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If I am 300 feet in the air and I lose connection to the drone and I have in my settings (350 feet RTH) will it climb to 350 feet (50 feet higher) to come back or climb an additional 350 feet?
 
It will climb 50' higher to 350' and then RTH.
 
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Also, keep in mind that if the copter is within a 65' (20 meter) radius of the last recorded Home Point when RTH is triggered, it will land right where it is and not return to the Home Point unless interrupted by the pilot. This is an often overlooked action that is written into the firmware, and should it occur without understanding this, it could be a big surprise. It's all in the manual, and definitely worth a read..
 
What he said! If it is already within 65' of the home point it will think it's close enough and just land right where it is. That could definitely be a problem if your home point is near any obstacles.
 
Yeah, I figure it's always worth mentioning this odd action while discussing RTH, and I actually saw it happen to a friend of mine.

We were flying our P4's from a shoreline area out over the water, and since he had just gotten his, he was playing with some of its features. Of course, being new to him, he kept it close, and when he pushed RTH - to test this feature - down it went toward the water... In the end, he canceled RTH just in time to regain control, and all ended well. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing until this all began to happen, and after he explained what he'd done, we had a little talk. And, I know he had read the manual too, but this is easy to miss - or maybe not really understand - so, like I said, it's worth mentioning now and again...
 
That is weird but I guess they make it just land instead of flying up to 350 (or whatever alt) just to move 65 feet over and land.
 
I have rad that and seen it mentioned but never really clicked.
Now I fully understand
. Good stuff to know especially around the beach.
Thanks
 
Furthermore, you may not want a 350ft RTH height...in every scenario. Look at it this way (as it was explained to me), you are flying, lets say around 100ft up, battery begins to run low, you start flying back, battery goes critical and your drone enters RTH. It now must climb from 100ft to 350ft which uses more valuable battery life, thus, increasing your chances of losing it.
Keep your RTH height the highest possible obstruction you will be facing during your flight. I keep mine around 40 meters (131 feet.)
 
I have a lot of really tall trees and some elevation changes that can put tree tops 120 feet above my launch point. I keep mine at 60 meters just so it will climb well above the tree tops so signal can be reattained if lost and rth is triggered.
 
I usually keep my RTH at 200 feet since I usually stay at 200-300 feet while flying. Most trees where I'm at are only about 100 feet high.
 
In watching my video later it did not climb straight up to RTH height. It turned towards home and gradually raised to RTH height as it flew towards home. It barely missed a top of a tree in doing so. RTH is cool feature but I prefer to be above RTH height when it kicks in.
 
In watching my video later it did not climb straight up to RTH height. It turned towards home and gradually raised to RTH height as it flew towards home. It barely missed a top of a tree in doing so. RTH is cool feature but I prefer to be above RTH height when it kicks in.
Odd. My Phantom 3 Standard does not do that. It stops, turns toward the home point, ascends to the RTH altitude, then starts moving.
 
Odd. My Phantom 3 Standard does not do that. It stops, turns toward the home point, ascends to the RTH altitude, then starts moving.
In my case the AC initiated RTH as I was below LOS. I was trying to get down into my mechanic's parking lot. When I got down low enough to lose signal it did a RTH and came home. I was hoping mine would do as you described. Turn, raise up and come home. I didn't realize it hadn't until I reviewed the video later.
 
In watching my video later it did not climb straight up to RTH height. It turned towards home and gradually raised to RTH height as it flew towards home. It barely missed a top of a tree in doing so. RTH is cool feature but I prefer to be above RTH height when it kicks in.

Hmmm... I would be suspect too after that. This is not the correct order of things. The only time that the copter should begin its movement toward the Home Point is when it is at or above your RTH altitude setting. If it is already above the altitude that you set, it will not descend but just start back.

I suggest doing some further testing in a wide open area while well connected to the copter to see if this problem persists. You can also upload your flight logs from that flight here so we can take a look.
 
In watching my video later it did not climb straight up to RTH height. It turned towards home and gradually raised to RTH height as it flew towards home. It barely missed a top of a tree in doing so. RTH is cool feature but I prefer to be above RTH height when it kicks in.
It's unlikely that your Phantom is programmed differently from all the others out there.
To see what actually happened, you'd be better checking the recorded flight data rather than a video.
Go to https://www.phantomhelp.com/LogViewer/Upload/
Follow the instructions to upload your flight record.
Come back and post a link to the report it provides.
 
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In watching my video later it did not climb straight up to RTH height. It turned towards home and gradually raised to RTH height as it flew towards home. It barely missed a top of a tree in doing so. RTH is cool feature but I prefer to be above RTH height when it kicks in.

If this is a phantom 4 pro is it possible it was trying to backtrack for the normal 30 seconds to attempt to regain signal. As I understand it, after 30 seconds and a failed reconnection it will then perform a standard RTH. Maybe after that 30 seconds you were already at the RTH altitude. Speculation only.
 

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