These two modes are probably why many people were excited for the Betaflight 4.6 release. With Position Hold and Altitude Hold, you can literally “park” your FPV drone in the air like a camera drone—or use these modes as an emergency stop. To work properly, both modes must be activated simultaneously via a switch or channel position.

Because a Mode 2 transmitter with a non-centering throttle stick isn’t perfectly suited for camera-drone-style control, you should adjust a few variables via the CLI.

⚠️ If you don’t use a compass, you can tell the firmware. These modes will still work without a compass, but only after the drone flies forward 150–200 meters after takeoff. A GPS module is still required.

CLI Settings

• pos_hold_without_mag = true
  • Allows using Position Hold (PosH) and Altitude Hold (AltH) without a compass.
• pos_hold_deadband
  • Sets the stick deadzone. Standard value is 5%. Setting it to 0 completely ignores stick input.
• autopilot_max_angle
  • Maximum tilt angle the drone can automatically control, e.g., when braking.
  • The maximum angle the pilot can command via sticks is half of this value.
• autopilot_position_P/I/D/A
  • Adjusts the autopilot PID values. Only change these if you are familiar with your drone’s PID setup and tuning.