User guide

Co-Pilot II™ Supplemental User Guide for Hard Deck (HD100) – 6 – REVOLECTRIX
Operating voltage +3 to +16 volts DC
Operating current <7 milliamps (servos may draw more current from rapid movement during recovery)
Resolution 3.3 inches (8 cm)
Max Altitude 32,767 ft (9,987m) Software limited to 1000 ft above ground level
Sample Rate 133 Hz
Data Network Delay One sample before CPII gets the data
Absolute Accuracy 27 ft (8.5m) Factory calibrated. Zeroed out at startup.
Operating Temp Range -4°F (-20°C) to +149°F (+65°C) (fully temperature compensated)
Dimensions 1.50” x 0.72” x 0.55”
Weight 0.3 oz. (9 gm)
Hard Deck Specifications
Hard Deck Recovery on a Fixed-Wing Airplane
If the angle of attack is down 20 deg or more, CPII will calculate
a bounce angle based on the angle that the airplane “hit” the hard
deck. If Emergency Recovery is enabled, it will activate when
the aircraft hits the user-defined hard deck altitude. The airplane
will appear to bounce off the hard deck. If the airplane is in-
verted, CPII will snap roll the plane to level, then apply up eleva-
tor.
Hard Deck Recovery on a Helicopter
If the helicopter is more than 20 degrees from level in any direc-
tion, Emergency Recovery will activate. CPII will automatically
control the collective in an Emergency Recovery. The helicopter
always goes to level when it “hits” the hard deck. It will apply
negative 8 degrees when inverted and positive 8 degrees when
non-inverted to recover the helicopter to level. If and auto rota-
tion is required, turn CPII OFF using the auxiliary control to pre-
vent loss of head speed. Always maintain an appropriate throttle
setting during recovery to ensure there is enough power available
to CPII to successfully complete recovery.
Hard Deck and Emergency Recovery (ER)
Hard Deck Recovery requires Emergency Recovery to be set to
ON in the CPII Preferences. Emergency Recovery helps the air-
craft recover to level quicker. It temporarily doubles the elec-
tronic gain of the system and reduces the amount of over-ride
control from the transmitter until the aircraft levels out, or 2 sec-
onds has passed. This means that when an aircraft hits the hard
deck, CPII will take over and level out no matter where the trans-
mitter control sticks are positioned. ER activates when the air-
craft hits the Hard Deck in a non level position. In normal CPII
operation when the Hard Deck Module is not installed, ER acti-
vates if the Remote ON/OFF is moved to 100% while the aircraft
is in a non-level attitude. Emergency Recovery can always be
enabled or disabled in the Preferences menu. If you install the
Hard Deck Module, and you forget to set ER to ON in the Prefer-
ences menu, then the CPII system will not light the green Hard
Deck LED, and will alert you to the problem in the Preflight
screen.
Theory of Operation (continued)
Altitude Hold on a Helicopter
In addition to the new Level in H.Deck Flight Mode, there is an-
other new Flight Mode available when using the Hard Deck
Module. The new Flight Mode is called “Altitude Hold” and it is
only available after selecting Helicopter as the aircraft during
Quick Setup. Altitude Hold (AH) works like this:
• AH will assist the pilot in maintaining a set altitude by
slightly reducing or increasing the collective pitch.
• AH Flight Mode utilizes Level Stabilization mode at all
times.
• AH does not arm (become functional) until 30' is achieved.
• In AH Flight Mode, a new altitude set point is programmed
each time the pilot switches the remote ON/OFF from OFF
to the programmed AH Flight Mode position. The new alti-
tude set point will be the altitude at which the helicopter is
currently flying when the switch is flipped.
• Prior to completing the above procedure, the 'Default' alti-
tude set point for Altitude Hold is 50' which is also the low-
est set point the pilot can program. This means if you take
off with AH ON, the set point altitude will be 50’. Similarly,
if you are flying at 20' when you switch AH ON, the altitude
will be set at 50' not 20'.
• If you are flying at an altitude over 50' then that altitude will
be set and remembered until reset. For example, if you are
flying at 80' and switch AH ON then CPII will assist in
maintaining an 80' altitude.
• The assist with collective management is slight. It either in-
creases or decreases the collective pitch a degree or two in
regard to the Tx stick position.
• It is always easy to over-ride CPII’s collective management
while in Altitude Hold Flight Mode. This means it is possi-
ble to fly normally and even land with AH ON. Positioning
the Tx stick significantly above or below the hover position
will over ride the adjustment made by CPII to the collective.
• Fast ERs with collective management as provided in the HD
and Level Flight mode are NOT supported in the AH
mode. Only standard roll and pitch to level without collec-
tive management is available.