What happened here?

[glen e]

I was talking to another friend last night that got a P4 for for Christmas also. He had a situation that the drone seemed out of control. He took it up around 50 or 60 feet, not far, and hit the return to home button. The drone shot up to the hundred foot Mark he set, then started coming down in his driveway, a slight breeze blew it to the left and it started to come down on a hedge at the outside of the driveway. No stick command would change it from coming down, or move it left or right. He didn't know about the return to home cancel button, so all he could do was go over and hold it from going into the bushes. So the question is ,why didn't the controls work when you're returning to home? Does it even override console commands when it's in that mode?

Thx

 

[Neon Euc]

It depends on the battery. If it's at 10% I believe it will lower and no inputs would work.

Neon Euc

 

[glen e]

Batt was 100 pct.....

 

[Darren Roach]

I have found that when in RTH mode that I can only control the camera and yaw. The input on the sticks for anything else don't work. You can however discontinue the RTH mode from either the touch screen on your ipad / phone or by pressing and holding the RTH button on the controller for 3 seconds to take back flight control.
You also have to be a certain distance away from the home point for it to land exactly where it took off from or it will just land.
If I use the RTH function I always take back control of the drone once it is close so I can put it just where I want it. I have found that in RTH mode it lands a little too quick for my liking. I prefer a much more gentle landing. Better for the drone better for me and my pocket.

 

[Lucone]

I have found that when in RTH mode that I can only control the camera and yaw. The input on the sticks for anything else don't work. You can however discontinue the RTH mode from either the touch screen on your ipad / phone or by pressing and holding the RTH button on the controller for 3 seconds to take back flight control.
You also have to be a certain distance away from the home point for it to land exactly where it took off from or it will just land.
If I use the RTH function I always take back control of the drone once it is close so I can put it just where I want it. I have found that in RTH mode it lands a little too quick for my liking. I prefer a much more gentle landing. Better for the drone better for me and my pocket.

Darren is spot on. The key here is to get out in an open field and experiment with RTH until you have a good understanding of it, as well as the other functions of your Phantom!




Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots

 

[AlecW]

The manual says hitting RTH within 65 feel of home point initiates a landing where it's currently at. Maybe he accidently clicked A or S mode which would account for the drift. Very hard to tell with a 3rd person account of the incident.

 

[ftttu]

I flew distance runs were it started auto landing at 10%, but I could still control it. I had both sticks fully forward, and made it back safe with about 2 or 3% left. If the OP's buddy's bird did something other than came straight down after rising to RTH height, I'd think it was set in Atti mode.

 

[F3honda4me]

I strongly urge your friend to read the entire manual and fully understand how the craft operates. The behavior you describe is 100% normal. RTH will usually land within a few feet from home point, however, anything within 65 feet of home is acceptable to the system. In high wind with RTH I have had my craft come down to land only to get blown a good 40 feet away from home point and land 40 feet away from home point. Again, totally normal. And you cannot control the craft much during RTH, also normal.

 

[glen e]

I have found that when in RTH mode that I can only control the camera and yaw. The input on the sticks for anything else don't work. You can however discontinue the RTH mode from either the touch screen on your ipad / phone or by pressing and holding the RTH button on the controller for 3 seconds to take back flight control.
You also have to be a certain distance away from the home point for it to land exactly where it took off from or it will just land.
If I use the RTH function I always take back control of the drone once it is close so I can put it just where I want it. I have found that in RTH mode it lands a little too quick for my liking. I prefer a much more gentle landing. Better for the drone better for me and my pocket.

Thank you, this is exactly the information I was looking for. I just got back from his house and the drone came down 15 to 20 feet away from the take off point.

 

[Darren Roach]

I guess there are new would be pilots out there that get their new drone and can't wait to get out there and fly. Unfortunately some are so excited that they are not fully reading the manuals before take off.
Its easily done and can lead to a very costly error. These machines are full of very smart technology and need some understanding on how the systems work so when something is not working right they can be quickly rectified.
If in doubt always ask. There are always people ready and willing to help. Remember, have fun and really enjoy your machines. Knowledge is power

 

[With The Birds]

It's been a while since I did my RTH behaviour familiarisation (perhaps I need a refresher) however if I recall directly RTH still works in ATTI mode (providing there is sufficient satalite acquisition to get GPS functionality). Fiddling with the left stick (mode 2) cancels the initial climb to RTH altitude. The 15ft variance from home point could have been, and likely was, within the known tollerance for consumer GPS accuracy.

I would encourage your friend to learn the ropes somewhere other than in his front yard.

 

[Klaus_Klavier]

RTH for me is only to be a failsafe event. I always am in full control of my drone all the way to and from where I fly it to, I can avoid obstacles, don't need to fly super high, slow down and make any corrective maneuvers while landing


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

 

[With The Birds]

RTH for me is only to be a failsafe event. I always am in full control of my drone all the way to and from where I fly it to, I can avoid obstacles, don't need to fly super high, slow down and make any corrective maneuvers while landing


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots

A reasonable position (and one I share). Notwithstanding you want to be 100% comfortable you appreciate how the RTH operates and the relavent settings for the times where it will initiate, signal loss, controller failure, smart RTH etc.

 

[Klaus_Klavier]

A reasonable position (and one I share). Notwithstanding you want to be 100% comfortable you appreciate how the RTH operates and the relavent settings for the times where it will initiate, signal loss, controller failure, smart RTH etc.

I love how it works I just try to avoid it at all costs lol


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots