at the internet traffic at both airports and figure out which runway and arrival they are using right then. And you can always update it when you get close.

I love to tell my seat mates, “they are going to turn left right now” and then the plane banks left. I’m probably just annoying them, but some think it is cool.

When do us pilots ever worry about annoying non pilots?  

[Pinecone]

I was following my flight from ORD to IAH to pick up my plane and ended up in a nice conversation with the person next to me.

He owned a 310.