Holy cow, what a night. Phantom 4 beware

Next time just hold forward on the right stick to give it more speed. You do this while its in RTH mode and it will gain speed. Try it next time to test. It also sounds like you went out with a tail wind and came back in the wind. I would check the wind in the UAV Forecast application before you fly every time. Make sure to set the height at 400 so you get wind speeds at that height and not ground level.
Have you tested this? I think P4's intelligent RTH uses OA which limits the speed to 22mph, and with my P4 I have a hard time getting it to go faster than 20mph, and sometimes 15mph is the fastest with a slight headwind. I don't think full throttle during RTH helps much with P4's intelligent RTH, but I may be wrong. I think S mode full throttle is the best way to return if there's any wind.
 
I tested P mode RTH push max to 22mph but still sport mode is the best
Also in a situation if you cant make it home and you really need to land, You dont need to wait till the battery get 10% for it to land, Here is what i would do in such situation

- I would find a good spot to land
- Select homepoint as the current location where the Aircraft is hovering
- Handover your TX to your friend next to you
- Take note of the Location and start driving
- Keep comm with your friend of the flight status and leave it hovering, Worst case scenario it will land on that spot when battery reach 10%, but i guess by that time you would already reach your P4 Destination
 
Well said dirty...my thoughts exactly . Not a well thought out mission, in fact not very well thought out at all!! We all need to keep in mind that when anyone flies we all get judged. It's a new environment for non-fliers too and many would just a soon see it all shut down entirely. Still, thanks drone50 for posting this. It helps everyone. Keep posting.


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BOY did parts of this thread get WAY off topic!!!!
This wasn't about guns/how good or bad you are/ what kind of gun you have/etc., but about a person's experience when night flying and loosing his P4 and what he went through!
Pages and pages of "I have this gun" or "this is what I would do with my gun" or....

Pllleeezzzz keep on topic?!?!?!
 
There is no topic....

OP told a tale of:
Flying at Night
Beyond line of sight
Losing control
Not understanding how the aircraft works
Driving around like a madman
Waking people up in the middle of the night
Possible trespassing
Inappropriate use of 911
Guns
Police
and then Rescuing his craft unharmed.

All of these topics sure to get responses from all sides

Then he sat back and watched ( and I'm sure laughed) while the back and forth began.

No screenshot or flight log. No pics or vids.

Nothing.

Nada.

You may choose to believe this tale.

I don't.


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Reading your account I'm guessing the real problem here may have been not taking into account wind direction. The flight computer takes into account everything EXCEPT wind since it has no knowledge of wind. Day or night, if you are going to fly far, ALWAYS HEAD OUT INTO THE WIND (or at least with the wind hitting the front of the Phantom at an angle). That way when the flight computer calculates it's time to turn around you'll have a cushion with the tail wind pushing you along.

Glad you were able to recover your Phantom without damage.
That's what I like about AutoFlightLogic, it actually has an algorithm to fight wind

Although it does have to fly in it a little bit to "learn" direction and aggregate speed.
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Getting off the subject of 2nd Amendment rights which have been affirmed in recent Supreme Court Cases, does anyone know how I can attach and make functional a mini rocket launcher to the P4. Don't want to hurt anyone but would be nice to know one could send a message across some anti-drone hater's bow.
Sincerely,
Tongue in Cheek Marty
That 100% not true, in fact, the army can't even have their mini guns loaded when flying over American civilians, but you can put a mini launcher huh? Stop...just stop, I have a carry license and keep up on the laws, and here in Tx they are a lot less strict then most, especially now with ridiculous open carry, sure I wanna be a target! I'll show off my $1500 1911, not.
Sorry for being off topic, just wanted to point that out.


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So let me preface this with I wont be doing this again.

I got my new phantom 4 and was so impressed with its distance over my standard. Tonight around midnight, I decided to send it out and really see how far it would go. I launched and off I went. This is where I screwed up. I put it in sport mode thinking I could cover more distance faster. Well I did that, got about 11,600 feet away. Signal started fading and returning home. By this time it was at maybe 40-45% battery and still a ways off. I started to panic and tried to cancel return to home so I could get it in sport mode to come home quicker.

What I didnt account for was that when it returns to home, it comes back at regular slow speed even though you were flying in sport. Battery hits 25% and I really panic, its still like 9000 feet away. I run inside, grab my car keys and haul *** down the road with the remote thinking I could get closer and land it. I got closer and last I saw was 5% battery, 7000 feet away and a height of about 390 feet.

I was in full panic. I thought this thing could drop out of the sky anywhere and at the very least the drone is trashed. I drive around trying to find this little side road where it was last located on the mapping. I knocked on this ladies door and asked if I could use my flashlight to look around her property for it. She was not happy but finally said yes. I looked around, no luck.

This is large tree, farms, residential and wide open areas. I highly doubted Id ever find this. I found another side private road and drove it to the end where this large horse pasture was. I knock at the trailer for the owners and no answer. Then I turn around and see it!! Its beyond the fencing inside with the horses and flashing red in the grass. This was an amazing feeling.

At this point, I think to myself there is no way im going in there and walking without getting permission. Its midnight and I don't want to get shot out here. I call 911 to get an officer to help me locate the owners and give some credibility to me. I then look over and walking with a flashlight and gun is the husband of the first lady I talked too. Oh ****. I tried to yell to him what I was doing but no luck, he was calling 911 too. I knocked at the door of the horse peoples home and out comes another guy with a gun. Totally understandable at night. If it wasnt about to rain and $1400, I wouldnt have been out there.

Cops show up and calm the situation down. I went back there with the owner and got the drone. IT WAS PERFECT. Minor dirt but not damaged one bit!! I have no idea how this is possible since it ran out of battery at 400 feet unless they are programmed to auto land at some point instead of come home.

I owe that guy a beer, apologized again and went home completely relieved. Despite the capabilities of the phantom 4, I wont be doing that again. So warning, if you use sport mode, make sure you have the battery to get home!
I literally laughed out loud when I read this.


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With all due respect drone50, this does not sound like a post or situation from a "skilled pilot"! You are very lucky though I'll give you that much, I'll also leave you with a piece of advice that I've learned the hard way, always have a couple emergency landing spots mapped out on your route not only when you're flying at night but especially when you're flying at night. When you don't think you're going to be able to make it back ,don't panic and grab car keys and dont leave your home point, just safely use the amount of battery you do have left to make it over to that comfortable emergency landing spot, whether it be open pasture or a parking lot you know nobody's using at the time. Then tilt the camera down and check your radar and slowly hover until it reaches 10% autoland and then guide it down to a safe landing. This way you know exactly where it's at and you know that it had its best chance of auto landing without hitting a tree or an uneven grade, and you know right where to go get it. Now I said wait for the 10% because if you try to take it down when you still have 15 to 20% it may lose signal and try to lift back up and take off towards home point. So wait until it wants to autoland and then let it go safely! Good luck friend[emoji41]
Good advice dirtybum on a couple of emergency landing spots ,had not thought of that ,thanks mm
 
I apologise unreservedly for ruffling feathers - my comment was ill put and brusque. And your comments about the immigration problem is absolutely true. Anyway, this should be about flying out P4's and I stepped out of line. I'm sorry for that.

Very classy move. I commend you for that.

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This story don't add up. Wanted to see how far it could fly but sent it up with an under charged battery.

If this is true, it should be a lesson on how not to recover your drone.
 

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