I hope someone can help.....what am I doing wrong?

[TheRealNick]

I've used auto takeoff 255 times with no problem. [emoji56]

Do you also auto land? I have been scared to use both...

 

[LanaRain]

Yes sir ! Auto land works well. I hover the aircraft above where I want to land and swipe autoland , it descends straight down and lands slow and smooth.

 

[JKDSensei]

I have done a TON of reading/watching videos ect and have not seen any problems using the auto take off (that wasnt obvious pilot error, most the time bad compass calibration). What stories are you referring to?

I read these forums quite a bit and it seems a few times too many people said they used auto takeoff before a crash.
Of course, it's not "common"....but if you search on auto takeoff, you should get some results that talk about crashing.

Maybe it was just a temporary thing that was happening at one point due to a firmware change or something.

I never use it and can't really see why people use it but to each his own. I like to be fully in control during take off and landing.
I'm fairly proficient at flying quads with no compass and no GPS so maybe it's just what I'm used to?

If it works for you then by all means the feature is there so why not use it?

 

[JKDSensei]

Yes sir ! Auto land works well. I hover the aircraft above where I want to land and swipe autoland , it descends straight down and lands slow and smooth.

What happens when you encounter wind gusts?

 

[Travis726]

I read these forums quite a bit and it seems a few times too many people said they used auto takeoff before a crash.
Of course, it's not "common"....but if you search on auto takeoff, you should get some results that talk about crashing.

Maybe it was just a temporary thing that was happening at one point due to a firmware change or something.

I never use it and can't really see why people use it but to each his own. I like to be fully in control during take off and landing.
I'm fairly proficient at flying quads with no compass and no GPS so maybe it's just what I'm used to?

If it works for you then by all means the feature is there so why not use it?

Did A search and this one thread is the closest thing I could find, and it is (im pretty sure) compass not being calibrated correctly. (nothing to do with the auto takeoff). Professional - Auto takeoff Flyaway!!! | DJI Phantom Forum

Seems extremely uncommon...

 

[Quinten]

I have used Auto land a few time but I do feel better catching it especially with it being winter and snow everywhere.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[SouthernPhantom]

Auto-takeoff always works perfectly. Make sure the camera is pointed away from you, so the controls align with the Phantom's movement. Let it hover at 4' for a few seconds to check stability, then take it up.

 

[joeb1999]

I use auto take off. It works fine. One thing I do do myself now is land it. I'm getting pretty good at centering it spot on too when it's a few feet up.

Try landing yourself. When you hit the ground pushing left control down shuts the motors off. Be sure to put it back in neutral.

I see a lot more potential for disaster if auto land is used to much.

Yes sir ! Auto land works well. I hover the aircraft above where I want to land and swipe autoland , it descends straight down and lands slow and smooth.

 

[SouthernPhantom]

I use auto take off. It works fine. One thing I do do myself now is land it. I'm getting pretty good at centering it spot on too when it's a few feet up.

Try landing yourself. When you hit the ground pushing left control down shuts the motors off. Be sure to put it back in neutral.

I see a lot more potential for disaster if auto land is used to much.

I agree. But, I think everyone should know how auto-land works. I learned how to land manually by watching it.

For your first few flights, make sure you're in beginner mode. Use auto-takeoff, and let the Phantom become stable at about 4 feet, then raise it to 10-20 feet (to keep it above your head for safety), try a few very-simple maneuvers.

Then bring it back down to 4 feet over a safe landing spot (with the camera pointing away from you). It will stay there. Then use auto-land. You can even override the descent speed with the left stick, without turning the auto-land off. But you shouldn't need to.

Same with RTH. It will come home and land automatically, all the way to the ground. This is very useful if you've lost sight. It can be stopped at any time by pushing-and-holding the RTH button again. Then you can finish landing manually.

My point is -- there's no one perfect way to do anything. If your bag of tricks is diverse, you'll have safer flights. It's important to learn to takeoff and land manually, too. But I've never liked the manual takeoff. CSC can cause tippy takeoffs.

Then -- finally -- maybe -- learn to hand catch upon landing. But be very careful. It's a "cool" thing to do, and very useful on boats or uneven terrain. But one wrong push of the sticks could be painful.

Bottom line -- just go out and take great pictures, and have fun!

 

[TheRealNick]

I agree. But, I think everyone should know how auto-land works. I learned how to land manually by watching it.

For your first few flights, make sure you're in beginner mode. Use auto-takeoff, and let the Phantom become stable at about 4 feet, then raise it to 10-20 feet (to keep it above your head for safety), try a few very-simple maneuvers.

Then bring it back down to 4 feet over a safe landing spot (with the camera pointing away from you). It will stay there. Then use auto-land. You can even override the descent speed with the left stick, without turning the auto-land off. But you shouldn't need to.

Same with RTH. It will come home and land automatically, all the way to the ground. This is very useful if you've lost sight. It can be stopped at any time by pushing-and-holding the RTH button again. Then you can finish landing manually.

My point is -- there's no one perfect way to do anything. If your bag of tricks is diverse, you'll have safer flights. It's important to learn to takeoff and land manually, too. But I've never liked the manual takeoff. CSC can cause tippy takeoffs.

Then -- finally -- maybe -- learn to hand catch upon landing. But be very careful. It's a "cool" thing to do, and very useful on boats or uneven terrain. But one wrong push of the sticks could be painful.

Bottom line -- just go out and take great pictures, and have fun!

In auto land does it descend at a constant slow rate to the ground or does it slow as it gets near ground? I am curious because if it is not over home point it has no way to know the ground level. The pro and advanced could use the VPS...unless it relies on ground effect to flare at the last moment. I am too scared to try these experiments, but curious how it would work if you auto landed at 20 feet higher than your take off point...

On a windy day once I found the altimeter was off by 20 feet when I landed, not sure how well auto land would have worked that day....

 

[SouthernPhantom]

In auto land does it descend at a constant slow rate to the ground or does it slow as it gets near ground? I am curious because if it is not over home point it has no way to know the ground level. The pro and advanced could use the VPS...unless it relies on ground effect to flare at the last moment. I am too scared to try these experiments, but curious how it would work if you auto landed at 20 feet higher than your take off point...

On a windy day once I found the altimeter was off by 20 feet when I landed, not sure how well auto land would have worked that day....

Yes. I have a P3P. It slows significantly just before it lands using VPS. I always leave the VPS on. It disengages automatically above a certain altitude, anyway.

So, even if you think the landing is a bit fast, you can still override the speed of descent by moving the left stick very slightly, without stopping the auto-landing. I've never had a problem with it. Or bring it down to 4 feet, and turn on the auto-landing just for fun. At that point, you can land manually, too, though.

Same with a full RTH return-and-landing. The only problem with that, is sometimes it comes home several feet away from where you'd like it to land. So you can stop the RTH 20 feet up, and reposition the Phantom to be over a comfortable place, and land manually. Or use the sticks as it's landing for repositioning.

But, most importantly, keep the camera pointed away from you (unless you're very experienced), so the RC-stick movement matches the Phantom's, so you don't whack yourself!

 

[TheTanger]

Honestly...I think everyone should have a little toy drone to practice with (Syma X5C is a good recommendation). These DON'T auto hover, you have to make it hover and control it completely manually. Practice launching/landing, turning, etc. till you get a feel for how a quad w/o GPS operates and you will be GOLDEN using the P3. Auto Land/Takeoff work great, but I prefer to do both manually (I auto land more than I takeoff). Often times I'll just let her RTH & land when I'm doing range tests and work on camera shots.

 

[jbe420]

Delete app and try again also take off with remote