Flying in Acro Mode requires a lot of skill and practice. It’s not easy even for those who have experience with “regular” drones. However, Acro Mode is not the only way you can fly Cinematic FPV.
Every flight controller has 3 types of flight modes:
Angle Mode
- The drone remains parallel to the ground without stick input
- Limited stick input (no full flips or rolls)
- You can’t set the transition speed
Horizon Mode
- The drone remains parallel to the ground without stick input
- Full stick input (you can do flips and rolls)
- You can set the transition speed
Acro Mode:
- You have to manually correct the drone position
- Full stick input
Angle mode is similar to a regular drone flight while Horizon mode is something more in between. In Horizon mode you can perform flips and rolls. But with the help of the gyro, your quad will complete self-leveling parallel to the ground automatically.
Benefits of Horizon:
- Simpler to get a nice composition
- Flying indoor or in close-proximity environments becomes more manageable
- Easier to get a smooth shot when cruising
Horizon Mode Settings
To set the Horizon mode you need to go to the PID Tuning tab in Betaflight and change the settings:
- Strength: how hard is the feeling of self-leveling on your radio controller sticks (from 5 to 10 si very soft)
- Transition: how much faster is the returning parallel to the ground (from 50 to 100 for a gentle transition)
Remember, to activate Horizon mode with the switch on your radio controller you must enable “HORIZON” from the “Modes” tab.
Flying in Horizon Mode
If you’re flying in Acro mode and you want to go forward you must push the roll upward stick and then recenter the stick on the radio. When flying in Horizon mode you have to keep pushing the roll stick upward to go forward.
You can practice Horizon mode in a simulator such as LiftOff.
You can try different Horizon techniques by changing the Strenght values in the Flight Controller settings.
You can practice Horizon by doing Split-S and Yaw Turn maneuvers.
