Back to Main Review by Jérôme Daoust.

Findings by Peter Loeskow

Created 2005/2/21, revised 2005/4/18

 

 

Findings

 

Battery management

 

I do not see any advantage in shuffling pairs of batteries. Instead, I suggest regularly using two NiMH batteries in bank 1 and two alkaline or even two more exotic and expensive single-use batteries in bank 2 as a sort of emergency backup. This has among others the advantage of being more at liberty to play or rather practice with the instrument, like while driving in a car uphill and downhill or towards a waypoint. First you need to determine which is which of the two pairs of batteries in you 5020 or Competino, of course. My older 5020 Technical Manual Vers.1.10 says that bank 1 is the "inner" one. The most recent firmware (Version 1.12g), however, says that bank 1 is the "outer" one! To determine with certainty, which one is bank 1 in your instrument (in mine, it's really the inner one, but for all I know, it may well be the outer one in later makes), remove one pair of batteries. If it then is impossible to turn on the instrument, you have definitely removed those from bank 1. If you can turn on the instrument, ascertain that the remaining batteries are those in bank 1 by making sure that the upper battery indicator shows voltage and not the lower one (in other words, that the instrument has not switched over to bank 2).

 

Adding waypoints & a WP list

 

A competition is by no means the only reason to enter waypoints into a Competino/5020. A list of waypoints is prerequisite to the "drawing" of a CTR on the map page. One could also obtain from others and enter the coordinates of reliable thermal generators unknown to oneself. The procedure:

The complete waypoint list (black text on grey(!) background) is uploaded to the instrument by hitting the upload button, of course, just as with the rest of the instrument options.

 

Battery management 2

 With firmware 1.13, among "Basic Settings" in the instrument's  Main Setup Menu, the option to choose "Battery Type" has been added. This is an improvement, of course, because NiMH-accus continue to deliver current at a voltage which would correspond to an almost flat alkaline battery. In recent years, Garmin had introduced this feature, and fortunately it is now available in the Competino/5020, too.

This means, that with the arrangement that I have proposed earlier, to use two NiMH accus as the normal power source for the instrument and to have alkalines (which have the advantage of negligeable drain during storage) strictly as a reserve, it would make sense to enter "1" for the NiMH battery type in "basic settings".

An alkaline battery supplies approximately between 1.2 and 1.5 Ah. A lithium battery costs a lot more but it delivers 2.2 Ah.

 

Adding a country in FlyChart

 

If you expect to fly in a country that is not in the list that comes with the program, the task to add one can be a bit tricky. So here's the trick:

Do not waste your time (as I wasted mine) hoping and trying to enter the name or code number of a country after hitting the "insert" button (with a + and an arrow) on the "Place list" pop-up, which appears after you double click on one of the places in the "places/countries" page. What you must do to add a new country is double click on one of the country names in the lower left hand corner of that page, and then use the insert button on the "Country list" pop-up.

 

Flights recorded, but with only data and no barograph shown in FlyChart

 

At present, it is possible to record a flight which does not look too bad on the instruments "Flight analysis" display, and you can see the track log on the instrument's map page, but then it is sometimes possible that FlyChart does NOT display any track log or barograph diagram.

One possible cause is that the pilot has been negligent in setting a correct A1 altitude before take off. To prevent a "negative" altitude, which FlyChart refuses to accept, may be one should make it a habit to set the A1 at one's home on a daily basis ;-)

However, there are even instances, in which FlyChart does not validate a flight, although the take-off altitude has been set correctly, because the barometric height recording sort of overrides the A1 record. In other words, on a high-pressure day at a coastal site, a negative altitude could be recorded and in that case, any attempt to search for a barograph page of that flight will be in vain. 

Flytec is now aware of this problem, so may be it will be eliminated in a couple of months with another version of FlyChart.

 

Familiarization in motion

 

I had at first contemplated to fabricate a mount for placement of my Flytec 5020 on the dashboard. Seeing the instrument screen while looking though the wind screen would have been best for navigation, but then I chose a more realistic placement, albeit a more hazardous one...

