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Era 57 Gen 2
The new Era ships with Atmo on board — the Wind page and the airmass vario, from the first flight.
Explore Era 57 Gen 2 →LX NAVIGATIONNEW
Atmo
3D wind
The wind you fly in.
All three dimensions, live.
Atmo reads the wind on every straight kilometre and in every circle — direction, speed and the vertical motion of the air — with no compass, no second antenna and no extra probe.
WHAT YOU GET
Three numbers, not one.
A wind arrow used to be a direction and a speed, refreshed whenever you happened to circle. Atmo makes it a live, three-dimensional measurement of the air you are flying through.
3D
Horizontal and vertical.
Every other wind display gives you two numbers. Atmo adds the third: how fast the air itself rises or sinks around you. That is the netto vario — measured from the airmass, not inferred from a probe that also feels every gust.
LIVE
In straight flight, not just in circles.
Classic instruments get their best wind from the drift of your circles and refine it only slowly in between. Atmo solves the wind triangle continuously, so the number keeps updating on the glide and on the ridge.
0
No compass. No second antenna.
Heading comes from the physics of motion — inertial sensors, GNSS and airspeed fused a hundred times per second — so there is no magnetometer to calibrate and no second GNSS antenna to route through the fuselage.
Two winds, side by side
The current wind for what the air is doing now, and a minute-and-a-half average to plan with — next to each other on the Wind page.
Gust-immune vario
A horizontal gust changes airspeed, not the airmass. Atmo tells the two apart, so the needle shows lift — not the bump.
Self-calibrating
Pitot position error and air density are learned in flight. Nothing to enter, nothing to trust blindly.
HOW IT WORKS
The wind triangle, solved a hundred times a second.
Ground velocity comes from GNSS. Air velocity comes from the pitot and from attitude. The difference between the two vectors is the wind — in three dimensions, if you know where the nose points and how the fuselage sits in the air. Atmo knows both without a compass.
SENSE
Inertial sensors, GNSS velocity, airspeed and pressure — the sensors a modern LX instrument already carries.
FUSE
A 19-state estimator fuses them a hundred times per second: attitude, the air velocity in three axes and the 3D wind, each with its own confidence.
MODEL
The glider is part of the equation — how it sinks, and the angle at which the air meets its fuselage at every speed and load. That is what makes the vertical wind observable at all.
CHECK
Every number carries a confidence. Atmo blanks what it cannot vouch for — on the ground, before it has settled after takeoff, with a blocked pitot — instead of guessing.
Curious about the theory? How your computer knows the wind →
Air vector + wind = ground vector. Atmo solves it in three axes, continuously.
COMPARED
Three ways the industry measures wind. And Atmo.
Most instruments infer the wind from the drift of your circles. Some add a compass to solve it in straight flight; some add a second GNSS antenna instead. Atmo does it with the sensors already in the instrument.
FEATURE
CIRCLING-DRIFT WIND
COMPASS-BASED WIND
DUAL-ANTENNA SENSOR BOX
ATMO
Wind in straight flight
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Vertical wind (airmass vario)
No
Yes
No
Yes
Compass to calibrate
—
Yes
No
No
Second GNSS antenna to install
—
No
Yes
No
Learns pitot and density errors in flight
No
—
Density
Yes
Extra hardware in the panel
None
Sensor unit
Sensor box + antenna
None on the Era
— not applicable or not published. Methods described, not brands: the first column is the classic vario or flight computer, the second an inertial wind system with a magnetometer, the third a sensor box that adds a second GNSS antenna for heading.
IN THE COCKPIT
What changes when the wind is right.
FINAL GLIDE
The Wind page shows the wind of the last minute — not the wind of the last thermal — to set against the wind your final glide assumes.
THERMAL CENTRING
Vertical air motion shown where you are: entering a thermal reads as lift before the glider has climbed a metre.
RIDGE AND WAVE
Shear across the ridge, the rotor edge, the wave band — live wind at every heading, no circling required.
QUIET VARIO
Gusts move the airspeed, not the airmass. Switch on the smart vario sound and what you hear is the air.
WHERE TO GET IT
Where Atmo flies.
SOFTWARE UPGRADE
Era 80 · Era 57 · Era essential
Instruments already in your panel carry the sensors Atmo needs. A software upgrade switches it on.
Buy the licence →COMING
Navia Sense
Atmo is coming to the Navia sensor unit — 3D wind and the airmass vario for the whole Navia panel.
Explore Navia Sense →FOR THE ERA IN YOUR PANEL
Add Atmo to the Era you already fly.
Era 80, Era 57 and Era essential carry every sensor Atmo needs. A licence made for the serial number of your instrument switches it on — no new hardware, no panel work, nothing to send in.
- 1ORDER
Buy the licence with the six-digit serial number of your Era — or add the serial after checkout.
- 2LOAD
Copy Fusion.lic to the SD card and load it under Setup › Service › Load license.
- 3RESTART
Switch the Era off and on again. Atmo is running from the next flight.
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Five guides to Atmo.
How it works, how to switch it on, how to fly with it, how to calibrate it and how to read its data.
THE IDEA
What Atmo measures and how it works
The wind triangle in three dimensions, heading without a compass, and the honest limits.
Read the guide →ACTIVATION
Activating Atmo on your Era
Which instruments run it, buying the licence, loading it and the restart that switches it on.
Read the guide →IN FLIGHT
Flying with Atmo
The Wind page, and the smart vario on a needle, in a navbox and in your ears.
Read the guide →CALIBRATION
Calibration and troubleshooting
What Atmo learns by itself, the level reference it takes from you, and a symptom table.
Read the guide →DATA
Second seat, NMEA and your own software
Atmo shared over CAN, and the FUSION and FAST sentences field by field.
Read the guide →Questions pilots ask.
Frequently asked questions
Does Atmo need a magnetometer or a compass?
No. Heading is derived from the motion of the glider — inertial sensors against GNSS velocity — so there is nothing to calibrate and nothing that ferrous ballast, wiring or a phone on the glareshield can disturb.
Does it need a second GNSS antenna?
No. One GNSS receiver is enough. Atmo does not measure heading between two antennas; it observes it from the flight path itself.
What is the vertical wind good for?
It is the vario a glider pilot actually wants: the motion of the air, separated from the motion of the glider. It does not react to a horizontal gust or to a pull-up, and it reads lift on entering a thermal before the glider has started to climb.
Can I add Atmo to an Era I already own?
Yes. Era 80, Era 57 and Era essential carry the sensors Atmo needs. A licence made for your instrument's serial number switches it on — no new hardware, no panel work.
How do I activate the licence?
Copy the Fusion.lic file to the root of the Era's SD card, choose Setup › Service › Load license, select the file and restart the Era. The step-by-step guide is in the knowledge base.
How accurate is it?
Every Atmo number carries its own confidence, and the display goes blank rather than guess — on the ground, before it has settled after takeoff, with a blocked pitot. Heading, and with it wind direction, is measured best while the glider turns; on long, smooth glides the straight-flight wind can drift until the next turn.
Atmo3D wind
Built into Era 57 Gen 2, a licence for the Era in your panel — and coming to Navia Sense.
NOT SURE YET?
Talk it through before you decide.
A free online video call with LX navigation or one of our dealers — in your language, about your panel, your aircraft, your questions.
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