RTH vs wind speed and hight

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So I'm getting right into this flying stuff. After loosing a cheap drone I've had my p3 a few months now and only just plucked up enough courage to take it high and far away... not even 500m yet.
So I love the rth feature but as I'm in England I'm concerned as I would like a descent rth hight. Maybe 70ishm higher than anything around me. But as it's always windy here will RTH work that hight In the wind? I never fly in over 20mph winds but I never go high in that iether. Normally here on the caost it's minimum 12/14 mph.
So I'm wondering what people's experience , what's safe? If the wind is 15mph will my drone push harder to reach its optimum speed in RTH. Last thing I want is to loose it, the mrs will never let me get another one .;)
 
I live in Newlyn down in Cornwall, I always take into effect the wind direction and speed when flying now! I had a experience a while ago where I flew with a tail wind on the coast, I ran out of signal at around 900 meters and the wind was so strong on the RTH that it used nearly all my remaining battery to get back to me, less than 1 meter per second! I don't think the drone will push harder on RTH but I may be wrong.
 
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RTH speed is a set constant , will not speed up against the wind , but once it turns and heads for home you can push the right stick forward to increase the speed and bring it back quicker , you have control when it's in RTH
 
So I'm getting right into this flying stuff. After loosing a cheap drone I've had my p3 a few months now and only just plucked up enough courage to take it high and far away... not even 500m yet.
So I love the rth feature but as I'm in England I'm concerned as I would like a descent rth hight. Maybe 70ishm higher than anything around me. But as it's always windy here will RTH work that hight In the wind? I never fly in over 20mph winds but I never go high in that iether. Normally here on the caost it's minimum 12/14 mph.
So I'm wondering what people's experience , what's safe? If the wind is 15mph will my drone push harder to reach its optimum speed in RTH. Last thing I want is to loose it, the mrs will never let me get another one .;)
Yeh rth speed only between 12 & 15 ,if got at 20kph or mph wind your gion backwards,,i read somewhere try regain control by switchin gps to atti mode then u can gas it,,regain signal ,,back to gps,,,yes i been lucky,, might not work in some situations :eek: :)
 
Yeh rth speed only between 12 & 15 ,if got at 20kph or mph wind your gion backwards,,i read somewhere try regain control by switchin gps to atti mode then u can gas it,,regain signal ,,back to gps,,,yes i been lucky,, might not work in some situations :eek: :)
no need to switch to atti , just push right stick forward , if in RTH with signal lost you will have to wait till it gets close enough to regain control signal then JUST PUSH RIGHT STICK FORWARD , you have full control in RTH , you can control where it lands .
 
Yeh rth speed only between 12 & 15 ,if got at 20kph or mph wind your gion backwards,,i read somewhere try regain control by switchin gps to atti mode then u can gas it,,regain signal ,,back to gps,,,yes i been lucky,, might not work in some situations :eek: :)
Your AC won't be stalled or flying backwards in RTH unless the wind speed is at or above 16ms (36mph/57kmh). While RTH is only 10m/sec it is referenced to ground, it will fly against a head wind providing it doesn't exceed the max speed the AC is capable of.
 
no need to switch to atti , just push right stick forward , if in RTH with signal lost you will have to wait till it gets close enough to regain control signal then JUST PUSH RIGHT STICK FORWARD , you have full control in RTH , you can control where it lands .
Ok thanks :)
 
Your AC won't be stalled or flying backwards in RTH unless the wind speed is at or above 16ms (36mph/57kmh). While RTH is only 10m/sec it is referenced to ground, it will fly against a head wind providing it doesn't exceed the max speed the AC is capable of.
Ok thanks too 4 info:) corect info
 
So say you go out and loose signal it ascends to say 70ft for RTH but the wind is stronger say just at 32mph the p3 won't go to 36 because no signal from controller with me trying to give it some extra ooomph.. or will RTH fight the 32mph wind and make a slow progress? I've seen loads of videos of people loosing there drone in high winds and loads of top wind speeds the drone can fly but I can't find any certainty on the wind speed RTH alone can function in.
 