I strap the instrument to the steering wheel for training and familiarization exercises. There is no doubt that this means you have to take special care to avoid ditching the car or colliding with another one. On the other hand, while using the instrument in the air, you also have to take care to not collide with the terrain nor another glider, so it is probably a good way to increase the ability to listen to the vario (this requires that you do not live where the terrain is flat as a pancake, of course) and to only throw a quick glance at the screen every now and then and nevertheless absorb all the information that is useful. Doing very quick changes between the vario, map and cross hair pages and the three different user selected pages can also be practiced while driving, a skill that later comes in handy while piloting in rough air.

But be sure to not focus your attention too much on that instrument on the wheel, remember to divide your attention between the inside and the outside of the car and it's movement!

 

 

 

Storing flight data in FlyChart

 

When you have double-clicked on a flight in the "Overview of flight memory" that shows up after the first download from the instrument's flight memory, and that particular flight's data have also been downloaded to Flychart, a "save as" window pops up, with a predetermined name for the igc file. That does not mean that you have to accept that name as it is, though. More below.

After you have chosen to save the igc file in flychart's "data" folder, the baro page shows up, with the data page behind it. When you close the baro and data page by hitting the customary  X, you are asked "Store new flight in data base?".

That very base may be limited to 20 flights and may be full aready. In that case, you may well choose "No". This results in this particular flight not being listed on the "Flights" page, but it is nevertheless still perfectly accessible. All it takes to access that flight's data and diagrams is  an extra click or two: In the file menu, you choose "open file" and open the abovementioned igc file in the "data" folder. When you click on the line in the "overview of flight memory" that  pops up, the baro page is displayed, just as it is when you have clicked on a line on the "Flights" (database) page.

An example of a igc file name is 52SA3YI1.igc. I do not now what it signifies. I do know, however, that it would be very hard if not impossible to discern a particular file name and contemplate the diagrams of a particular flight if I store a file name like that unaltered - so I add a little something to make this file discernible from the others. The example is from a test run with an automobile on the 28th of February, so I named it 52SA3YI1bil28.igc

If it had been an actual flight, I would have given the original name a few extra characters to signify the site and the date.

I do not know yet, however, if the OLC accepts a customized file name. May be it would be wise to submit the file to the OLC with the original name and customize it only afterwards...

 

Additional User Selectable Fields    

 

The instrument's firmware upgrade, which  provided the additional crosshair (waypoint) page,  opened up new possibilities to display user selectable data. Flychart as it is now, will only allow using the PC to change user selectable fields in the three versions of the vario page.

To choose what you want to be displayed in the user selectable fields  in the three versions of the crosshair page, you have to proceed like this:

 

With the right arrow button, you select crosshair page 1, 2 or 3.

With the left arrow button, you select the field.

With the up and down button, you choose the kind of  data to be displayed.

You'd better take these steps indoors, because you cannot do this while the instrument is recording.

The added capability to view groups of data selected by the user is especially useful for those that you want to look at only occasionally. One such group that I chose to put on a crosshair page is 1. time of day, 2. flight time and 3. temperature.

 

Efficient Protective Cover - At No Cost

 

When I considered upgrading my flight instrumentation to a costly Flytec 5020, I decided that I would only take that step if I could find a way to protect it adequately in the event of an occasional botched take-off or landing. I finally figured out a solution, so I bought the 5020. I wouldn't leave home without this cover, in fact I have it on the instrument even when I carry it around the home or when I store it.

 

The cover is made of closed cell foam of the kind used for insulation beneath sleeping bags,

forming a sort of tube with a rather tight fit around the protruding part of the instrument that is strapped to a thigh. Gps reception and vario work as usual, but the cover muffles the sound a bit, which can be countered by increasing the audio volume, of course. After gaining sufficient height, the cover is removed and stuffed at an appropriate place. Before landing, especially in an area that is not ample and with a distinct head wind, the protective cover is pushed back on to the instrument. If you drop and loose the cover in the process, it is of little concern, because a new one can be fabricated at virtually no cost when you return home. However, I had added a loop of chock cord to the cover for good measure. There are advantages to that, but instead of putting the cover into a pocket during the flight, I now squeeze it under one thigh or between both.