OffField

Press and hold for about half a second: a ring closes in, then the spot is looked up. A red dot stays where you pressed. On a phone the details fill at most the bottom half of the screen (scroll for more). You'll see:

• the parcel and owner, and who manages the land; zoom in to see lot lines
• wilderness, airspace and nearby airports, active fire perimeters and TFRs
• the landing verdict: Legal, Permission required, Not allowed, Unclear, or Check unit rules (inside a BLM National Monument, Conservation Area or ACEC), with a confidence level and the laws it's based on
• on national forest land, the ranger district with a link to its alerts and closure orders

Owner names: where the county map doesn't show them, Look up owner name uses a paid lookup (repeats are free). It needs an account with owner lookups turned on by CFfly.

Search box: a strip or spot by name (your spots, your squadrons', FAA airports by name or identifier such as 3U2, OpenStreetMap strips already loaded on the map, and OffField public strips; they're listed first), an address, or coordinates in almost any format: decimal degrees, ForeFlight's N34°03.13' W118°14.62', 340308N 1181437W, UTM, MGRS or a map link. Copy a spot's coordinates in ForeFlight and paste them here. Tap the box to see your recent searches (🕘); matching ones also show while you type. "Clear recent searches" empties the list.

Use the map layers (the stack-of-papers button): turn on Landable land for a quick verdict at a glance: green, legal to land (BLM and National Forest outside wilderness and other restricted units), yellow, ask first, and red, not allowed. Or turn on the layer for the kind of land you want: Public lands (who manages it, by color), Wilderness areas to avoid, BLM ACECs with their own rules. Then press and hold a spot for the full verdict and its sources.

• Known strips (in Map layers; zoom in to see them): FAA airports and landing strips and strips mapped only in OpenStreetMap.

  • filled circle = public use, ring with "R" = private use (prior permission required); slate = paved, brown = turf, dirt or gravel; green diamond = OpenStreetMap only; violet "P" = submitted by a pilot and reviewed by CFfly
  • each strip shows once: an FAA airport wins over the same strip in OpenStreetMap, which wins over one a pilot submitted to OffField; what the hidden one knew (surface, notes, photos) is added to the card that's shown
  • every strip and spot card (and the strip check) shows the weather the same way: the field's own METAR, or the nearest one with how far and which way it is, in plain language, with how old it is and the flight category (VFR green, MVFR blue, IFR red, LIFR violet), the raw report, and the forecast (TAF), the field's own or one within 10 nm, folded up: each period in plain language with its category. No internet (in flight, out of cell range): with an ADS-B receiver on 978 MHz (UAT) connected as the traffic layer's receiver, the METARs and TAFs it hears over FIS-B (the FAA's free broadcast weather) are kept for an hour and shown instead, marked 📡; FIS-B is only heard within line of sight of a ground station, usually above a few thousand feet
  • an FAA airport's card then has its frequencies (ATIS and ASOS/AWOS with its phone number, clearance, ground, tower, CTAF, UNICOM, approach and departure), then its runways: each end on its own line with its length and surface and the wind's headwind (or tailwind) and crosswind, the best end for the wind in green; then the rest of the FAA airport record: the owner and manager with their phone numbers and addresses, ownership and use, attendance, fuel, lighting, every runway (length, width, surface, condition, and each end's heading, elevation, right traffic, displaced threshold, obstacles and gradient) and the FAA's remarks, updated every 28 days
  • tap one for its card: runways, links to AirNav, the RAF Airfield Guide and the Idaho Aviation Association, Flights here (your logbook's landings and trip reports from wingmen and squadrons) and pilot reports with photos, which any signed-in pilot can add
  • private-use strips sit where the owner's FAA filing puts them, which can be off by a mile or more; "Satellite view" lets you check
• Find strips — candidate strips on green (BLM or National Forest) land, from terrain and satellite imagery.

