At last I managed to go out flying with ArduPilot Mega.
I was setup with:
- Skywalker : http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1223595
- APM +OilPan and no AirSpeed sensor yet
- Ublox GPS
- 3 modes : MANUAL, STABILIZE, RTL
Worringly, with the last svn the red led does not go solid anymore to tell that the GPS is fixed but I decided to go ahead with that.
unfortunately today was more windy than what I thought (it is always like this, isn't ?) but after launch and after taking enough distance from ground ...
I tried STABILIZE and at first I did not feel a big difference piloting it. The plane had safe behaviour even against the wind and I tried to rock it a bit and left it stabilize by itself with success.
When going back to MANUAL mode , then I felt the difference ... I am afraid that I will forget how to pilot if I use this too much 8))..
Then I tried RTL and waited to see what the plane was doing but the wind was not allowing it to make nice turn and keep a clean direction. I am not sure as well what Loiter radius is set by default (30m ?).
The plane is a bit heavy doesn't glide as much as I would like and in RTL, the engine speed did not seems to be enough to fight the head wind and to stay safely afloat. I might need to change the CRUISE speed to make it better.
I need to retry all that with Airspeed sensor and less wind.
Overall it was a resounding success for me and you should be proud how what you do guys !.
PS: Just one detail. For those using svn, it is not easy to keep track of what you changed in headers everytime: eg: lately APM_Config_xplane.h has been the default config file and APM_Config.h was not read anymore ... took me some time to understand .
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I still need to work on the throttle values to have a bit more power but overall it works great !
Hey guys, I'm new to the board and am fasinated at all the bright minds involved and can do spirit, keep up the great work.
I've flown RC for a number of years and if I understood the above comment correctly you may be confusing the percieved flying speed of the plane verses the ground speed. The airspeed indicator will show you that your well above the stall speed of the craft. I've actually had fun flying into the wind with some light trainer type craft that appeared to be backing up!
Adam A.
#define WP_RADIUS 25 // What is the minimum distance to reach a waypoint?
#define LOITER_RADIUS 45 // How close to Loiter?
#define HOLD_CURRENT_ALT 0 // 1 = hold the current altitude,
// 0 = use the defined altitude to for RTL
#define ALT_TO_HOLD 30 // If you entered 0, altitude to hold above home in meters
// If you entered 1, just leave this as the default, 30