FLYTEC ELEMENT
QUICK GUIDE
English 2
Deutsch 20
Français 38
www.ytec.ch
Table of Contents
1. First ight
2. Navigation
3. General information
Congratulations on your purchase of this quality instrument from Flytec. We know
you want to y with it right away, and you should! Just a few short minutes with this
Quick Guide and you'll see how easy it is to get the most out of your new vario.
You'll be ying and navigating in no time. Have fun!
1.1 Get ready for the rst ight
Switching on 4
GPS acquisition 4
Set time zone 5
Choose units 5
Mounting 6
1.2 Now you are ready to y
Recording 8
Information display 8
1.3 After your ight
Saving tracks 10
Uploading tracks 10
2.1 Get ready to navigate
Entering waypoints 11
Creating a route 12
Activating the route 12
2.2 Now you are ready to navigate
Flying the route 13
Skipping a waypoint 15
Goto function 15
2.3 After navigating
Erasing waypoints and route 16
Firmware update 17
Changing language 17
Batteries 17
Technical notes 18
Learning more 18
Table of Contents 32
English English
1. First ight
1.1 Get ready for the rst ight
Switching on
The Element comes with two AA alkaline batteries with which the device
will operate for about 30 hours.
Press the On/O key
.
Conrm On? by pressing
.
GPS acquisition
Give your Element at least 2 minutes with an unobstructed view of the sky
to acquire a GPS signal. GPS 3D will appear at the top of the display screen
when the device receives sucient satellite reception. Battery charge state is also
indicated.
Your radio and mobile phone will interfere with GPS reception, so keep them
away from your Element.
Set time zone
Time and date are automatically set by GPS, but you will need to input
your time zone.
Press and hold
, then use the arrow keys
to select
Instrument settings. Press
.
Select Time zone and press
.
Use the arrow keys
to choose your UTC (World Time) oset.
Press
.
Press
to return to the Main Setup Menu.
4 First flight
Choose units
You should also choose which units of measurement you would like your
Element to display. Metric or imperial units, Fahrenheit or Celsius scale, and
other choices are located in the Instrument Settings menu.
Press and hold
, then use the arrow keys
to select
Instrument settings. Press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select Units. Press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select the unit to be changed. Press
.
Now use the arrow keys
to select your unit preference.
Press
.
Press
to return to the Main Setup Menu.
First flight 5
English English
Mounting
Mount your Element securely before ight. Here are the three mounting
options with accessories available from your vendor:
Leg strap mount
6 First flight
Front: insert rubber washer. Back: insert screw, attach to back of Element.
Attach strap to leg and x
Element’s lanyard to harness.
Harness mount
Cockpit mount
First flight 7
Insert the Element into the vario pocket,
attach the velcro bar to your harness and
secure the Element’s lanyard to harness
or velcro bar.
Insert the Element into the vario pocket, attach to your
cockpit and secure the Element’s lanyard to the cockpit.
English English
1.2 Now you are ready to y!
Recording
Your Element will automatically detect your take-o and begin recording
ight data. REC will appear at the top of the display screen. In ight, the
display screen shows you the most useful information.
Information display
8 First flight
Altitude
(ALT1 or ALT2)
Integrated vario
Wind direction
Ground speed
Last thermal
Flight
information display
Scroll with the arrow keys
between various
information displays, e.g.
graphic altimeter
F2
ESC / On / O
GPS signal
Battery charge
Compass rose
Analogue vario
Airspace
Time / ALT3 / QNH
F1
Route / Waypoint
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 ight by indicating the relative position of
True North with the symbol
N. You are always ying 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 analogue 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 ve seconds.
Wind direction is shown once you have own 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.
When landing, keep the wind arrow pointing down. That means you are
ying into wind.
First flight 9
6.8 m/s5.0 m/sVario 3.2 m/s
English English
1.3 After your ight
Saving tracks
Your Element will automatically detect your landing and then save the data
from your ight. It will switch itself o about 5 minutes after you land.
Alternatively, you can switch o your Element immediately after landing by pressing
. Keep it switched on by instead pressing .
You can also switch o your Element at any time. Note that this will stop recording if
you are in ight.
Press and hold the On/O key
.
Conrm O? by pressing
.
Uploading tracks
Your Element saves ight data as IGC track les, so uploading is fast and
easy. All online contest sites (such as OLC and XContest) use the IGC format.
Your Element works as a USB mass storage device, so when you connect it to your
computer it will appear as an external hard drive. Your track les are stored in a folder
named tracks.
Make sure your Element is switched o.
Connect the device to your computer with the included USB cable.
Open the icon labelled Element on your computer.
Open the folder named tracks.
Drag-and-drop the IGC track le to your desktop.
10 First flight
2. Navigation
2.1 Get ready to navigate
Entering waypoints
For an example ight, imagine you want to y over these locations:
Take-o: Niederhorn 1926 m N 46°42.686' E 7°46.681'
Midpoint: HouseThermal 1460 m N 46°42.983' E 7°52.767'
Landing: Interlaken 560 m N 46°41.170' E 7°51.517'
Here is how to store these locations in your Element as waypoints.
Press and hold
, then use the arrow keys
to select
Waypoints. Press
.
Select Edit. Press
.
Press
to create a new waypoint.
Spell out Niederhorn using the arrow keys
to select the letters and
to move back and forth. Use to toggle capital letters and special
characters. Holding down
will also delete a character. Press
to move
on to the next page.
Select N and enter 46°42.686' for the latitude. Press
.
Select E and enter 07°46.681' for the longitude. Press
.
