ForeFlight Adds ‘Runway Alert’ Deconfliction Feature

After some hand wringing at the highest levels, a safety summit and a blue-chip committee being struck to address a spate of clench-worthy runway incursions, now there's an app for that. The latest ForeFlight release includes a feature that warns the crew of an aircraft on final approach if there's an airplane on the runway to which they are headed. It also warns the crew of the airplane on the runway that another one is headed their way. Aircraft have to be connected to an ADS-B or FLARM receiver for the Airplane on Runway Alert feature to work.

Last winter saw an uptick in potentially serious incursions in which aircraft were cleared to take off and land on the same runway at roughly the same time. In one case in Austin, a FedEx 767 flew over the top of a departing Southwest flight after the FedEx crew aborted and turned away from the potential conflict. Officialdom is still sorting out all those incidents and preparing the reports and recommendations. The runway alert feature was among several additions to the ForeFlight app, including a function that will paint a breadcrumb trail of the flight paths of nearby aircraft to give pilots additional awareness of the nature of traffic and the procedures being used.