  • Searches 1 to 20 nm around you ("Me") or the map center, with your minimum length and slope limit.
  • Only straight, fairly smooth strips that look like open dirt, sand or grass, run along the ground's grain and stay clear of mapped power lines and obstacles. If none pass, it says so.
  • The best are drawn and listed; tap one for its strip check and verdict. Press the button again, or the × on the search circle, to close it.
  • Candidates only: verify surface, obstacles and permission.
• Flight plan (the route button: three dots joined by lines) — waypoints joined by a magenta line.

  • A plan without a name is called by its start and end, e.g. KMYF – KRNM.
  • Two tabs: Current plan (＋ New starts a new one) and Saved plans (tap one to open it; each with its waypoints, distance and route, and tags for the wingmen and squadrons it's shared with, who sent it to you and who changed it last).
  • The route box at the top is the plan as text: each waypoint a box colored by what it is: FAA airports blue, by their ICAO code (KMYF; their FAA identifier where they have none), strips and spots without an identifier green, fixes and RNAV waypoints gray, VFR waypoints magenta, GPS coordinates amber. Near an FAA airport or waypoint, a tap or a drag always takes the FAA one, with its official name. Type more at the end (e.g. KMYF VPSLJ KRNM: airports by FAA or ICAO code, fixes and VFR waypoints, or coordinates like 33.1,-117.2); each is added as you press space or Enter, and ⌫ in the empty box removes the last. Hold a box for Delete, Replace, Insert before and Insert after.
  • Or tap an airport, waypoint or spot on the map, or drag the magenta line like a rubber band: let go on a waypoint, airport or spot and it's inserted there, between that leg's two ends (let go on open ground for a GPS point). In the list, ＋ insert (before the first, between any two, after the last) types one in there; × cancels. A tap on open map closes the plan.
  • Drag waypoints on the map (they snap to what's near); rename, move up ↑ or down ↓, or remove × them in the list, which shows each leg's distance and magnetic course and the total.
  • Fly it: the line stays on the map and in flight mode, the leg you're on drawn thicker, with a dashed line straight to the next waypoint. A magenta box shows the next waypoint, its distance, magnetic course and time en route at your groundspeed; within 0.3 nm of it, or once you've passed it, the next one is up (and said out loud). Tap the box to open the plan; Stop flying it in the plan ends it. While you're flying a plan, its button (and ☰, when the tools are folded away) has a magenta ring.
  • Share sends it to wingmen or a squadron, for flying together: it's then one plan you all see and can change (changes show up within about 30 seconds), and they open it from the conversation (Open flight plan). Delete takes it off your list; its maker's Delete removes it for everyone. Plans that aren't shared stay on this device and, signed in, in your account.
  • For planning and awareness only: check charts, airspace, TFRs, terrain and fuel yourself.
• Ruler and strip check — tap two points (or hold two fingers on the map) for the distance and true and magnetic bearing; drag either end to adjust.

  • Strip Check: for each direction, grade and head-, tail- and crosswind (a tailwind and a downhill grade in red); elevation and slope; the nearest METAR and density altitude; sunset and civil twilight; obstacles and power lines within 0.5 nm. Screening only.
  • ☆ Save strip, Share, Current verdict (at the midpoint), and Make public….

• My spots — your private spots and strips (blue pins with a lock). Only you see them.

  • Each keeps a name, notes, surface, the date you last landed, permission status, photos and a snapshot of the verdict when saved. Tap one to open it; Go, Edit, Delete.
  • Export all or ticked spots: ForeFlight (CSV or KML, as User Waypoints; a strip becomes two waypoints, -A and -B), GPX for Garmin Pilot, KML for Google Earth.
  • Sync: signed in, spots, photos and deletions reach your other devices; the latest change wins. Everything works offline and syncs later.
  • Make it public… asks CFfly to list a copy in Known strips, where other pilots can see it and add reports; your notes and permission log stay private. Follow it in My spots → My public submissions.

Pilot reports live on public strips only (Known strips). Pilots add the date, aircraft, surface, notes and a photo, and each shows the pilot's callsign; the aircraft fills in from your Pilot details. They're experience, not law, and never change the verdict. Sending one needs an account. "Report this" flags a wrong or inappropriate one.

