Auto-Brief
Pro PlusFile a flight plan in ForeFlight, Garmin Pilot, or anywhere else — your PlaneWX briefing is waiting before you ask for it. If the trip is already on your list, the filed time updates for you. Scored against your aircraft and personal minimums.
What it does
When you file an IFR plan, FlightAware sees the filing within a couple of minutes. If there is no matching trip yet, PlaneWX creates one from the filed origin, destination, route, altitude, and ETD, generates a full briefing, and emails you the link. You do not have to open the app first.
If you already planned that flight in PlaneWX — same tail, same origin and destination, same local date — Auto-Brief recognizes the filing and attaches it to the trip you already have. Filed ETD, route, and altitude replace what you typed earlier, and the briefing refreshes. You do not have to go back into the app at the airport just to fix the time.
If you amend the plan, that same trip updates and re-briefs. If you cancel, PlaneWX archives it.
How to turn it on
- Open Profile → Aircraft and edit the tail you file with. The tail number must match what you file — that is how FlightAware finds you.
- Turn on Auto-Brief for that aircraft.
Pro Plus can enable Auto-Brief on up to 3 aircraft. Enterprise is unlimited.
What you get
- A trip on your list, created from the filing — not a separate “auto-brief only” view.
- If the trip was already planned, the filed time (and route/altitude) update automatically — less work at the airport.
- The same briefing you would have built by hand, including your WX Score.
- An email when the briefing is ready, with a link into the trip.
- Anyone already on My Crew for that trip rides along the same way they would on a trip you created yourself.
What it does not do
- VFR filings are out. FlightAware only reliably sees IFR plans.
- Two unarchived trips the same day on the same tail and route (an out-and-back, for example) — PlaneWX will not guess which one to attach. It creates a new trip instead.
- It does not watch someone else's tail. That is a different consent problem; use My Crew if you want a CFI or spouse on a trip.
- Decision support only. You stay PIC — pull an independent briefing before you launch, same as any other PlaneWX trip.
Auto-Brief is the “file and forget the app” path. If you also want a glanceable WX Score on your phone 30 minutes before departure, that is Pre-Flight Text— a separate opt-in.