Hi everyone, I have only just discovered the ArduPilot scene so please excuse any “answer saturated” questions. I am more than happy to simply be pointed to the appropriate resource/group. as I can assure you that I have spent a fair few hours over a week already, battling conflicting answers, on Google attempting to get this far. I wish to build a powered V-Tail plane (model already sourced) that can navigate to a way-point via GPS, release a payload, and return safely. It “appears” that Ardupilot Mega could do what I am after but I cannot see it available/in-stock on the internet in a manner that I can/can’t deduce if it is a sustainable project (please please don’t flame me for the comment it is a personal observation as I try to gather reliable, fact vs opinionated, info), but the raw ArduPilot seems to have a plethora of rock solid community support and available from everywhere etc. So, based on what you clearly know here, should I pursue the raw ArduPilot and if so will I likely have to pair with a PixHawk type external device (£££) or is it possible (tried/tested) for me to simply and reliably attach GPS/Servo/ESC modules directly to an Arduino ArduPilot core… I am comfortable with programming and average-range electronics (NE555, Thyristors, etc.). Out of interest, should it save a world of potential pain, I did (although would like to avoid) the following: “NX3 3D Flight Controller Gyroscope Balance”. Thanks for reading. Ralph
Hello Ralph and welcome to ArduPilot,
Arduino and Ardupilot Mega are no longer supported.
The latest version that did run on that board was 3.2.1. That version is now aprox. 8 years old. The developers moved along to CubeOrange and other modern boards
But there are still stubborn users like you that want to use Ardupilot Mega. Those users post their questions on the UnSupported hardware - ArduPilot Discourse pages or on the Copter 3.2 - ArduPilot Discourse pages. Feel free to post there and to read the answers that the (mostly inactive) community posts in there.
So back to your original question: No, there are NO ardupilot Mega active projects.
There are however very active Ardupilot development for modern boards, there is even a custom FW build server: https://custom.ardupilot.org/
Hello Ralph and welcome to ArduPilot
We have a steady flow of requests from Arduino based community users that are looking for a smooth evolution path into AutoPilot using their existing 8 bit microcontroller but unfortunately that was possible 10 years ago.
Since then, the ArduPilot firmware has progressed at a fast pace and the system has attained a level of complexity that restrict the usage to more up to date and powerfull type of MicroControllers like the STM32H series that can support over one million lines of codes.
I suggest that you consider to jump into the modern era of AutoPilot as it might appears a little scarry at beginning but in the long run you will reap the benefit of the technology.
Thank you Amilcarlucas. I’m soo glad I posted then. I have no preference to Mega, as I seek out a good starting point, so you have certainly saved me from more incorrectly targeted info searching. I think I see my confusion now in that when I was searching for ArduPilot I landed at “https://www.ardupilot.co.uk/” and on the first page is the buy link. Over here is “https://www.ardupilot.org/”. Bit by bit the puzzle is coming together.
Hi Ppoirier, Thank you for the MicroController correction info. AutoPilot is good for me 
You guys have come back, and extremely swiftly thanks, with even better guidance than I could have
hoped for.
thanks for the report, we will try to get out https://www.ardupilot.co.uk/ . That isn’t afflilated to us and display very old informations.
@amilcarlucas not all user a stubborn, there vendors that are still misleading them and in some country the stm autopilot aren’t really available like in India …
Good thing that vendor in the “where to buy” link is out of stock of these APM’s or someone may actually buy one.
Exactly. Imagine how lucky I feel that you guys kindly informed me, in lightning time, that my journey of discovery in the last 7 days that took me from looking for flight autonomy for a project, discovering Arduinos, finding ArduPilot, finding that .co.uk site, being prepared to buy that solution, checking with you all first, finding out that ArduPilot is no longer Arduino based. By 17:01 I had opened a bottle of Stella ;-).
I know I keep banging on about it but thanks for saving my bacon.
Blimey though, I can’t find many of those compatible hardware boards in stock. Most of the sub £60 seem to be out of stock and I’m pushing up + £90 at the minute.
Having said that possibly Stella is getting in the way ha ha.
Perhaps the least expensive supported Flight Controller that isn’t some knock-off of an Omnibus F4 board is one of the F405 boards from Matek.
who owns that .co.uk domain, i don’t think that site has been updated in over 10 years. I cant find anything on it other than its dns is hosted with cloudflare, and domain is registered with 123reg in the uk.
there is a slightly different one at https://www.arducopter.co.uk they are at least showing a pixhawk lol.
Dave, Thank you for demystifying the boards. That one was a great price and I have managed to find one in stock! Rounded my day off nicely.
Geofrancis. Yes i can only find the same info, via a WhoIs lookup in my case, and unfortunately cannot find any operating link that could help on the site. No contact us or email or site admin etc. I will see what I can dig up whilst looking around other sites and, should I be able to find a contact, i’ll ping you guys here immediately. Hopefully it’ll also stop others like me starting 90 degrees off track.