• Record and logbook (the book button) — Start recording before you taxi. The book button (and the menu button ☰) turns red while it records; tap it and Stop and save after you shut down. The red recording line goes once the flight is saved.

  • In the iPhone app, recording carries on with the phone locked or another app open (iOS shows a blue location pill). On the web, keep OffField open: the screen stays on, and the browser pauses recording in the background. If the app was closed while recording, it offers to carry on or save the flight.
  • Tap a flight in the logbook to open it; ‹ Back to Logbook at the top closes it and returns to the list. Show track on map draws its track again; it goes away when you leave the flight. It has the date and times, flight time (airborne), distance, and its landings: from groundspeed (airborne above 40 kt, landed below 25 kt), plus touch-and-goes where the GPS altitude came within 50 ft of the terrain.
  • Each landing is matched to where it was: your saved spot, or else the FAA airport, OpenStreetMap or OffField strip there. "Landings" lists each strip and how many times you landed there, and Open … under a landing opens that strip's card.
  • Each flight has the aircraft (your N-number from Pilot details, to start), the wingmen who flew with you (add them from your wingmen), and its start and end: the time and the airport, found as the nearest airport or strip to where the track began and ended (type another to change it). The title is made from them, like "11.13.26 - U70 to 3U2", until you type your own.
  • Every field can be changed: title, aircraft, date, times, airports, flight time, distance, wingmen, and each landing's time, kind and place (add or remove landings too). Then Save.
  • A landing at one of your saved spots or strips is counted there: the spot shows how many landings your logbook has at it, and its "last landed" date is updated.
  • Add notes and photos. Share trip report… sends it (track, times, landings, notes, up to 4 photos) to wingmen or squadrons; Export GPX for other apps. Signed in, the logbook syncs to your account and your other devices, like your spots.

• Wingmen (the people button in the title bar, left of ⚙; signed in) — other OffField pilots you fly with. A red number shows new items, requests and invitations.

  • Wingmen tab: find a pilot by callsign, name, email, phone or tail number (any part of it, with or without the N; only the ways they allow, in Profile → Pilot details) and tap Add; they become your wingman when they accept.
  • Squadrons tab: start a squadron and invite your wingmen. As its owner you can make members admins, who can also invite and remove members and change the squadron's picture; or keep that to yourself. Members can leave at any time.
  • Profile (the first tab): your account (sign in with Apple or Google, owner lookups, sync, Sign out and Delete account) and Pilot details: your picture (the gold taildragger on one of four colors, picked at random to start, or a photo: drag and pinch, or use the slider, to crop it to the circle other pilots see), your callsign (unique in OffField; what other pilots see; you get a vintage-aviation one to start, like Stearman42, which you can change), name, phone, email, aircraft and N-number, for permission letters and for wingmen; whether other pilots can find you, and by which of callsign, name, email, phone or tail number. Also there: Notifications in the iPhone app (alerts for messages, shared spots and trip reports, wingman requests, squadron invitations and wingmen flying; a test button) and whether wingmen and squadrons are told when you're flying. Pilot details save as you type.
  • Flying now (at the top, when someone is): wingmen and squadron mates who are recording a flight, with their tail number. Tap one to see them on the map: their traffic target if the traffic layer has them, otherwise the position their phone last sent. When they start recording you get a notification, and the people button shows a red count while they fly. You tell yours the same way when you record, unless you turn off "Tell my wingmen and squadrons when I'm flying" in Profile → Pilot details.
  • Messages: a conversation with each wingman and each squadron (marked 👥: the whole squadron sees it). A flight plan sent there has an Open flight plan button. It opens at the newest messages; scroll up for earlier ones. New messages appear by themselves while it's open, and the people button shows a red count when one arrives. Write messages (with photos), and see the spots, strips and trip reports shared there: Show them on the map, or Save to My spots. A red number shows unread messages. Message beside a wingman, or Squadron messages in a squadron, opens it too. Show on a shared spot or strip opens its card. Tap a photo to see it full size. The × on a message you sent deletes it (only your own).

