Element Track:Flight mode
Overview of your flight screen
Here we show you what you see on your screen during flight. In order to configure any of these indicators, follow these links: altitude adjustment, variometer settings, as well as acoustic settings, speed settings and general settings, such as time and units. You can also adjust the settings of the flight recording.
There is a tutorial for flying a route as well as one for flying a race, where all the information on your flight screen is summarised in an example flight.
For your navigation, icons on the compass rose indicate bearings relative to your direction of flight. Your direction of flight is always at the very top of this display.
Indication of airspaces
Airspaces are indicated separately on the Element. If you are on any of the flight pages 1 to 7 (see below), up to three airspaces are indicated with an "A" in your compass rose. If you choose the page of a particular airspace (pages 8 to 10), then indication in your compass rose changes. If you get closer than 400 m to a particular airspace, the flight info page automatically jumps to that airspace. We recommend you read the following scenario.
List of indicators:
- ALT 1 gives your altitude above Mean Sea Level. It is automatically calibrated by GPS.
- Ground speed is given in kilometres per hour, knots, or miles per hour.
- The compass rose shows your direction of flight by indicating the relative position of True North with the symbol N. You are always flying toward the top of the compass rose.
- Last thermal shows the relative position of your last climb. If you need to return to that thermal, turn your glider so that the indicator appears at the top of the compass rose.
- Airspace shows the direction to the nearest airspace. (Feature coming soon!)
- The graphic vario shows your vertical speed (climb or sink) in metres per second, ranging from +10 m/s to -10 m/s. You may also choose feet per minute, ranging from +20 fpm x100 to -20 fpm x100.
- The integrated vario gives your vertical speed averaged over the last five seconds.
- Wind direction is shown once you have flown a few 360s. Your Element will automatically calculate the wind direction from your drift and show it as a small wind arrow to the right of the compass rose.
Tip: When landing, keep the wind arrow pointing down. That means you are flying into wind.
Wind direction and strength
Wind direction is shown on the display as a small wind arrow beside the compass rose. When the arrow points up, you have a tailwind. When the arrow points down, you are flying into a headwind. Wind speed is shown on Flight Information Display Page 2, as shown below.
Note: The Element calculates wind direction and strength by measuring your track over the ground during 360-degree turns and calculating your drift. For the most accurate wind reading, you should fly two or more slow circles, holding constant speed and bank angle.
Relocating thermals
To help you in cross country flight, your Element will remember the location of the last thermal as you fly along your route. The bearing to your most recent thermal is displayed as a small arrow ↑ on the compass rose. If you fall out of a thermal, or if you are sinking out and want to return to the last thermal, turn your glider until the up arrow indicator appears at the top of the compass rose, then fly straight until you enter the thermal and begin climbing again. You should also use the arrow keys to select Flight Information Display Page 3 (below), which will tell you the bearing and distance to your last thermal. Learn how to configure the threshold for your last thermal indication.
Tip: You can also use the Goto function to guide you to your last thermal, which will appear as _Last ↑ in your waypoints list.
Flight pages
In flight, your Element has a lot more information than can be shown all at once on the display screen. Press the arrow keys to cycle through seven pages in the Flight Information Display field, which appears at the bottom of the display screen.
- GND: Your ground speed is indicated here, if you have a vane wind sensor connected and your air speed is shown in the middle section of your display.
- L/D-G: Glide ratio over ground
- L/D-r: Glide ratio required to reach the active waypoint
- Wind data: This page informs you about the Element's measurement of wind, which is calculated from your drift.
- Track: Actual track of your flight (0-360°)
- W-dir: Wind direction (0-360°)
- Wind: Time since last calculation (in minutes) / Wind speed (km/h, kts, or mph, depending on your unit settings)
- Last thermal ↑ pages: This page is a multifunction navigation tool that helps you fly to your intended target. Use this page when flying to the next waypoint in an active route or when using the Goto function. You can also use this page to help return to the last thermal you climbed in.
- bear.: Bearing to last thermal (0-360°)
- Track: Actual track of your flight (0-360°
- dist.: Distance to last thermal (km or miles)
- Active waypoint:
- 13451: The name of the active waypoint
- bear.: Bearing to waypoint (0-360°)
- Track: Actual track of your flight (0-360°)
- dist.: Distance to waypoint (km or miles)
- L/D-r: Glide ratio required to reach the active waypoint
- Competition data: This screen is useful when flying competitions. See flying a race to learn more about how your Element can help you win races.
- ⊃←: Position relative to cylinder, and +/- start time
- →⊕: Speed required to reach the cylinder edge at start time (before start time), or distance to goal (once started)
- →Ο: Distance to cylinder edge (note that this data field can only be selected when a route is activated.)
- Airspace information: The Element can show up to 3 airspaces at a time, which will be shown on your flight information pages 8 to 10. See the airspace scenario for how the Element displays airspaces in detail.
- Airspace1: The name of the airspace
- ⊃←: Distance to the nearest point of the airspace (the pilot is outside of the airspace)
- →⊃: Distance to the nearest point of the airspace from inside the airspace, shortest way out
If you have an active waypoint, the Element indicates, whether you reach your waypoint or not as follows:
In-flight information page
Pressing the Info key at any time in flight will display a useful information page. After 20 seconds the screen will return to normal, or you can immediately return to the normal display by pressing ESC. Information Page:
- Maximum value of ALT1
- Maximum climb rate of the current flight
- Maximum sink rate of the current flight
- Elapsed flight time
- Current GPS coordinates
- Save current position
Audio volume
In flight you may adjust the audio volume by pressing the loudspeaker key on your keyboard.
