FPP: Pilot Handbook
- Anthony Luo
So you want to be a pilot, eh? Well, let’s get crack-a-lackin. Or, just cracking, if you’d prefer. No lacking!
Setting expectations
Being a pilot with WARG doesn’t mean you fly drones fast, or dangerously, or very close to people or other things. It probably won’t give you very scenic photos, videos, or win you any awards for speed or distance. It’s not much like what you see on youtube with freestyle pilots, nowhere near as fast as racing pilots, and very very different from cinematography setups that you might see in hollywood. Our main objective is to complete our flight plan and overall mission safely and efficiently, while working with the rest of the team to allow our drone to perform the best that it can.
That doesn’t mean it’s not fun, or rewarding though! You’ll meet a lot of people flying drones outside of warg, and this is a great way to get started and learn about the basics; especially if you can’t cough up 1k+ for a new drone…
Now that we’ve got it straight, and you’re still here, let’s get onto explaining the program.
Basic flight-time and recency requirements
With each level, you’ll be asked to have a minimum number of hours in a simulator, or in real life, before you can progress. Likewise, there are recency requirements to ensure that all pilots are actually flying drones with WARG.
The easiest way to accumulate hours and meet your recency requirements is to fly for WARG flight tests!
Fixed Wing, Multi-Rotor, “Classes”
Here, a class refers to the category of a drone! There may be multiple iterations, or different drones, inside of one “class” of a drone. Usually these drones will follow similar operating manuals and behave very similarily, and so are categorized for convenience.
A fixed wing aircraft refers to any traditional plane or wing, where lift is generated by bodywork or elements which are not designed to move relative to the COM during flight.
Multi-Rotor aircraft spin propellers in order to directly generate lift! This includes helicopters, quadcopters, hexacopters, and maybe even your hovercraft. We’re still working on that last one
Qualification for different airframe-types
At WARG, we like to fly fixed-wing and Multi-Rotor aircraft. Unfortunately, the operation of both of these aircraft is significantly different!
This means that when you progress from one level to the next, you must progress for a given airframe-type. Fundamentals for each level are the same, so you don’t need to learn two sets of content, and you can demonstrate competencies on multiple airframes! Currently, fixed-wing and Multi-Rotor qualifications are considered separate skill trees. Just remember to use your time wisely, and don’t rush yourself.
Where to get resources?
Check out the sub-pages of this document (once I write them)! You’ll find pages explaining the evaluation processes, as well as guides walking you through everything that you need to know (or telling you where to find it!).
Levels and the Expected Competencies
Prior knowledge is not expected, nor necessary. Generally, our competencies revolve around a few key areas:
Understanding a drone “class”
Failsafe operation
RC Controller operation
Control Link operation
Battery handling
Drone safety
Drone operation
Note that this does not describe everything you will be asked to present at your evaluation, merely the expectations for each level. See <evaluation and progression> for more info on what you’ll need
Beginner
Beginner, or “bgn” for short, is the most basic level. This is the level where you should be if you are comfortable in configuring a controller, verifying the functionality of a drone before flight, and flying it in GPS or stabilized modes. This level will allow you to fly small drones for basic test flights, under the supervision of a “flight director”! In order to qualify, you must know the following:
To qualify for beginner, you MUST have a TC-CAN Basic RPAS License. See <external licensing>.
Operational Classes:
“Houston” or “Dual”
Minimum Flight Time Requirements:
2 hours simulator (logged)
30 minutes buddy-boxing (logged)
Recency Requirements
5 hours of flight testing a year (from date of promotion). Approx three flight tests
Beginner Pilot General Competencies
Drone class: “Houston” (quad) or “Dual” (FW)
Being able to identify parts, “flight-critical” components.
Being able to identify correct, incorrect, safe, unsafe “flight-critical” components
Understanding how to bench-test components (safely)
Being able to create pre-flight and post-flight checklists
Failsafe operation:
Being able to setup the “RTL” failsafe for an RC Control-Link Loss
Being able to verify the operation of an RC-Loss failsafe on the ground
Flight Mode verification
Understanding how to verify the flight mode you are in
Control Link verification
Understanding how to verify that the control link is functioning as expected, both on the ground and in the air
Battery handling
Charging, discharging, storage, and handling, of 3s 4000-5000 mah batteries
Understanding how to wire, harness, and place batteries for safe operation
Understanding how to safely bench-test a drone powerup.
