Houston-based flight app keeps gaining altitude
From small beginnings in 2007, ForeFlight has grown as it provides vital statistics to help pilots get where they’re going safely
T wo passion projects and serendipitous timing laid the foundation for a multimillion-dollar company with technology that helped revolutionize the cockpit.
Houstonian Tyson Weihs and Jason Miller of Virginia had never met in person when they co-founded the flight planning tool ForeFlight. Each was a software developer and a private pilot, and each had created a simple website to provide weather forecasts for the airport.
The two men corresponded through emails before officially incorporating ForeFlight in 2007. They only met in person after
their $75 online platform generated a few sales.
“He showed up at the airport in Virginia, and he almost walked past me without us catching each other,” said Miller, who has since moved to Austin, “because we just didn’t know what we looked like.”
That would soon change. The first iPhone had been sold in June 2007, and there were rumblings of an app store. The duo was suddenly thrust into a world of Apple developers and not-so-subtle hints.
Houston-based ForeFlight was among the 500 apps unveiled July 10, 2008. Its $75 price point also earned the distinction of most expensive app.
“Apple had told us ahead of time that we were crazy for charging that much,” said Adam Houghton, principal and executive vice president of engineering, “… and we’ve been able to build a successful business off of it.”
ForeFlight, which now offers its services for $99, $199 or $299 a year, helps pilots chart their courses and select altitudes for a speedy arrival or for saving fuel. It provides weather information, and it allows pilots to calculate their weight and balance.
During flight, pilots can track their position and call up airport-specific landing information. One tab is dedicated to regulatory paperwork and aircraft details. Other parts of the app are for preflight checklists and post-flight logs.
Ultimately, ForeFlight has replaced pilots’ briefcase-worth of charts and weather updates. Weihs estimates pilots save $1,000 a year in paper.
“They have been very much industry leaders in leveraging the tablet, iPads in particular,” said Tom Haines, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
He said products like ForeFlight are the only reason many general aviation pilots can afford traffic and weather information in the cockpit. Tracking an aircraft’s position on the tablet’s electronic chart has been a game changer.
“It has done a lot for our safety,” he said. “Situational awareness in the cockpit has never been better or more affordable than today.”
He’s known Weihs and Miller since their early iPhone days. And while that was a major milestone, bringing in $80,000 during the first month of sales on the app store, it was the iPad in 2010 that took ForeFlight to the next level.
“That was the quityour-day-job moment,” said Weihs, ForeFlight’s CEO. “This was nights and weekends for three years.”
Revenue rose into the millions of dollars. Pilots using the app on Sunday flights began taking it to work, expanding ForeFlight’s reach into flight schools, military aircraft and more than 1,700 corporate flight departments and other larger operators.
The company grew from roughly a dozen employees in 2010 to some 180. Though headquarters is in Houston, ForeFlight’s largest office is in Austin. A mapping team works from Portland, Maine, and a flight planning team works from Odense, Denmark.
Roger Minson, chief pilot for The “H” Co. at Houston Executive Airport, began using ForeFlight four or five years ago after reading about it in flight magazines. He now compares its prolific nature to that of smartphones in the public. He thinks pilots would be hard-pressed to give it up.
He recalled a pre-ForeFlight era that included mapping charts and threeinch binders filled with approach plates, detailing radio frequencies, altitudes and other crucial information for landing at a specific airport. Pilots used to flip through these charts and binders while flying.
The app is safer, he said.
“You don’t spend all of that time working with the paper process instead of applying your attention to the airplane while you’re setting up your arrival,” he said.
Minson estimated that 95 percent of his friends and colleagues use ForeFlight. That includes all pilots at The “H” Co., which stores, maintains and provides flight crews for business and personal aircraft.
Weihs said hearing from customers like Minson provides some of his favorite work-related memories. It’s especially rewarding to hear stories where ForeFlight helped avert disaster.
He received one letter from a pilot who was flying with his daughter when the plane’s electrical equipment failed despite not having any unusual conditions, such as clouds, where pilots must rely on electrical instruments rather than visual cues. Despite the failure, they were able to land because ForeFlight hardware tracked the aircraft’s pitch and altitude and the app’s GPS function tracked the plane in relation to the runway.
Weihs’ other memorable moments come from meeting aviation icons, such as renowned aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff, who took him flying. He’s also proud of assisting the Coast Guard during Hurricane Harvey.
ForeFlight was configured to help pilots reach airports — not street addresses — yet Harvey left people stranded on their rooftops. So the Austin office gathered in the big conference room and brainstormed. They had a solution allowing the Coast Guard to fly to specific addresses within two hours.
ForeFlight’s next focus is expanding its commercial aviation presence. It recently partnered with Jeppesen, a charting company and subsidiary of Boeing, to create the next generation of Jeppesen’s widely used application for commercial airlines.
Being in the big planes is a long way from where the two recreational pilots started.
“We just got pulled downstream in the rapid current as this technology was emerging,” Weihs said.