Flying away with the wind in ATTI mode? Will it return?

[justicebentz]

Ok...

Aircraft: P2 w/ Zenmuse

Scenario: Flying NAZAm Mode, you take off (with GPS signal) and hover, activating all gps at 50 feet, then you switch to ATTI mode (flying w/o GPS) and let it drift down-wind until its out of range of transmitter, what will happen?

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Well, first you stare in disbelief followed by getting mad at yourself for flying in the wind, then you cry a little and after that you try to think up excuses for the wife as to why you need a new Phantom 2.
:mrgreen:
Good question, will it return home provided you had a good home setting? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[justicebentz]

well I mean it should return as this would be a normal function of the Phantom... I am willing to trust it to that extent if indeed DJI agrees that it should return

 

[The Editor]

Yes it will (assuming you have recorded your home point correctly).

This is a 'normal' function of failsafe that will trigger in either Atti or GPS mode on loss of TX signal.

The only difference is that in Atti mode once failsafe is triggered and it starts to fly back to you, as soon as radio link with the Phantom is regained(assuming you haven't turned the Tx off) it will revert back to giving you control again.

In GPS mode - once failsafe is triggered you must switch to Atti to regain control.

 

[Buk]

The only difference is that in Atti mode once failsafe is triggered and it starts to fly back to you, as soon as radio link with the Phantom is regained(assuming you haven't turned the Tx off) it will revert back to giving you control again.

So to me what this says is, the Phantom was blown out of range went into failsafe, tried or might have returned into range, went into ATTI mode (and if out of line of sight), was blown out of range again, went into failsafe, etc, etc, etc.

So it's out there going in and out of range back and forth in the wind, all possibly out of line of sight, until it's battery dies and it lands where ever it is.

Or possibly the wind just won't allow failsafe to bring it back into range and the Phantom is just struggling at half speed (or whatever speed is failsafe) until it runs out of power and lands or crashes.

A lot of "ifs" in those descriptions....

 

[reALIGNed]

we tested this exact same scenario, we live near a lake that is about 3 miles long, I hovered at apprx. 50' on the west end and let the Phantom drift with the wind (15 mph) across the wide open (frozen) lake. Meanwhile my brother was in chase on his atv keeping an eye on it at all times, and sure enough, he had to turn around and follow it back towards me as it attempted to return. It made it back and was much higher and landed, it was pretty cool to watch. Max. distance it traveled was about 1800' from where it took off from, I'm willing to bet it could have flown further away at a high launch altitude, but then you compromise its return. It wasn't a distance test it was a rth test.

 

[justicebentz]

we tested this exact same scenario, we live near a lake that is about 3 miles long, I hovered at apprx. 50' on the west end and let the Phantom drift with the wind (15 mph) across the wide open (frozen) lake. Meanwhile my brother was in chase on his atv keeping an eye on it at all times, and sure enough, he had to turn around and follow it back towards me as it attempted to return. It made it back and was much higher and landed, it was pretty cool to watch. Max. distance it traveled was about 1800' from where it took off from, I'm willing to bet it could have flown further away at a high launch altitude, but then you compromise its return. It wasn't a distance test it was a rth test.

Brilliant, and just to confirm you were in ATTI the entire time?

 

[reALIGNed]

we tested this exact same scenario, we live near a lake that is about 3 miles long, I hovered at apprx. 50' on the west end and let the Phantom drift with the wind (15 mph) across the wide open (frozen) lake. Meanwhile my brother was in chase on his atv keeping an eye on it at all times, and sure enough, he had to turn around and follow it back towards me as it attempted to return. It made it back and was much higher and landed, it was pretty cool to watch. Max. distance it traveled was about 1800' from where it took off from, I'm willing to bet it could have flown further away at a high launch altitude, but then you compromise its return. It wasn't a distance test it was a rth test.

Brilliant, and just to confirm you were in ATTI the entire time?

Yep, hovered in gps and you could hear the motors working to hold its position in the wind, and then I switched to ATTI, it was hard to do, lol, it was like saying good by.

 

[Marc70]

This is where I'd like a fb thumbs up icon.
Had mine out today in pretty high winds and atti mode. Wow. Does it ever take off with the wind. And then struggle to get back.
Also trying to just play in atti, well! Got caught in tree branches, etc. tough copter, and original blades held up. I had p2 blades not long ago, good flying time with them, but they're flimsy,and broke one.

 

[marcus_canada]

Be advised that in autonomous mode it has built in hard limits for pitch/roll angles. So in gusty winds you will find that the thing could take a longer time than expected to RTH as it goes upwind, if the wind is strong enough it will not manage it at all and, worse still, if you are challenged enough to fly it in high winds, it will continue to be pushed downwind regardless.

The best thing to do in a breezy RTH situation is to let the craft re-orientate itself to nose-in as it engages RTH and as soon as you are ready, or it's within a reasonable range, regain control and fly it back yourself.