Take off fly manual and switch “fly” GPS mid-flight.

[so low still grounded]

hi Folks just want to get things straight before I jump deep end and thrash about like a fool. If I take off fly manual preset A and then after a panic attack grab my water wings = fly normal GPS lock. Will solo find GPS mid-flight and get a lock and then I can fly normal as I always do by simply push FLY on the controller?

 

[Joe Horn]

Yes, Solo CAN acquire GPS during flight IF it is able to do so. A big drawback of doing it this way is that Solo thinks that "Home" is wherever it first acquired GPS, so when it Returns To Home (which it can do if it loses contact with your controller) it will return to that spot, which might be over water or a road or whatever.

To prevent this problem, what some folks here do is take off without GPS in Fly: Manual mode, but only go straight up, until GPS is acquired. Theoretically this will result in a RTH landing where you took off from. In practice, however, it's not that simple, since "straight up" is not really possible in Fly: Manual mode (without GPS to guide Solo, the ascent will only be as "straight up" as the pilot can manage manually).

Some folks swear by this method and use it all the time without any problem. I *never* do it this way, for fear of signal-loss auto-RTH "returning" to a tree (!!!).

 

[3drphan]

You can take off manually without going into manual mode, and you can land manually without going into manual mode.

Start up in fly mode, start the engines. Then to take off push the throttle stick all the way up....bam. You're off.

To land pull the throttle stick down to come in for a soft landing. To shut the engines off hold the throttle down.

 

[SINISTERVII]

What happens if your in Manuel mode and loose signal?

 

[jimloss]

You can take off manually without going into manual mode, and you can land manually without going into manual mode.

Start up in fly mode, start the engines. Then to take off push the throttle stick all the way up....bam. You're off.

To land pull the throttle stick down to come in for a soft landing. To shut the engines off hold the throttle down.

True, but other than softer landings, this doesn't help much. Taking off and landing in Fly:Manual allows one to take off from locations that might have no GPS "lock" or questionable GPS signal (under trees or near trees/buildings. Even in large open fields, the number of satellites in view and HDOP worsens as your Solo gets close to the ground. This is not the time that you want your Solo to take off sideways - landing in Fly:Manual prevents this, landing manually in Fly does not.

What happens if your in Manuel mode and loose signal?

I'll assume that you mean lose Wi-Fi connection between your controller and Solo:
Loss of connection results in the same behavior regardless of whether in Fly or Fly:Manual - it will trigger an RTL if there was a GPS "lock" or will land where it is if there is no GPS "lock".

 

[Maddog]

You can take off manually without going into manual mode, and you can land manually without going into manual mode.

Start up in fly mode, start the engines. Then to take off push the throttle stick all the way up....bam. You're off.

To land pull the throttle stick down to come in for a soft landing. To shut the engines off hold the throttle down.

Doing this just overrides the autopilot temporarily- you are still in "FLY" (auto).

 

[Pedals2Paddles]

The GPS is not turned off or disabled in manual mode. It is still on, locked, and tracking you position/velocity. It just isn't used for flight control purposes. You can takeoff, land, and freely switch between modes that do and do not require GPS without compromising the GPS lock. The only thing that is a risk is if you take off in manual mode BEFORE THE GPS EVER AQUIRES A LOCK AT ALL. In which case, the home position will not be set when you arm, and will set itself in flight when the GPS lock is eventually obtained. That will make your home position somewhere else. which compromises the return home functions. Return home becomes return somewhere else, which usually becomes "crash somewhere".

As for the failsafes... it again does not matter what mode you are in at the time or how you took off. If you lose the controller signal or the battery gets too low, the default failsafe is to return home. It will switch itself to return home, and fly home using the GPS. If the GPS is not available because of malfunction or poor coverage, it will switch to land mode instead of return home. And again, the mode you were in before is completely irrelevant.