Briefing
The Briefing tab is new in Wader 5.0. It puts your next flight on a map, with everything you check before you go. It replaces the old Airports tab: looking up any airport is still here.
Switch between its two views at the top of the screen:
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Flight | Your next flight on a map, with the weather, NOTAMs, alternates, crew, aircraft and checklist |
| Airports | Search any airport, plus your favourite and recent airports. See Airports |
The Flight view shows once you are signed in. Wader remembers the view you used last.
Your next flight
Section titled “Your next flight”Wader picks your next flight from your logbook: the next flight with a departure airport, an arrival airport and an ETD, in the next 14 days. If you have none yet, tap Add a flight and enter its route, ETD and ETA.
When you have more than one upcoming flight, tap the list button at the top to choose another one. A flight further ahead than 14 days can be chosen from this list.
The route is drawn on a map behind the screen. Pan and zoom the map, and drag the drawer over it up or down. The drawer shows:
- The flight card: your route and times, with the current weather at both ends. Tap an airport to open its weather, NOTAMs and stats.
- Aircraft: where your aircraft is now (PRO). See below.
- Crew: the pilots on the flight. Friends show Message, other Wader pilots show Add friend.
- Alternates: add the flight’s alternates and see their weather. Sort them Nearest first or in Your order.
- Checklist: see below.
Tap Edit at the top of the drawer to open the flight.
The route on the map
Section titled “The route on the map”Tap Route on the map to choose what it draws between the two airports:
| Route | Plan | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | FREE | The great circle between the two airports |
| Filed | PRO | The filed route, where available (US airspace) |
| Past flights | PRO | The tracks of earlier operations of this flight number |
| Actual track | PRO | For a completed flight, the track it actually flew |
Map preferences let you choose a light or dark map, airport and waypoint labels, and a range circle.
Flight mode
Section titled “Flight mode”Once your flight is off blocks, the Briefing switches to flight mode: the map follows your position from your phone’s GPS, and your alternates sort with the nearest first. Tap the GPS status to see its accuracy, ground speed, track and altitude.
Aircraft tracking (PRO)
Section titled “Aircraft tracking (PRO)”With PRO, the Aircraft card follows the aircraft flying your flight:
- where the aircraft is now, and the inbound flight it is on before yours, with its delay
- the terminal and gate for your departure and arrival, as the airline publishes them
The aircraft lookup opens 6 hours before departure. Until the airline assigns a tail, Wader shows the expected aircraft, marked as such. The card needs the flight number and the departure airport.
Checklist
Section titled “Checklist”Each flight can have a checklist of tasks, for example T-60 print the briefing. Tap Start checklist, tick tasks as you go, and set up your own lists in My checklists. Save a list as default and new flights start with it.
Checklists are FREE. With PRO, your checklists sync across your devices and Wader sends you reminders before each task is due.
Weather and airport details
Section titled “Weather and airport details”| Feature | Plan |
|---|---|
| METAR and TAF | FREE |
| Smart TAF (the forecast at your ETD and ETA) | PRO |
| NOTAMs | FREE |
| Live D-ATIS (US and Australian airports) | PRO |
| Alternates | FREE |
| Airport busy hours | PRO |
See Weather, NOTAMs and Stats, My Stuff & Notes.
Briefing on iPad
Section titled “Briefing on iPad”On iPad, the map stays on screen and an airport, the checklist or a crew chat opens in a pane beside it. See Wader on iPad.