Flying

5Preparing a flight

The Flight tab: choosing a layout, a glider, an optional route or task, the quick start checklist, and starting the flight.

Works offline

The Flight tab#

The Flight tab is the last thing you touch before you fly. It has four choices stacked on it and one button at the bottom. Everything on it works with no connection.

Fig. 5.1The Flight tab. Layout and glider are required, route and task are optional.
Screen layout
Which cockpit opens when the flight starts. Required.
Glider
The wing you are on today. Required.
Route
A saved XC route to follow. Optional.
Task
A saved task to fly. Optional.

Note

Until both required choices are made, the start button stays disabled and the app explains why with Select a layout and glider to enable the button.

Making the four choices#

  1. Under Screen layout, choose the cockpit you want. The subtitle reads Choose the layout to open when you load a flight. Build layouts in the flight layout editor.
  2. Under Glider, choose the wing you are flying today. The app preselects the last one you used.
  3. Under Route, either leave No route or pick a saved XC route to follow.
  4. Under Task, either leave No task: free flight or pick a saved task.
  5. Press Start flight.

Caution

If you have no layouts yet, the app says No layouts yet. Create at least one layout in the Flight Layout Editor. If you have no wings, it offers Add your first glider. Both take you straight to the right page.

Tip

Each of the four sections has a shortcut button in its header, so you can jump to the layout editor, the glider list, your routes or your tasks and come straight back.

Starting a competition flight without a task#

If you are entered in a competition that is running and you press start without a task selected, the app stops you with No task loaded and asks whether you want to start anyway or open the competition task information for today.

  • Start without task records a normal free flight.
  • The other option opens the competition so you can load the task first.

Caution

This prompt exists because a competition flight recorded without its task cannot show you start gates, the optimized route or arrival at goal. Take the extra ten seconds and load the task.

The quick start checklist#

The help icon in the top bar of the Flight tab opens Quick start guide. A red count on the icon is the number of setup steps you have not finished.

Where Flight › Quick start guide

It has two parts. Finish your setup lists steps that tick themselves off as you complete them, and What's new carries short release notes for the version you are running.

Step What it wants
Complete your pilot profile Your name, country and license, so flights and live tracks look right on the website.
Add a glider The wing you fly, so the app can use its performance and remember it as your default.
Download offline maps Your flying area saved to the phone so the map works without coverage.

Good to know

When everything is done the sheet reads You're all set! and tells you what to do next: open the Flight tab, wait for a green GPS button and press start.

Starting the flight#

  1. Wait until the GPS indicator shows a good fix.
  2. Press Start flight.
  3. The flight screen opens with your chosen layout.

Caution

Pressing start does not immediately mean the flight is running as a flight. The app records from the moment you start, and separately detects your takeoff. See Recording a flight.

Returning to a flight in progress#

If a flight is already running, the Flight tab shows an Active flight card with the glider, the start time and two buttons.

Continue
Reopens the flight screen exactly as you left it.
End flight
Stops recording and closes the flight.

Good to know

Leaving the flight screen, switching tabs or even closing the app does not stop recording. The track keeps running in the background until you end the flight or the app detects your landing.

Pilot identification QR#

Pilot Identification QR is your personal code, described in the app as Use this personal QR to identify yourself. Competition staff scan it at registration, at HQ or at goal instead of looking you up by name.

  1. On the Flight tab, press Show QR.
  2. Hold the screen up to be scanned.

Good to know

The code is cached on the phone. Offline the app shows the cached one and says Offline: showing cached pilot QR. along with when it was cached, so registration works even in a field with no signal.

Backing up your settings#

Your whole configuration, including layouts, units, alert distances and preferences, can be stored on your web profile and pulled back down onto another phone.

Where Settings › Back up and restore settings
  1. Open the Settings tab and press the backup button in the top bar.
  2. Choose Back up to cloud to save, or Restore from cloud to load.
  3. Confirm in the dialog. A restore tells you the date of the backup it is about to apply.

Caution

Both directions replace rather than merge. A backup replaces any earlier backup, and a restore replaces the settings on this device. If you have no backup yet, restore reports You have no settings backup yet. Back up first.

Tip

Back up once you are happy with your layouts, then again before you change phones. It needs a connection, so do it at home.