INAV Fixed-Wing Setup — Complete Guide for Airplanes

INAV is the best open-source firmware for fixed-wing aircraft. It offers features like autolaunch, autoland, cruise control, and waypoint missions — capabilities that rival commercial autopilots costing thousands of dollars.

Supported Airplane Types

• Flying Wing — elevon mixing
• Conventional (Aileron + Elevator + Rudder)
• V-Tail — ruddervator mixing
• Dual Motor — differential thrust
• VTOL — tilt-rotor, tail-sitter, quad-plane

Hardware Setup

Flight Controller Mounting

• Mount FC with the arrow pointing towards the nose of the airplane
• Ensure it's level when the airplane is in level flight attitude
• Use vibration dampening foam

Servo Connections

Connect servos to the appropriate outputs on your FC. In INAV Configurator → Mixer tab, set up your airframe type and verify servo directions.

Key INAV Settings for Fixed-Wing

Autolaunch

Throw your plane and INAV takes over:

set nav_fw_launch_detection = ON
set nav_fw_launch_motor_delay = 150
set nav_fw_launch_climb_angle = 18
set nav_fw_launch_max_altitude = 5000

Cruise Control

Maintain heading and altitude hands-free:

set nav_fw_cruise_speed = 1500
set nav_fw_min_thr = 1150
set nav_fw_max_thr = 1700

Autoland (INAV 7.0+)

Autonomous landing with approach pattern:

set nav_fw_land_approach_length = 35000
set nav_fw_land_final_approach_pitch2throttle = 5
set nav_fw_land_glide_alt = 2000

Flight Modes for Airplanes

• ANGLE — self-leveling, great for beginners
• NAV CRUISE — maintain heading + altitude
• NAV RTH — return to launch and loiter
• NAV WP — follow waypoint mission
• MANUAL — full manual control, no stabilization