Is it possible to have an aircraft maintain alt and heading while keeping a constant bank angle? i.e. roll to 45 degrees and maintain direction and alt? Any suggestions on which mode and settings to use would be appreciated.

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No, not autonomously without code modification, I think. This is flying "knife-edge" which most non-aerobatic auto-piloted aircraft try to avoid. If you forced the rudder one way the aircraft will crab sideways as the AP will always try to keep the wings level. There is an ACRO mode which will try hold the commanded attitude but it's not an autonomous mode.

May we ask why you want to do such a thing and isn't there another way to achieve the same result?

Unfortunately I can't reveal the final application. But the motivation for this requirement is to roll and apply a lifting force in opposition to an external force which is frequently not vertical. All while maintaining alt and heading. Forces will remain balanced, so even though it looks like knife-edge flight, aerodynamically it will be balanced as in upright flight. We just need rudder and elevator to get mixed to maintain control as roll changes.

I am open to alternative solutions. Fundamentally at least, it seems fairly easy to combine pitch and yaw controls so they mix the correct outputs as the vehicle roll changes. Other than changes in wing area, and potential some dynamics/PID tuning, flying knife edge is no different than upright. If we had a symmetrical cruciform aircraft, roll would make no difference to it's flying characteristics at all. Could have a control mode analogous to "care free or headless" for yaw with copters, except for roll with planes. i.e. pull up and the plane will always go up (earth normal), regardless of attitude.

I guess what I need is a "stripped down" mode, where roll is ignored and only pitch and yaw are used to maintain alt and heading. Actually seems a lot easier to implement than a normal flight controller with co-ordinated turns and such.

oh, getting building facade for nicer photogrammetry  is soooooo secret, almost as secret as how to program this :)  - nobody wants to share, hold tight to everything, so "nobody cant reveal anything in this thread" :)

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