I live in Newlyn down in Cornwall, I always take into effect the wind direction and speed when flying now! I had a experience a while ago where I flew with a tail wind on the coast, I ran out of signal at around 900 meters and the wind was so strong on the RTH that it used nearly all my remaining battery to get back to me, less than 1 meter per second! I don't think the drone will push harder on RTH but I may be wrong.

What was the wind speed that day? I use UAV forecast to tell me if it's safe to fly, and my own opinion with it. Have a look at the application if you don't have one. I think it's brilliant .
 
if you lose signal and it's windy RTH will kick in on it's own but speed will be constant and not increase to fight wind , so it will try to return but will probably run out of power and land or crash ! if you start RTH you can increase the speed .
 
if you lose signal and it's windy RTH will kick in on it's own but speed will be constant and not increase to fight wind , so it will try to return but will probably run out of power and land or crash ! if you start RTH you can increase the speed .
If the headwind is 6ms (22km/hr) or less the AC should be able to achieve its predetermined 10ms RTH speed over the ground (it will obviously use more power in doing so). If the wind speed is 6ms leaning on the elevator isn't gong to get you home any faster or with any more battery reserve.
 
If the headwind is 6ms (22km/hr) or less the AC should be able to achieve its predetermined 10ms RTH speed over the ground (it will obviously use more power in doing so). If the wind speed is 6ms leaning on the elevator isn't gong to get you home any faster or with any more battery reserve.
point i'm making is it won't speed up on it's own , but you can make it return faster , no wind = come home quick , wind = depends on how windy , it'll come back or it won't , I never mentioned anything about battery usage/reserve
 
point i'm making is it won't speed up on it's own , but you can make it return faster , no wind = come home quick , wind = depends on how windy , it'll come back or it won't , I never mentioned anything about battery usage/reserve
Apologies if I misunderstood, I would have thought "probably run out of power and land or crash", as stated by you, as being directly related to battery usage/reserve. We know RTH will, wind permitting fly at 10ms and that we may, as you have stated, increase this speed in some circumstances. What I might add is, in the interest of obtaining maximum distance, that just a whisker under 14ms (for the phantom 3 family) will give greatest range on a given available battery charge.
 
some people don't know that you can control your phantom after RTH has started --- speed up or control it as it lands , they think that they just have to sit back and wait for it to come home and land .
 
So say you go out and loose signal it ascends to say 70ft for RTH but the wind is stronger say just at 32mph the p3 won't go to 36 because no signal from controller with me trying to give it some extra ooomph.. or will RTH fight the 32mph wind and make a slow progress? I've seen loads of videos of people loosing there drone in high winds and loads of top wind speeds the drone can fly but I can't find any certainty on the wind speed RTH alone can function in.
I've lost count of the number of Phantoms that have blown away in RTH because they were put up high in strong winds.
The solution is simple but some only learn from bitter experience.
The wind is always stronger up high so if it's strong on the ground, count on it being even stronger up there.
If you are flying in strong winds NEVER fly away going downwind because you will have a tough battle to get home.
Fly away into the wind and make the return trip easy.
If you are concerned at the wind strength, try flying into the wind to see how your Phantom handles it.

Don't set RTH to unnecessarily high altitudes.
If you find yourself in a high wind RTH situation, bring the Phantom down lower so it has to fight less wind and take over the driving because RTH is a slow and steady driver.
 
So I guess summing it all up, it's just don't fly in anything over 15mph winds and just prey there are no stronger winds higher up. Keep RTH as low as can be rather than higher. I'm sure today my p3 hit 58kmph.. that's 36 mph. With help from the wind that's not a bad speed.

Today was a perfect day for flying with 9mph winds and a clear blue sky but I still can't get the courage to test full range .
 

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