Skyward InFlight: Meet the Refreshed Mobile App & Drone GCS – Skyward

The Skyward team has been hard at work on our platform for the last few months, and now I’m excited to share that we’ve refreshed the Skyward InFlight mobile app from the ground up! Drone pilots can take the power of Skyward into the field to plan, fly, and process with an entirely new mobile experience.

With the brand-new design, Skyward InFlight is organized into three tabs — Home, Map, and Flight — for a seamless experience from initial planning to final result. Operations are simpler and more intuitive than ever, including a new preflight status bar to quickly help you evaluate concerns and take action.

Skyward InFlight is available for iOS and Android, including DJI Smart Controller devices. Please note: features may vary by platform and subscription level.

Let me highlight a few of the new features.

New navigation

Skyward InFlight now revolves around a redesigned bottom navigation bar. This bar contains three tabs:

  • The Home tab conveniently sorts your operations in a calendar view and provides rich, at-a-glance preflight information for your mission. You can also plan operation details, request LAANC access to controlled airspace, and create automated flights from this tab.
  • The Map tab brings the power of Skyward’s airspace and 3D ground intelligence to the field to check airspace permissions, create new operations, and plan flight areas.
  • The Flight tab offers a complete ground control station (GCS) for select drones, including automated flight modes and live flight tracking.

Users can seamlessly switch between these tabs, creating a simple and streamlined app experience.

New Tabs in Skyward InFlight mobile app

New preflight status bar

The new preflight status bar is designed to help pilots evaluate potential concerns before taking flight. The preflight status bar uses a color coded “stoplight” system to warn about serious, moderate, or low-level concerns the pilot should be aware of.

There are four categories:

  • Airspace – Noting whether the operation is in an area with restricted, controlled, or other airspace that may cause concern.
  • LAANC – Determining if the area of operation touches any controlled airspace with LAANC enabled. If so, then this button will enable you to request LAANC airspace access and view your authorization.
  • Risk Assessment – A series of questions to gauge potential risks and mitigating factors, which can be started on the web and completed in Skyward InFlight to generate a final risk score.
  • Checklists – A staple of aviation safety which you can customize in the web app, assign to your missions, and complete in the field.

Skyward InFlight Preflight Tab on iPadSkyward InFlight LAANC and Risk on Mobile

By providing at-a-glance risk information, Skyward InFlight makes it easier for crews to collaborate and conduct safer missions out in the field — and for program managers to gauge regulatory and corporate compliance across a distributed fleet.

Same powerful airspace map, automatic flight logging, and more

In addition to all these new features, the redesigned InFlight app still has the same powerful airspace map, which includes controlled airspace, permanent and temporary flight restrictions (TFRs), key ground information such as airport runways, major power lines, and pedestrian walkways — and much more.

Plus, Skyward InFlight includes the latest updates to LAANC, featuring airspace access requests for drone flights at night. And InFlight automatically logs every flight to the Skyward platform so pilots, managers, and executives can see exactly how an operation was conducted.

More to come soon!

We’re not done with Skyward InFlight! Be on the lookout for more features coming in the future, including compatibility with Parrot ANAFI Ai, the world’s first drone powered by Verizon 4G LTE connectivity.

Want to try Skyward InFlight for yourself? Sign into your account, or start a free 30-day trial of the entire Skyward platform.

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