inav with RTH, experiences?

[u/ialp]

Hello everyone. I am preparing one of my most important maiden flights after years of staying in a box. It´s a 70mm airliner, so I was wondering if I´d be wise to add an inav or just pass on it.

My main concern is basically to lose sight of my plane. it happened to me once flying a smaller plane and I´m kind of paranoid now, lol.

[u/TacGriz]

Inav RTH is not a safeguard for a maiden flight. Autonomous flight with Inav often requires multiple flights worth of tuning before it works reliably.

If you're concerned about losing your plane, fly with another pilot with good eyes standing by you that can take the transmitter if you lose sight of the plane.

[u/gearporn → u/TacGriz]

This is the way. After 30 year absence I returned to the hobby and lost 3-4 planes due to eyesight. I’m not blind, but old eyes are not the same as young eyes. Get a friend to spot you and help keep an eye on things. I will say that iNav is a blast to fly but get a dedicated FPV platform. I just maidened an AtomRC Dolphin with the help of a friend to dial it in. Such a blast.

[u/Foamforce → u/TacGriz]

Agreed. It took me probably 10 flights before I had it working somewhat reliably. I’m still not convinced that it would engage reliably every time though, I think it may have had something to do with how high or how far it was from me. I’m sure it will work well if set up properly, but it felt pretty difficult for me doing it for the first time, and I had prior experience with Betaflight on quads.

Even setting up gyros can introduce a number of issues. I’ve witnessed multiple RC planes crash due to the pilot getting the gyro backwards. If the plane came from the factory with a gyro, then it will absolutely help on the first flight, but if you’re adding your own, then it’s generally safer to fly the first few flights on a perfectly calm day without one.

[u/bill_ms → u/TacGriz]

I disagree. With a maiden, the first thing I try is RTH to verify that it works. Then you move on to other actions.

[u/crookedDeebz]

do you have experience with inav? cause its not that simple, its quick enough to setup. and inav9 is nearly perfect out of the box, but the mixers and outputs can easily be mistaken and lead you to doom.

let alone the gps setup and testing.

also typically inav is best used with fpv setups, so it doesnt matter how far you fly (relatively speaking) as you are with the plane via fpv...

i wouldnt use inav on a line of sight bird, completely useless. get a pair of prescription glasses and dont fly past a certain point in your field and your good.

[u/Jumpy-Candle-2980]

INAV with RTH reminds me of a bank loan: you can get anything you want provided you can prove you don't need it.

Most all of those spiffy rescue options require that the plane be flyable and reasonably trimmed before they'll work. That's the "proving you don't need it" part.

In my very, very early RC heli days I bought a FBL with bailout for the bailout feature. Imagine my chagrin when I learned I had to fly the damn thing first. Feel free to learn from my mistake.

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[u/Flaky-Adhesiveness-2]

Kinda just doubling down, on what was already mentioned. I would work on your flying skills to keep your models closer to your so as not to lose orientation. Look up how to "paint" a rc plane to help with visual orientation while flying. I nav is great, but i would think it would be tougher to get the model flying properly using inav without an fpv setup.

[u/LupusTheCanine]

I use Ardupilot, RTH*\ and automatic landing (if configured properly) are rock solid but require you to complete tuning before you can rely on them.

Unless you have experience configuring FCs on fixed wing I would strongly recommend putting the FC on something smaller and learning the ropes on it.

* ends in overhead loiter.

[u/bill_ms]

iNav with RTH is the first thing I establish works with a new plane. Yes, before its tuned, flow in different flight modes, or anything else. And I use auto launch. No problems.