V 3.1
MHV Quadcopter Workshop
Page 34 of 36
Evening 4
Safety
Due to the large number of beginner flyers, keep a lookout for any low flying quadcopters!
When about to takeoff, if it looks too crowded, wait until someone else has finished flying.
Startup
Power up the ground station, RC transmitter and quadcopter. Confirm the numbers on the ground
station look good.
Longer flights
Takeoff and fly up to 3m altitude.
Use the sticks to navigate the quadcopter around a simple box pattern.
At any time you lose control, switch the quadcopter to LAND mode (top button on right edge)
LOITER
LOITER mode will keep the quadcopter at the current lat/long/altitude (within a few metres) and will
compensate for any wind.
Test this mode out and use your sticks to change the lat/long/altitude setpoint.
RTL
Fly the quadcopter around for a bit and switch the Channel 7 (which is mapped to RTL in the
provided params file) to on. The quadcopter will then fly to 5m altitude, fly to the point at which the
quadcopter was ARMed and land. This mode is very useful if you ever lose control of your
quadcopter.
ALT_HOLD
This mode will attempt to keep the quadcopter at the current altitude, whilst giving full
roll/pitch/yaw control to the pilot.
Only switch to ALT_HOLD mode when you are level at the altitude you want to maintain. It may take
up to 30 seconds for ALT_HOLD to come into full effect.
AUTO
This mode is fully automatic, with no input needed from the pilot.
AUTO mode requires a
mission
(set of waypoints) in the Pixhawk’s memory in order to function.
This is a simple point-and-click affair on the APM Mission planner (left click on the map to add
points, right click for advanced options):
