I took off the training wheels.....

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I have owned my P3S since Christmas and only have flown it for about 40 minutes until today. I went out to my friend Johns golf course which is out in the country without people, power lines, WIFI or obstacles over 150 feet high.

I flew a couple of quick test missions to be sure that my GPS and RTH were doing their thing and she landed within a couple of feet of where it launched from. I decide that it's time to see what she can do.

I launched the AC straight up until the max altitude alert came on over my headphones at 394 feet. I took a look at my tablet and all systems were good. I flew around the golf course and took some nice pics and videos and thoroughly enjoyed myself knowing that unless I do something really stupid, everything will be fine.

As my battery was reaching 30% and my AC was 600 yards out, 400 feet above the 8th green, John stepped out of the clubhouse to see how i was doing. I hit the RTH and let the RC dangle on the neck strap while i talked to him. He asked me where the drone was and I pointed to the northwest and said it was coming. He raised an eyebrow and asked me if I should be paying attention to it. I said "Nah" and pointed to the spot where it took off from and said "watch this." Like an obedient dog the AC landed right where I had pointed and shut the propellers down.

I think that John is going to get a Phantom of his own.
Tobby
 
May I suggest that a little more caution be excercised ....

The AC will not always land on the 'dime' ... GPS itself is variable up to 10m at times with averaging into the sub 3m range. Second that if you trigger RTH within 20 or so metres from home point - it will land out where it is.

I am not trying to be one of those scaremongers ... just pointing out some facts about position and results.

Its worth people just repeating RTH landings and they will see that generally you arrive pretty close to take-off point ... but occasionally you will not !!

With 4 sets of knife blades spinning at high RPM on this machine ... I would suggest keeping an eye on the model and hand on the sticks just in case. Don't forget that just because RTH has triggered - any nudge on the sticks can have consequences ..... dangling the Controller while model in the air / powered up and not taking care would be a no-no with guys I fly with.

Nigel
 
Here's a shot of the clubhouse and pavilion. I think next time I will work on framing my shots a bit more artistically.

Tobby
DJI_0085.JPG
 
I have owned my P3S since Christmas and only have flown it for about 40 minutes until today. I went out to my friend Johns golf course which is out in the country without people, power lines, WIFI or obstacles over 150 feet high.

I flew a couple of quick test missions to be sure that my GPS and RTH were doing their thing and she landed within a couple of feet of where it launched from. I decide that it's time to see what she can do.

I launched the AC straight up until the max altitude alert came on over my headphones at 394 feet. I took a look at my tablet and all systems were good. I flew around the golf course and took some nice pics and videos and thoroughly enjoyed myself knowing that unless I do something really stupid, everything will be fine.

As my battery was reaching 30% and my AC was 600 yards out, 400 feet above the 8th green, John stepped out of the clubhouse to see how i was doing. I hit the RTH and let the RC dangle on the neck strap while i talked to him. He asked me where the drone was and I pointed to the northwest and said it was coming. He raised an eyebrow and asked me if I should be paying attention to it. I said "Nah" and pointed to the spot where it took off from and said "watch this." Like an obedient dog the AC landed right where I had pointed and shut the propellers down.

I think that John is going to get a Phantom of his own.
Tobby

I like your post! ;)
But,
Keep your eye on it....
RTH can fail....
As soon is you think your on top of it. :D You will make a mistake. :eek:
You will be on top of it, looking down. :(

Rod
 
@Nigel, @RodPad, Point well taken. After several very accurate RTH landings I got cocky and wanted to show off a bit for my friend. In my defense, there were only my wife, (who never took her eyes off the bird) John, and myself within hundreds of yards of the home point. The home point was in the middle of a large and vacant parking lot. I DO appreciate your advice and welcome any and all advice that will help me keep flying.

Tobby
 

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