Flight Modes - arthurbenemann/ardupilot GitHub Wiki
Ardupilot has a range of built in flight modes, and will have more as development progresses. Ardupilot can act as a simple flight stabilization system or a sophisticated autopilot. Flight modes are controlled through the radio or through logic, using the events.pde file.
To setup your radio to control Ardupilot's Flight Modes, use the interactive CLI: Setup/Modes.
Note that the modes names may not show up as exactly the below in your Ground Station, due to the limitations of the MAVLink communications protocol. A table of mappings of how these modes display is as follows:
| **APM Mode** | **GCS Display** |
| Manual | "Manual" |
| Stabilize | "Stabilize" |
| RTL | "RTL" |
| Auto | "Loiter" |
| Loiter | "Loiter" |
| FBW-A | "FBW-A" |
| FBW-B | "FBW-B" |
| Circle | (retains previous mode display |
| Takeoff | (retains previous mode display |
| Land | (retains previous mode display |
MANUAL
Regular RC control, no stabilization.
STABILIZE
RC control with stabilization; let go of the sticks and it will level.
FLY BY WIRE_A
The autopilot will hold the roll and pitch specified by the control sticks. Throttle is manual. The plane will not roll past the limits set in the configuration of the autopilot. Great for new pilots learning to fly.
FLY BY WIRE_B
Requires airspeed sensor. The autopilot will hold the roll specified by the control sticks. Pitch input from the radio is converted to altitude error, which the autopilot will try and adjust to. Throttle is controlled by autopilot. This is the perfect mode to test your autopilot as your radio inout is substituted for the navigation controls.
AUTO
Aircraft will follow GPS waypoints set by configuration utility. You can also "nudge" the aircraft manually in this mode.)
RTL
Aircraft will return to launch point and circle there until manual control is regained. You can also "nudge" the aircraft manually in this mode.
LOITER
Aircraft will circle in current position. You can also "nudge" the aircraft manually in this mode.
TAKEOFF
Auto Takeoff is set by the mission control scripting only. Throttle is manual (it respects the limits of the autopilot settings so if you have 65% throttle as the max, it will not go above 65%.) Once the plane is moving faster than a few m/s it will lock onto a heading and hold that heading until the desired altitude is reached.
LAND
Auto Land is set by the mission control scripting only. Throttle is controlled by the autopilot. After getting closer than 30 meters, the course will lock to the current heading. Flare, throttle, flaps, gear, and other events can be scripted based on distance to landing point.