Flight modes

A flight mode describes how the flight controls work. There are a variety of them, but the two most relevant are angle and acro. There is a third that is sometimes used, horizon, that is sort of a hybrid between the two.

The normal flight inputs for this guide use the following convention that is the most common setup in FPV:

• The left stick has throttle assigned to the Y axis. The throttle axis should not return to center. The X axis is assigned to yaw.
• The right stick has pitch assigned to the Y axis and roll assigned to the X axis.

Angle

Angle mode is also called “level” or “stable” (STAB) mode; on DJI drones this is equivalent to normal (N) mode. I prefer the name angle because it describes what this mode does: it limits the maximum angle of right stick controls. Importantly, when you let the stick return to center, the flight controller will try to set that axis to zero degrees. This setup is why when you roll left and right with the drone, it acts more like a juke or strafing movement.

Angle is commonly used indoors or for simple flying.

Acro

Acro mode is the real FPV flying mode. In acro mode, there are no limits on angular rotation, and the flight controller won’t reset the angle. That is, if you roll 45 degrees, the drone will stay at 45 degrees until you roll back to level. This allows the most control over the quad. It will allow you to fly faster and perform more maneuvers. It takes some getting used to; the simulator is invaluable for learning this.

There is a related mode, AIR mode, that maintains a minimum motor idle value allowing control when in freefall or 0G maneuvers.

Horizon

Horizon acts like angle mode until the stick passes as certain threshold, then it temporarily switches over to acro mode. Personally, I find it clumsy, and I’d rather just stay in angle or acro modes.