RC Controller setup.
basic input->output mappings for channels
choosing models
understanding arm/disarm logic
understanding special functions, including: trainer, logging, audio cues
understanding how to switch flight modes in-flight, using flight-modes buttons or failsafe switch.
Drone Safety:
Understanding how to call for help (medical, fire, police) while flying.
Understanding what documents you must have in order to fly a drone safely.
Beginner Fixed-Wing Pilot Operational Competencies
Takeoff:
capable of rolling takeoff, as well as hand launch (javelin or discuss)
Ability to takeoff in assisted flight mode, i.e. FBWA/FBWB/CRUISE
Flight:
Ability to recognize heading and orientation within LOS flying
Ability to identify and recover from stalls
Ability to fly a figure of 8 pattern
Understanding of how “trim” can be applied using an RC Controller or software programming
Landing:
Ability to understand callouts for basic left-hand traffic patterns, i.e: “entering crosswind”, “entering downwind”, “turning base for (short/long) final”, “turning for (short) final”, “wheels down”
Ability to understand the properties and use of flaps, slats
Ability to maintain orientation throughout landing pattern & land safely
Beginner Multi-Rotor Pilot Operational Competencies
Takeoff:
Capable of controlled takeoff and hover, in altitude-hold flight modes, i.e.: Altitude Hold, Loiter
Flight:
Ability to recognize heading and orientation within LOS flying
Ability to identify thrust loss
Ability to identify position-sensor failures
Ability to recognize remaining flight time, current heading, as well as battery usage
Understanding of fly-away procedures
Landing
Ability to do a soft landing in any orientation
Ability to understand callouts for basic left-hand traffic patterns, i.e: “entering crosswind”, “entering downwind”, “turning base for (short/long) final”, “turning for (short) final”, “wheels down”
Ability to understand deficiencies with altitude-controllers, especially when close to the ground.
Path to Beginner
Intermediate
Intermediate is the stage where you go from someone that picks up a controller and starts flying very basic drones and planes, to the point where you are able to understand a bit more about the system and push the flight envelope a little bit more. You will likely still be flying under the supervision of a flight director, but you may be tasked with coordinating the flight test with your corresponding GSO.
While it isn’t necessary, we encourage you to start working on GSO and BVLOS qualifications while you work towards intermediate classification! This will help improve your greater system understanding and make progression much easier
Operational Classes:
“Houston” and “Vanguard” class quadcopters
“Dual” and “Tubie” class fixed-wing
Minimum Flight Time Requirements:
10 hours with Basic
Recency Requirements
10 hours of flight testing a year (from date of promotion). Approx six flight tests.
Must be flight-test lead or joint flight-test-lead with similar level GSO for 1/3 of attended flight tests.
Intermediate Pilot General Competencies
In addition to the beginner-level competencies;
Understanding a drone “class”
“Houston” or “Dual”: Setup, from scratch, including basic configuration with ardupilot for first flight.
“Vanguard” or “Tubie”: understanding flight-critical components, understanding safe/unsafe states of those components.
Understanding all sensor functions and capabilities, as well as their use-cases.
Failsafe operation
Understanding different failsafe modes and operation
Understanding how to recover from different failsafes
RC Controller operation
Setting up a model from scratch for basic input->output
Setting up multi-stage arm/disarm
Setting up GVAR’s, curves for flight modes
GVAR for ardu flight mode
Ability to create and apply curves that are FM specific
Ability to setup trainer
Sticks vs Chans, vs independently mixing them in.
