{"id":8945,"date":"2024-01-22T13:13:34","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T11:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fly-air3.com\/?page_id=8945"},"modified":"2025-04-09T07:36:37","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T05:36:37","slug":"preferences2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fly-air3.com\/en\/support\/air3-xctrack-manual\/xctrack-manual\/preferences2\/","title":{"rendered":"Preferences (2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
XCTrack Pro Manual – Main page<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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This page describes several subsections of the Preferences menu of XCTrack. Check the other sections to learn more about the different features of XCTrack.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Videos have been produced to explain the different features of XCTrack Pro. Check the videos tuto page<\/a> to learn quickly how to use XCTrack Pro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click on the + sign to read the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>Airspaces<\/div>
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More information regarding airspace can also be found in the XCTrack Pro widgets manual<\/a>. Read details about Airspace proximity in the Navigation subsection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2 types of source can provide information for airspace to XCTrack: information coming from airspace.xcontest.org<\/a> (see Web tab below<\/a>) or information coming from an openair file (see Files tab below<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Airspace zones activation can either be determined based on a schedule (usually indicated in the AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication)), and\/or based on Notam (Notice to Airmen). In order to know if a given prohibited zone is active or not, the pilot is supposed to read information in the AIP and check the Notams. Airspace.xcontest.org<\/a> is a tool that is based on algorithms that analyse all these information in order to determine the status of each zone. This is fully automatic, but as any \"robot\", it may contain errors.<\/p>\n

An Openair file does not contain any info about scheduled activations for airspace zones. XCTrack not only gets information about the activated zones, but also the schedule for many countries (not all supported countries). Therefore, if your country is supported by XCTrack, including Notam support, we strongly recommend getting the airspace info from XCTrack, instead of an external Openair file.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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<\/span>Web<\/div>
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The Web tab lists all the countries for which you can get airspace information from airspace.xcontest.org<\/a>. To get the airspace information of a given country, first check the box next to the desired country and click on the “refresh” button to download the available information from airspace.xcontest.org<\/a> (internet connection required).\u00a0 At each start of XCTrack, you will get the updated information downloaded (internet connection required). If you want the info to be updated after XCTrack is running, you will need to manually “refresh” in this menu.<\/p>\n

Be aware that the Automatic data synchronisation in Android settings\/accounts\/accounts should be enabled. Otherwise, XCTrack will fail to automatically update the airspace info.<\/p>\n

The countries containing Airspace zones activation determined by algorithms analysing Notams, NOTAM is indicated below the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Obstacles (ski lifts, cables, etc.) can also be downloaded for specific countries separately.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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When the airspaces are not updated often enough, XCTrack switches to failsafe mode and displays all the airspaces as if they were all active. You can check the validity of airspaces by clicking on the country in the web tab of Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces. This will bring up a new window, containing the validity period on top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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If the information is not recent enough, you will get a message “Valid data: up-to-date activations not available”.<\/p>\n

If you want to update the information, just go back to the Web tab and click the “Refresh” button at the bottom after verifying that the country for which you want updates is enabled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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<\/span>Activate<\/div>
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The Activate tab lists all the different airspace zones either downloaded from the Web tab or provided by the Openair file activated in the files tab.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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By clicking on a given zone, you can change its status.<\/p>\n

By default, all zones are set on Automatic. For airspace zones that come from an Openair file, this means “active”. For airspace zones coming from airspace.xcontest.org<\/a>, a schedule is provided together with the airspace zone, so that the activation status will be virtually active or disabled depending on such schedule. The airspace is shown on the map (read below explanations about color code) when it is active or will be active in the near future, hidden when it is not.<\/p>\n

If you need to change the status, choose between disabled (for today or permanently) or active (for today or permanently).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Airspace zones that will be activated in the near future will be displayed with \u2018grey\u2019 color on the map and in the side view. You will get a warning 15, 10 and 5 minutes before the airspace is activated if you happen to be just inside it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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XcTrack works with 4 \u2018airspace\u2019 types – Red (restricted), Orange (warning), Green (glider area) and Purple (obstacle).<\/p>\n

A restricted zone (red) is drawn on the map, shown in the Airspace proximity widget <\/a>and the Side view widget<\/a> when active and generates events when you get near\/inside. This zone will be greyed when it will be activated in the near future (see explanations above).<\/p>\n

The orange zone (warning) is only shown on the map and the Side view widget <\/a>but not in the Airspace proximity widget<\/a>. No event is generated when you get near\/inside. This zone will be greyed when it will be activated in the near future (see explanations above).<\/p>\n

The green zone is shown on the map and the Side view widget and works in an \u2018inverse\u2019 manner – that one is\u00a0 designed for the gliding window airspace inside otherwise prohibited areas.<\/p>\n

Using an OpenAir file, an AC Q zone is drawn orange, an AC W zone is drawh green, others are red. There is no schedule available with Openair files.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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As indicated in the Main features page<\/a>, you can also reach the Airspace zones directly on the map, through the contextual menu. Read more how to reach the zone through the contextual menu in the Main features page<\/a> of XCTrack Pro Manual<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Note regarding zone activation: as indicated in the Web tab info, when the airspaces are not updated often enough, XCTrack switches to failsafe mode and displays all the airspaces as if they were all active. You can check the validity of airspaces by clicking on the country in the web tab of Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces. This will bring up a new window, containing the validity period on top.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

