A map that shows what matters in flight, one answer per airspace, and Quick fly that knows the way home.

This release brings together the 3 and 4 October production releases and builds on the 2 October release. Two items from that note’s Coming next are now live: the planner fetches NOTAMs for your own route, and the Plans list has a + Plan new flight button and search.

🧠 Smart map layers: what matters, when it matters

• Smart or Custom: every layer that can work smartly now has a Smart or Custom setting, for flying and for planning. Smart is the default. It works from your phase of flight, your altitude, where you are looking, what lies ahead and your route (F1516).
• Nothing kept from you: a SMART chip on the map shows how many items Smart has set aside. Hold it to see everything. When Smart is paused, the chip tells you why (F1516).
• Airspace that steps up as you close on it: as the time to reach a zone shortens, it moves from outline, to label, to fill, to warning. Danger areas get a longer lead time than ATZs. The map and the airspace proximity alert work from the same answer, and airspace that must always be seen is never hidden. Fills stay light, so the map underneath stays readable (F1517).
• Aerodromes: the aerodrome type filter now shapes what the map shows. Smart brings forward your departure, destination and alternates, aerodromes on your route and those within reach, and never hides any aerodrome (F1523).
• Airways: Smart draws an airway only where its floor is close to your altitude and it lies near you or your route. Upper airways are left out when you fly VFR (F1518).
• Reference points: obstacles are thinned to the landmarks at their true positions, VRPs and navaids are always drawn, and points on your route are brought forward (F1519).
• Traffic, TCAS style: Smart shows traffic within a height band around you, set to normal, above or below, as a TCAS does. Nearby traffic, traffic advisories and alerts are always shown (F1520).
• Hazards by risk: obstacles and power lines become more prominent as they become a risk at your height. Low-flying areas and built-up areas appear when you are low (F1521).
• NOTAMs and SIGMETs: Smart shows the NOTAMs along your route that are active when you get there, and SIGMETs along your route (F1522).

🛡️ Airspace on your route: one answer each

• One answer per airspace: in the planner, each airspace on your route has one row. Its choices are always on show, and each says what it means for your route. Rows are grouped by leg, and the leg heading holds Fly this leg direct (F1491).
• Preference plans, approval is per airspace: your class preferences say which airspace you are comfortable crossing, and the route planner plans through it. Approved is a separate answer for each airspace. It is offered wherever the route goes round an airspace, and choosing it sends the route straight through (F1524).
• Decisions to be made: if a leg cannot be completed without permission, the route is planned up to that airspace and the stretch that needs approval is marked. The airspace is listed under Decisions to be made, and the badge on the map rail counts only what is still to answer. Danger and Restricted areas tell you the route must change instead (F1524, F1491).
• Sensible choices only: if your route starts or ends inside an airspace, or a route point sits inside one, the choice offered is Approved. Airspace below the safety floor never offers Approved (F1491).
• Your OK to enter ticks plan the route: the route planner follows each plan’s OK to enter ticks and re-routes when you change one. Drone zones, MTAs, TRAs, AIAAs and HIRTAs are now on the list. Drone zones, AIAAs and HIRTAs start as OK to enter, and MTAs and TRAs start as avoid. You set the ticks from a grid of chips, on the Airspace on your route sheet or in Route settings. They affect planning only, never what is drawn or alerted in flight (F1503, F1477).
• Saved plans keep their ticks: an older plan picks up the new default ticks once, the first time you open it. A list you have chosen to empty stays empty (F1505).
• Direct, clearly stated: if a leg set to Fly this leg direct crosses Danger, Restricted, Prohibited, FRZ or MTA airspace, a line under the leg heading names those areas. Each keeps its own answer (F1508).

📋 NOTAMs for your route

• Fetched for your route: the planner fetches NOTAMs along your route and near your alternates itself, even before you save the plan. The Layers sheet shows when they were last refreshed and has a Refresh button (F1406).
• Filter by type: you can filter NOTAMs by six types, on the planning map and in the Walk-out list. NOTAMs on your route have softer styling so the route stays readable, and UK NOTAMs now show their type (F1406).
• Airspace activated by NOTAM: airspace that is active only when a NOTAM says so now stays dormant on the map and in alerts until a NOTAM activates it. The route NOTAM briefing lists these zones and their status (F1506).