Every strip and spot opens the same kind of card: a colored label (gray FAA, green OpenStreetMap, violet OffField, green squadron, blue private), the name, buttons, who may land or see it, the facts, notes and photos, and Flights here.

One place, one card. The same strip can be your private spot, a spot in one or more of your squadrons and a public strip (FAA, OpenStreetMap or OffField). It shows once on the map and in My spots, and its card has a part for each: your 🔒 private part (your notes, photos and permission log, only you), a squadron part for each squadron that has it (its members' notes and photos, only they see them), and a public part (opens the public strip's card, with its pilot reports). Your own spot wins on the map; without one, the squadron spot does.

A squadron spot's card lists its notes, each with the member's callsign and date. Any member can add a note or photos; whoever added the spot, the owner and admins can Edit its name and surface. Sharing the same spot to a squadron again adds your note to the one that's there instead of making a copy.

My spots lists your own spots first, each once, saying which squadrons have it too (they're drawn squadron-green). Below, Squadron spots lists your squadrons' spots that you haven't saved yourself, each place once even when several squadrons have it. Your notes, photos and permission log always stay private.

Three kinds of spots: private (My spots: only you), squadron (only its members; green on the map, layer "Squadron spots") and public (Known strips, after CFfly's review).

Share (on any spot, strip or logbook entry) asks where to: to wingmen or a squadron in OffField (a spot or strip sent to a squadron becomes a squadron spot; one sent to a wingman goes to your conversation with them, in Messages), or Messages, Mail, ForeFlight… as a link that opens the spot in OffField: in the iPhone app when it's installed, otherwise on the web.

Every link and list entry for a strip or spot (shared links, My spots, your public submissions, messages) opens its card: your spot there, your squadrons' spot, or the public strip. Run the Strip check from the card.

On private, state or local land (and wherever the verdict says to ask), ✉ Request permission writes a polite letter or email to the owner, with the APN, county, coordinates and a map link, your pilot details (Profile → Pilot details), the purpose and dates, and an offer of insurance and a hold-harmless.

• Copy text, Open in Mail, or Print / PDF; Log as asked saves the spot with its permission marked "asked".
• Who to ask on public land: the BLM field office, the Forest Service ranger district, or the state agency (with an official phone number where one was found).
• Permission log (in a saved spot's Edit): not asked, asked, granted or denied, who, when it expires, conditions and a photo of the letter. It shows as a badge on the spot; expiring ones are flagged.

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  Flight mode — the map follows your GPS, with your track in magenta. It starts at your current position (the blue dot) and picks up the GPS from there.

  • It checks the land ahead (up to 30° either side, half way to the screen's edge) and shades legal land green; zoom out to look further ahead.
  • The bar at the bottom: Currently legal or not (and for how far), your track, groundspeed, GPS altitude (ALT) and height above the ground under you (AGL, from the terrain data); Next: the nearest legal stretch ahead, how far and how many degrees left or right.
  • Track up or North up (the compass button between ◎ and + / −). The Shortest stretch slider at the bottom of the box sets the shortest legal stretch "Next" points out (100 to 5,000 ft); it applies as you slide it.
  • With a flight plan you're flying, a magenta line shows the next waypoint, its distance, magnetic course and time.
  • Drag the map to look around (it turns north up and the airplane is drawn where you are). ◎ (bottom left, above the + / − zoom buttons) brings the map back to you; tap it again to follow you once more (the gold ring shows it's following).
  • Currently and Next are green when there's legal land (now or ahead) and red when there isn't.
  • The box beside ● Record is the tail number you're flying: your Pilot details N-number to start; change it for another airplane. The logbook entry gets it, and the traffic layer leaves that airplane out (it's you).
  • ● Record (beside End flight mode) records the flight to the logbook, the same as the book button; it turns red ("● Recording") while recording, and tapping it again stops and saves the flight. Ending flight mode doesn't stop a recording.
  • Works with no signal for the states saved in Settings → Offline land data and charts (save the state's VFR chart there too, to see the chart with no signal). It keeps the screen on; tap End flight mode to stop.
• ◎
  My location — centers the map on where you are. Press it again (without moving the map in between) to lock the map on you (a gold ring around the button, as in flight mode); once more, or drag the map, to unlock. In the iPhone app, iOS asks once to use your location: choose While Using the App and it won't ask again.
• North up / Track up (bottom left, between ◎ and the zoom buttons, on the map and in flight mode) — in track up the map turns so your direction of travel points up (dragging is off while it's turned; + / − zoom).