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<\/span>Files<\/div>
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Openair files are text files containing information about Airspace.<\/p>\n

All files located in the Airspaces folder of XCTrack will be listed in the Files tab. Click on the one you want to activate to enable it.<\/p>\n

You can import an OpenAir file into the right folder by clicking on the Import Openair Files button on top.<\/p>\n

If you want to delete an OpenAir file, keep your finger for 1 sec and confirm.<\/p>\n

Most_recent_OA.txt is a file used by AIR\u00b3 Manager to update the Openair file you can get through the Openair update mechanism. See more details in the Openair2AIR\u00b3 page<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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<\/span>Obstacles<\/div>
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In order to use the Obstacles alerting, you need to select the country concerned in the Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces\/Obstacles<\/a>. All countries are selected by default. Unless you deselect it, it’s selected.<\/p>\n

Obstacles are downloaded if your device is connected to internet. In the Obstacles tab, you can select or deselect supported countries to be included in the Obstacles detection mechanism.<\/p>\n

If you want to delete the Obstacles data previously downloaded, just tap on “Delete files”.<\/p>\n

Obstacles of selected countries are refreshed at every start of the app, should there be any change made to the database. Alternatively, you can also refresh manually the Obstacles database by clicking on “Refresh”.<\/p>\n

You can adjust the behavior of the Obstacles detection system based on the different Obstacle settings in Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces\/Settings<\/a>. See more details below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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You can enable or disable the sound related to the Obstacle warning in Menu\/Preferences\/Sound<\/a> in the Flight section.<\/p>\n

You can enable or disable the visual warning through the map in\u00a0the map configuration of the\u00a0XC Map widget<\/a>\u00a0or the\u00a0Task Map widget.<\/a><\/p>\n

Obstacles detection mechanism: the algorithm calculates a possible collision with an obstacle based, on one side, on the ‘Glide ratio’ (set in Menu\/Preferences\/Aircraft<\/a>) and your real glide ratio (the lower value is chosen) and on the other side on the \u2018gliding speed\u2019 (set in Menu\/Preferences\/Aircraft<\/a>) and your real speed (the higher value is chosen) to determine the time to reach the obstacle. If you are turning, the calculated polygon is ‘slanted’ and widened (quite significantly) in the direction you are turning.<\/p>\n

If an obstacle is found in the polygon within the time set in the Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces\/settings<\/a>, the altitudes are checked. An intersection with an obstacle is computed. If you arrive lower than the obstacle altitude + safety margin, an alert is generated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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In the map configuration of the XC Map widget<\/a> or the Task Map widget<\/a>, an option “Show alert screen when approaching an obstacle” can be activated or deactivated. The enabled option will change a map into a special ‘zoomed in’ mode when you get near an obstacle, so that you could see clearly where you are and where is the obstacle.<\/p>\n

You can either decide to use the “Automatic zoom in emergency obstacle mode” or select the map scale you want to apply in case of alert when approaching obstacle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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<\/span>Settings<\/div>
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Border rendering<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you disable this option, you will only get straight lines to determine the limits of\u00a0 the airspace zone. When you are close to it, it might be difficult to identify on which side of the line is the zone. With shark’s teeth, it is easy to identify it (teeth are placed on the side of the zone). When the scale of the map is large enough, you may want to disable this option for readability reason. You can therefore determine under which scale the shark’s teeth should appear on the map.<\/p>\n

Fill rendering<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another way to identify more easily the zone is to use the fill rendering.<\/p>\n

If you choose “Full”, the entire zone will be filled. Full filling may help you to make sure you can identify if you are vertically within the zone (inside, below or above)…. but this may decrease the readability.<\/p>\n

“Border zone only” is used to only fill a portion of the zone, next to the limit of the zone.<\/p>\n

In order to improve the readability, you may set the opacity of airspace filling with the slider.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Altitude Measurement: Force use of GPS altitude<\/strong><\/p>\n

As described in the Altimeter\/QNH settings above, some competitions require the use of GPS altitude instead of Flight Levels for airspace infringement check.<\/p>\n

Example, an airspace with a floor situated at FL55 should correspond to 1676m of GPS altitude, no matter the QNH.<\/p>\n

With a high QNH, such Flight Level should be considered at a higher gps altitude and therefore allowing pilots to fly higher than 1676 m if the FL was considered as pressure altitude. By forcing the use of GPS altitude, these Fligth Levels are converted to GPS altitude.<\/p>\n

This setting is the same as the one that can be found in Menu\/Preferences\/Altimeter&QNH above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Obstacle alerting<\/strong><\/p>\n

Explanations about obstacles detection mechanism can be found in Menu\/Preferences\/Airspaces\/Obstacles<\/a><\/p>\n

You can set specific settings related to the behaviour of the Obstacle alerting mechanism.<\/p>\n