✈️ Plans: aircraft first

• Plan new flight and search: whenever you have a plan, a + Plan new flight button sits at the top of the Plan tab. You can search plans by name, From and To, and each plan shows its distance, departure and aircraft (F1432).
• Aircraft first: the Plan card opens with an aircraft selector, already filled in with your aircraft, above Manual plan and Scan QR. With a glider selected, Scan QR comes first. Each plan is either a glider plan or a powered plan. Switching to another aircraft of the same kind needs no confirmation, and switching kind asks first. Route, Details, Walk-out and Quick fly all follow it (F1513, F1499).
• Scan a task or a shared route: one scanner reads both glider tasks and shared routes. A scanned task becomes a plan with its route locked, but its Details can still be edited. A shared route can be edited throughout. Each plan in the list carries a pill: Manual, Imported Task or Shared with me. A glider task needs a glider (F1498, F1500, F1513).
• Plans and sharing: scanning a route QR code and sharing a route are included in every paid plan: Fly Lite, Touring, Soaring, Pro and Club. On Fly Safe, Scan QR shows a padlock and names the plan that unlocks it. Importing a glider task needs a plan that includes glider task declaration (F1497, F1498).
• A tidy list: swipe a plan to delete it, with Undo. A plan leaves your planned lists once you have flown it and landed. A plan dated in the past that was never flown still shows on the Fly tab (F1453, F1454, F1445).
• Cancel means cancel: cancelling a plan you never saved leaves nothing behind, and a new plan always starts fresh. An aircraft you add from the planner becomes that plan’s aircraft (F1433, F1347, F1393).

🗂️ Details and the walk-out

• Details, redesigned: Details now has five cards: This flight, On board, Aircraft & load, Route settings and Filing. Each card shows one line of real values and a badge that names what is missing. Tap a card with something missing and it opens at that field. Which fields appear depends on your aircraft: single or two-seat glider, motor glider, powered or foot-launched (F1477).
• People and weights: each person on board has their own weight and seat. Your profile can hold your weight. Another pilot’s weight appears only if they have chosen to share it (F1351, F1477).
• Enter it once: you enter values where you see them. When you save, a single Keep these for next time? question offers to update your profile or your hangar (F1477).
• One clear form layout: every edit screen has the label on the left and the values in one right-aligned column. Date and time use wheel pickers, and a missing value has a highlighted edge (F1477).
• A gentle nudge: if you have a hangar but plan with a Quick fly type, Aircraft & load suggests adding or selecting your own aircraft. On board reads Only you when you fly solo in an aircraft that can carry a passenger (F1493).
• The walk-out is your pre-flight summary: the Walk-out tab shows route, fuel, weight and balance, NOTAMs, weather, airspace, terrain, filing and acknowledgements on one page. Fuel and weight and balance can be edited in place. You acknowledge any serious issues on the walk-out, then Fly now takes you straight to the Fly map (F1354).
• Clearer navigation: Route, Details and Walk-out sit in one track at the top of the planner, and Cancel is a ✕. Edit pages have a back button that says ‹ Details. The ⋯ menu has gone, and Share brief now sits at the foot of Details. A rail down the left of the map holds Aircraft, Departure and Airspace buttons. If you have several aircraft in your hangar, they show as a compact select (F1492, F1430, F1428, F1455).

🛫 Quick fly: a destination, and the way home

On the Fly tab, Quick fly takes your aircraft or a Quick fly type, an optional destination and a Return switch, then one Fly now. It flies a straight route to your destination, and within 1 NM of it the cockpit turns for home. When you choose a plan from the Fly tab, it offers Walk-out or Fly now. If walk-out checks are still open, it asks you once (F1501).

🛩️ Traffic and the circuit

• Smoother traffic: traffic now moves smoothly across the map, updating as often as its movement on screen needs. In 3D mode, each aircraft is drawn as a raised silhouette at its height (F917, F948).
• Circuits: the circuit overlay draws a standard five-leg UK circuit, including the final approach (F302).

🛠️ Under the hood: a quicker, steadier map

• Airspace relevance in the background: the app now works out which airspace is near your position and route in the background, away from the work of drawing the screen, so the map stays responsive (F1290).
• Zooming: the map cross-fades between overview and detailed airspace and holds both in memory together. Zooming writes nothing to your phone’s storage, and you choose the zoom level at which detail appears (F1355, F1143).
• Memory safeguard: the app’s memory watchdog now measures the memory actually in use, so it is more accurate (F877).
• Map content delivery: our content network now keeps tiles and airspace flowing through routine maintenance (F987).
• Coverage: a territory now counts as covered when we hold its parent country’s official data (F1356).
• Airspace data: updated to AIRAC cycle 2610.
• Readability: cyan buttons now have a label colour that is easy to read in light mode, and small map popups stay clear of the map controls (F1452, F1449).

🔒 Security

• Dependencies: we’ve applied security updates across our apps, part of our continuing work to keep the platform current (F1494).

🔭 Coming next

• Glider task planning, with task types, start procedures, turnpoints and zones (F1460, F1470).
• Downloading a flight for offline use from the walk-out, with an honest estimate of its size (F1400).
• Ridge lift forecasts for UK ridges, on the Fly map and in the briefing (F1412).
• A pin that lifts above your finger when you move it, with a crosshair showing where it will land (F1509).