well, helpful led indication is certainly one aspect of the issue this thread is about, but - IMHO - just one. I would consider it equally, if not more, important to also do something about the GCSs. I e.g. don’t have any leds at my other copter :).
I also would want this whatever it is to indicate the availability of the “GPS-assisted” modes.
The doc example I cited in the above, http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/flight-modes.html#gps-dependency, exposes the problem. Technically, it is totally correct when it says “Requires GPS lock prior to takeoff” - if one understands “requires” in the mathematical sense. Yes, the GPS-assisted modes require a GPS lock. But require is not sufficient. I’m tried to push forward the idea to have an indicator which is sufficient to use GPS assisted modes.
mboland has expressed this very nicely and compactly in two sentences.