Control Link operation
Understanding how to “bind” or “pair” ELRS, CRSF
Understanding redundant RC input w/ardupilot
Battery handling
3s, 6s battery handling
Understanding parallel vs series harnesses
Drone safety
Demonstrating a safe bench-power up
Understanding how to create a flight plan and conduct a flight brief
Understanding how to effectively communicate with your GSO
Ability to brief and communicate with Visual Observers
Intermediate Fixed-Wing Pilot Operational Competencies
Takeoff
Being able to hand-launch discus, javelin
Being able to perform controlled taxi & takeoff roll (if applicable)
Understanding how to do systems checks on takeoff during maiden flights
Flight
Ability to identify and recover from stalls
Ability to fly inverted for short periods of time, with different entry/exits (loop, roll)
Ability to manage throttle effectively and maintain minimum airspeed
Ability to “autotune” fixed-wing aircraft
Ability to “trim out” an aircraft when not using a flight controller
Landing
Ability to call out left and right-hand traffic patterns
Ability to do flyovers and touch-and-go repeatably
Ability to maintain airspeed during landing, and do STOL approaches
Intermediate Multi-Rotor Pilot Operational Competencies
Takeoff:
Houston-class: Ability to takeoff in: Acro, Stabilize, Althold, Loiter
Vanguard-class: Ability to takeoff in Stabilize, Althold, Loiter
Ability to program and enable a fully autonomous takeoff with only an “arm” trigger
Flight
Ability to recognize and maintain heading within VLOS flight
Ability to read and understand flight charts (VFR)
Ability to read and understand GCS map, be able to navigate for short periods of time using GCS
Ability to sequence waypoints
Landing
Houston-class: Ability to land in Acro, Stabilize, Althold, Loiter
Vanguard-class: Ability to land in Stabilize, Althold, Loiter.
Ability to land on a landing pad, with a gentle touchdown (< 0.5g) in any altitude-controlled mode.
Expert
Expert level is where you have complete knowledge of the drone system, and are able not only to fly drones well, but also provide the necessary tools to put systems together and diagnose issues at a very high level. This is the final step before becoming a competition pilot!
As a word of warning, this is not an easy level to obtain and will require significant effort and time on your part, not only for internal licensing, but also for external licensing. Please plan and budget accordingly.
This is done so that any “Expert” pilot expected to promote to competition level only needs to demonstrate competencies for a particular skill tree, ensuring that all competition pilots are all-rounded.
Minimum Flight Time Requirements:
30+ hours Basic & Intermediate (approx. 2 flight test / month for 1 yr)
Recency Requirements
2 logged flights with WARG per month while on-site
Can be flight lead or joint flight lead for one of the two flights (i.e. not directly piloting)
3+ hours of flying outside of warg/month for chosen skill tree while off-site.
Expert Pilot General Competencies
Understanding a drone “class”
Understanding all of our drone classes, and the parts that constitute a drone.
Being able to setup and configure ardupilot for all of our flight-critical systems.
Understanding all sensors used on WARG, and what their operational limits are, as well as how to calibrate them.
airspeed, gps (rtk included), imu, compass, optical flow, lidar, sonar, ultrasonic, barometer,
Failsafe operation
Failsafe setup for: battery, GCS or RC loss, sensor failures.
Knowledge of advanced failsafe setup for quadplanes.
RC Controller operation
How to maintain, update EdgeTX versions
How to load models, use configurator companion, upload images, etc.
How to review logs from the controller.
Control Link operation
How to setup ELRS trainer
Configuring different packet rates, modes (gemini, diversity, etc).
understanding practical differences in modulation schemes (LoRa, FSK, FLRC)
Understanding different communication protocols (SBUS, CRSF, PPM)
Battery handling
Drone safety
Comprehensive pre-flight checks for all classes
understanding how to safely maiden a drone of your chosen skill tree
Understanding operations in contact with ATC, and in controlled airspaces.
Ability to setup and manage dual-operator “trainer” systems
Drone operation
Demonstration of safe BVLOS operation, including briefing VO’s.
Ability to fly drones of chosen skill tree in any flight mode, including takeoff/landing
Understanding of operational limits and being able to operate near or at limits (wind, rain, snow, cold, heat). Understanding what failures may occur and how to mitigate them
Understanding of how to analyze logs and set parameters, determine state of tune, and drone efficiency.
Expert Fixed-Wing Pilot Competencies
Flying un-balanced (nose, tail heavy)
Flying under/over powered
Flying badly set control surfaces (untrimmed)
Flying misaligned thrust angles
Flying reversed control surfaces
Expert Multi-Rotor Pilot Competencies
Flying under/over powered
Flying under/over tuned
Flying with misaligned FC
Flying with reversed axis