Return to Home... do you trust it?

[Mikee]

If the p3 is out of sight and the app crashes or what ever... What are you going to do call "Ghost Busters " Na you will hit RTH and pray and wait and pray some more.................... and then you see it coming back safely

Your dam right it works.... probally the only thing DJI got right first time lol

 

[jlo]

I <3 RTH

 

[storrowdrive]

Forget the word flyaway, it's something that used to be a fault nearly 2 years ago but is still used today mainly by new pilots to put blame on crashes mainly due to pilot error because they didn't know what they were doing and panicked. Rth is fine and very useful at times. Just test it out in wide open areas first at not too far a distance away so you build up your own confidence in it. Make sure you know your phantom and that it has home lock, sat lock and you know if you are in gps/atti

This. Im a new pilot and its completely true. Just make a pre flight checklist and follow it and you can pretty much rule out anything besides dji malfunction unless you drive into something. I use RTH all the time and have complete confidence in it.

 

[Meta4]

Not familiarising with how RTH works and how you can resume control is unsafe flying.
There are plenty of tales of people who freaked out and crashed because they didn't understand what their Phantom was doing when it went into RTH or others that just watched their Phantom RTH right into a tree.
RTH is great but you should understand how it works early in your flying.
I use it all the time to come home .. let the Phantom start and get a good course and then I take control back because I can fly faster than RTH does.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

I love nothing more than sending my phantom out as far as she can go and that's every time well over 1500 flights at a guess, signal will be lost, screen will freeze, try do a 360 to gain signal again (my usual routine) and when that doesn't work I just turn off the tx, sit down light a smoke normally to the aghast or amusement to on lookers and wait till I can hear her purr, switch back on the tx and bring her back in myself.

 

[Deadlift]

I've had my P3P for a (whole) week now, and I've went through my old pilot training style drills with it, i.e, creating "controlled emergencies"
For my RTH drills, I've tested every scenario... in the same, open 2 mile field, I've:

1) turned off my controller
2) run down the battery to "critical RTH threshold"
3) Simply pushed the RTH button.

...All worked flawlessly.

After these initial tests, I've done more tests in more complicated places... all still worked as advertised.

 

[Baron LaCat]

If you initiate RTH, then observe that the bird is not descending as you want, how do you cancel RTH, and take control of it ?

 

[Deadlift]

If you initiate RTH, then observe that the bird is not descending as you want, how do you cancel RTH, and take control of it ?

Depends... As you said, "If you initiate", meaning "Smart RTH" (You pushed the button), just push the button again to cancel it, also, you may "use controller's control sticks to control the aircraft's position to avoid a collision dusring the Smart RTH process."
If It's a "Low Battery RTH" or a "FailsafeRTH"... that is different...

All is covered in the manual on pg 12-14.

Try them all in an open area where you can retrieve the aircraft.... I have tested all 3 RTH modes with success, fairly confident now with them.

 

[Baron LaCat]

Ok thanks Deadlift

 

[steveeds]

I turn the controller off this is the same as return to home, it is also my first call for a Panic reaction instance and it has not failed me yet.

 

[Gangapat]

Definitely bit you really have to read the manual in detail and learn how to use all the settings in the app correctly. The fine print is important here! I experimented a few times to gain some trust in it. I even went as far as unplugging the tablet and hitting the RTH button during flight and yep, it came back. I like knowing its there.

 

[Dadcat]

The following is not in the manual:

P3 must be at least 20 meters (65.6 feet) from the home point for RTH to work.

I tested this about about a month ago and posted about it. If you initiate RTH with D: showing 20.5 meters it climbs to the set height.

At 19.5 meters from Home it descends- goes into auto-land mode. The voice in the iPad even says "Landing". You can stop it by pushing the RTH button again.

If you decide to test the turning off controller method of RTH just be sure P3 beyond 20 meters or at least over a spot that it's safe to auto-land on in case you can't regain control fast enough by turning it back on.

 

[bobomet]

I had to use it one with my original P2V, when we completely lost sight and sound in a somewhat wooded area along a local river. I held my breath, and shut the controller off (the RTH process back then), and it worked like a charm.
I trust it today on my my P3 for sure, but I plan to invest a lot of time practicing using it soon.

 

[snowghost]

As I mentioned earlier I use it all the time under normal situations. Last night was different.

About 4500' away, dark, 400' up. Lost FPV completely. In the ensuing moments of trying to regain FPV, I lost LOS with the bird.

Hit RTH and it started beeping saying it was 65% battery and coming home. But after about 30 seconds it stopped beeping and I still couldn't see the Phantom. Had to hit RTH 2 or 3 more times with it stopping (or was it really). Anyway she appeared overhead and I took control and flew around some more before landing. Glad it all ended well.

 

[Sammynels]

I use RTH after I'm done shooting because I'm lazy. Probably have done it a good 80 times with no issue.

 

[RamiAgonistes]

RTH has been rock solid for me. Just yesterday I went out a bit too far and totally lost signal. This was like at 2600 ft. The RTH kicked in automatically

 

[DrChris]

I probably waited too many flights to really start testing out the RTH function and developing experience with it. I took it out today just to work on that and it performed perfectly. I need to take it out again soon and play with the more 'emergency' modes that might create a RTH automatically.

I completely agree that everyone should really get familiar with how the P3 acts and reacts in the RTH situations before there is a true emergency.

Chris

 

[caffeinated]

Am I the only one here to trust it and never have used it?

I've read every last thing about it. I know exactly how it works in various scenarios and how to cancel it if needed. I trust it for the emergency it's designed for. It has been 'tested' to death.

I'm not about to hand over control of a perfectly flying quad unless I have to however. Some day soon I'll need it no doubt, I won't plan to but it will happen. Hopefully that will mean that in the situation where I would otherwise be screwed I won't be.
Putting myself in a position where I could be screwed whilst not currently screwed by choice however... I do not understand.

I've gone through quite a few cars now without feeling the need to test the airbags.

 

[steveeds]

""I've gone through quite a few cars now without feeling the need to test the airbags""

It is a one-off test, lets be fair here

 

[caffeinated]

""I've gone through quite a few cars now without feeling the need to test the airbags""

It is a one-off test, lets be fair here

Understood... And I don't begrudge those that do test it, or use it for convenience, just personally I can't work out what I'd gain.
If it works then I am in the same position, if it fails I have an incident I didn't need to have.

I guess the idea is to get used to the 'feel' of it so as not to panic when in a crisis and I get that bit but I feel that can be obtained by reading as well as in the air.

My true hypocrisy will come from the fact that when the firmware allows sdk access I will use preprogrammed flight paths which makes a mockery of my own argument