Enter 1926 for the Niederhorn waypoint altitude. Press
.
The waypoint named Niederhorn is now saved. Repeat this procedure to enter
the waypoints for HouseThermal and Interlaken.
Press
to return to the Main Setup Menu.
Navigation 11
English English
Creating a route
Next, you must create a route that tells your Element how you want to y
over the waypoints.
Press and hold
, then select Route. Press
.
Select Edit. Press
.
Press
to open the list of waypoints. Use the arrow keys
to highlight
your rst waypoint, in this case Niederhorn. Press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select the cylinder radius for the waypoint. We
recommend 400 m. Press
.
Repeat these steps to add HouseThermal and Interlaken as your second and
third waypoints on the route.
Press
to save the route and return to the Main Setup Menu.
Activating the route
Before you y, you must activate the route. (Note that entering a start time
for your route activates your Element's competition mode. For non-competi
-
tion navigation, simply enter No for the start time.)
Press and hold
. Activate Route – by pressing .
You will see the prompt Start time. Use the arrow keys
to select No. Press
.
The route is now activated Route
and your Element will start navigating
automatically upon take-o.
Firmware update
Coming soon: Entering waypoints is about to get even easier with a pending rmware
update. You will be able to drag-and-drop waypoint les from your computer directly
into your Element's memory. Check www.ytec.ch to learn about this and other updates.
12 Navigation
2.2 Now you are ready to navigate!
Flying the route
The compass rose is your key to navigation. All icons on the compass rose
indicate bearings relative to your direction of ight. Your direction of ight is
always at the very top of this display.
Compass rose
In ight, your Element will show you the direction to your next waypoint as an arrow
in the compass rose. To y to the next waypoint on your route, turn your glider until
this arrow stays pointed toward the top of the compass rose.
Navigation 13
Direction of ight
Nearest airspace
(rmware update coming soon)
Next waypoint
True north
Waypoint after next
(blinking)
Last thermal
English English
In the example ight, this paraglider has just taken o from waypoint Niederhorn.
The compass rose will automatically point the way to HouseThermal. After passing
over waypoint HouseThermal, the compass rose will point toward waypoint Interlaken.
14 Navigation
HouseThermal
Niederhorn
Interlaken
To HouseThermal
Direction of ight
To Interlaken
True north
The main arrow shows the
direction to waypoint
HouseThermal. The pilot must
veer to the right.
The blinking arrow shows the
pilot his next turn by indicating
that waypoint Interlaken is
located o the right wingtip.
Skipping a waypoint
A useful option is to skip forward or backward within an active route.
Imagine you have just taken o from Niederhorn. Now you decide to skip
HouseThermal and instead navigate directly to your landing eld at Interlaken.
Press and hold
.
Use the arrow keys
to select Interlaken. Press .
You will now be guided to the waypoint you have selected and the active route will
continue from there.
Goto function
Another useful option is to use the Goto function to navigate to any stored
waypoint at any time. The Goto function supersedes an active route, but the
route is still active in the background. When you cancel the Goto function, your
Element will resume guiding you to the next waypoint on your route.
Imagine you have passed HouseThermal but decide to use Goto to navigate back to
Niederhorn for a top landing.
Press and hold
. Activate Goto – by pressing .
Use the arrow keys
to select Niederhorn. Press .
The arrow in the compass rose will now point you to Niederhorn.
Then, however, you decide to cancel the Goto function.
Press and hold
. Deactivate Goto
by pressing .
The arrow in the compass rose will resume pointing you to Interlaken.
Navigation 15
English English
2.3 After navigating
Erasing waypoints and route
The route will remain in active mode until you deactivate it, even if you
switch o your Element. You cannot edit the route until you deactivate it.
Press and hold
. Deactivate Route
by pressing
.
Your waypoints list and route are stored separately in the device's memory. Therefore,
deleting the route will not erase the waypoints from your stored waypoints list.
Similarly, deleting individual waypoints from your waypoints list will not remove them
from a saved route.
To delete a route:
Press and hold
, then select Route. Press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select Delete. Press .
You will see the prompt Delete route? Press
.
The route will be erased, but your Element will retain the waypoints in its list.
Erasing waypoints is easy. To erase waypoint HouseThermal:
Press and hold
, then use the arrow keys
to select
Waypoints. Press
.
Select Edit and press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select HouseThermal.
Press
to delete.
Your waypoint HouseThermal has been deleted from the waypoints list. If your saved
route includes HouseThermal, the route will still contain this waypoint.
16 Navigation
3. General information
Firmware update
Flytec will also issue rmware updates from time to time to improve your
Element's performance and to update you with new features, such as
airspace support. These will be easy to install, drag-and-drop les just like your
tracks. Check the Flytec Element product page for the latest rmware and news about
your Element.
Changing language
At the moment the Element ships with three rmware editions for German,
French, and English ready for installation in the update folder. The stored
rmware versions end in ._pg and to activate another language, simply rename the
le ending to .upg. For future language changes, just download the newest rmware
in your preferred language and drop it into the update folder.
Batteries
If you choose to power your Element with NiMH rechargeable batteries, it is
important to congure the power supply setting on the device.
Press and hold
, then use the arrow keys
to select
Instrument settings. Press
.
Select Battery type and press
.
Use the arrow keys
to select NiMH. Press
.
Press
to return to the Main Setup Menu.
Never remove the batteries until you rst switch o your Element. We do not
recommend using NiCad rechargeable batteries.
Do not keep your Element plugged into the computer for a prolonged time after
exchanging les with it. Keeping it plugged in drains the instrument’s battery.
General information 17
English English
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