Offline: with a state saved in Settings, a press with no signal still gives the land manager, wilderness, airspace and verdict from simplified data (about 100 m). Parcels and owners need a connection.

The menu (☰) holds the map tools; Settings (⚙) and Help (?) are in the title bar. Zoom (+ / −) and ◎ (your location; it keeps the zoom you're at; tap it again, without moving the map in between, to keep the map on you) are at the bottom left, with the scale beside them (in your distance units; feet or meters when zoomed in close).

The app opens with the same base map, layers and zoom as you left it, centered on your position (with the distance rings, if they're on). The first time, it starts on satellite with Landable, Active TFRs, My saved spots and Known strips on, zoomed to about 6 nm around you.

• Menu — shows or hides the tools. They start open when there's room. It gets a gold ring while the ruler or the strip finder is on.
• Map layers — one base map and any number of overlays. The × closes the menu.

  • Base map: Street map; Satellite imagery; or FAA VFR charts (the Terminal Area chart where there is one, the Sectional elsewhere; reference only, not for navigation; "more info" explains).
  • Public lands: who manages the land, colored by agency (BLM, Forest Service, National Park, Fish & Wildlife, state, military…), with a color key.
  • Wilderness areas: designated Wilderness, outlined and named: no landing except in an emergency.
  • Landable land: land shaded by its verdict: green legal, yellow ask first, red not allowed. Private land isn't shaded. From the offline land data (about 100 m), at state zoom or closer.
  • BLM Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (purple): BLM land with its own management plan, which can limit vehicles and aircraft.
  • Land types (a group): public lands, wilderness areas, landable land and BLM ACECs. Airspace (a group): distance rings, TFRs and traffic.
  • TFRs (FAA): temporary flight restrictions: active ones outlined in red, upcoming ones (not started yet) in orange. Refreshed every 2 minutes. Tap one for what it's for, when it starts and ends (in your time zone), its floor and ceiling, the NOTAM text and the FAA's page. Stadium TFRs are shown too: the FAA doesn't publish them one by one (a standing NOTAM, FDC 4/3621, covers every stadium of 30,000+ seats: 3 nm and up to 3,000 ft AGL, from 1 hour before an MLB, NFL or NCAA Division I football game until 1 hour after it ends), so OffField draws a 3 nm circle around each such stadium from the game schedules (ESPN), active or upcoming in the next day and a half. Their end time is an estimate. Motor speedway events aren't included yet: check the race schedule there.
  • FAA waypoints (in Airspace): fixes and RNAV waypoints (black triangles, e.g. CARIF) and VFR reporting points (magenta diamonds, e.g. VPSLJ), from the FAA's 28-day data, from about 50 nm across or closer; their names show as you zoom in. Tap one for its kind and position.
  • Distance rings around me (in Airspace): two rings around your position, one near the screen's edge and one at half that, labeled with their radius (they resize as you zoom; not in flight mode).
  • Traffic (ADS-B): aircraft around you as arrows along their track, labeled with the tail number (or callsign) and altitude: relative to yours in hundreds of feet (+05 = 500 ft above) when your altitude is known, with ↑ or ↓ when climbing or descending. Gold = a wingman or squadron member (from the N-number in their Pilot details), red = close (within 2 nm and 1,000 ft), blue = other traffic, gray = on the ground (just the arrow, no label; a wingman's has a gold edge and their name). Tap one for its details (a see-through box, placed on the side it's heading so it doesn't cover the path) and the path it's flown while you've been watching: a blue line with a white edge up to the airplane and a dot at each position heard (tap elsewhere to hide it). The path starts when the app first hears the aircraft, so it grows as you watch. Zoomed out (wider than about 100 miles across), traffic fills the whole view as smaller arrows without labels or ground traffic, refreshed every 15 seconds; zoom in for labels. Show: all traffic, only traffic near you (within 20 miles and 3,000 ft), or only your wingmen and squadrons. From: the internet (adsb.lol, a free network of ground receivers; low-flying airplanes in the backcountry are often out of their range), an ADS-B receiver on the airplane's Wi-Fi (iPhone app; join the receiver's Wi-Fi network first; it works with no internet), or both. Receivers that send the open GDL 90 format work: Stratux, uAvionix SkyEcho, Stratus 3 in "open" mode and others. A ForeFlight Sentry works too: OffField switches it to its Compatibility Mode (it goes back to ForeFlight mode at every power-up, so OffField switches it again each time) and decodes the traffic it hears on both bands. In that mode ForeFlight still shows GPS and traffic but not the Sentry's carbon monoxide alerts, attitude or battery; ForeFlight's Disable button switches it back. Turn off the Sentry's Power Savings (in ForeFlight, or at 192.168.4.1/settings on its Wi-Fi), or it switches itself off after 30 minutes without ForeFlight. Bluetooth avionics (Garmin Connext) use closed formats other apps can't read. Your own airplane is left out. Traffic stays on in flight mode. Traffic alerts: while you're flying (recording, or in flight mode) the app looks two minutes ahead at your track, speed and climb or descent and each aircraft's. When one will pass within about half a mile and 600 ft in the next 90 seconds, or is already within 1 mile and 500 ft, a red banner shows, the phone says it, and that aircraft turns red with a pulsing red ring, like "Traffic, 2 o'clock, 1.5 miles" (clock position from your nose, distance to the nearest half mile), with its height above or below you. Tap the banner to close it; the same aircraft is called again after 40 seconds. It needs your GPS altitude (or the receiver's), so it's quiet on the ground and below about 30 knots. Never use it to separate yourself from other aircraft: it's for awareness only.
  • OffField spots (a group): Private (your saved spots and strips, blue), Squadron (shared in your squadrons, green, seen only by their members) and Public OffField strips (violet "P", submitted by pilots and reviewed by CFfly).
  • Known strips (a group): FAA airports and landing strips, in three switches (public use, paved; public use, turf / dirt / gravel; private use), and strips mapped in OpenStreetMap; zoom in to see them. Each place shows once; turning one kind off shows the others there.
  • Each layer turns on and off by itself, and a group's own box turns the whole group on or off (half-ticked when only some are on). The key under each explains its icons.
• i
  Map credits (bottom-right corner) — who made the map, imagery and strip data. Tap to read them, tap again to fold them away.

• Offline land data and charts: for each state, four things to keep for use with no signal: its land info (land managers, wilderness, airspace), VFR chart, USGS topo map and USGS satellite imagery (each map about 15 to 600 MB a state). The state's box chooses all four. A box shows – while downloading and a tick once saved, with the space it actually takes; each state shows its total. "All states" saves the land info for every state. Online the live maps show; the saved ones fill in only where those can't load.
• At the top: Sign in with Apple or Google, or who you're signed in as, with a link to Profile. The rest of your account and Pilot details are under the people button → Profile.
• Units: speed, distance, length and elevation, temperature and altimeter. They apply right away.
• Backup: everything (spots, photos, logbook and settings) in one file, and restore from it.
• At the bottom: the app version (e.g. 2026-11-14p) and its build number (20261114.16), the same number TestFlight and the App Store show for the iPhone app; in the iPhone app, also its version and build as installed.
• Sections with a gold arrow open when tapped. Changes are saved with Done; the × asks first.