First let me get the disclaimer out of the way. I’ve only had my P3A for two weeks now. I have had, as I stated in an earlier post, the first P2V, a P2V+, and the P2V+V3. Long before that my very first quad was the Parrot AR drone 2.0. I in NO way profess to be an expert OR a know it all but I always take the time to read, watch, and learn as much as I can absorb. My primary hobby before getting into quads was Ehelis that didn’t have all the flying assists that these things have!
Now I’ll try to answer your many questions as best I can with MY understanding and experience with the Phantoms. First you need to know what modes are “selectable” on the controller itself.
There is the P-GPS mode. That’s the upper most position. The phantom will use the GPS and the VPS together (if the VPS is turned on) and the phantom is at a low enough altitude to utilize the VPS.
EDIT:The phantom will automatically switch between GPS,OPTI and ATTI depending on what's available
Second position down is A-mode or ATTI. The phantom will only use the barometer to maintain altitude.
The third position down is F-mode or IOC. That will let you use the “intelligent orientation control”.
Now, you’re obviously used to the P2 and probably the two biggest differences are, 1. The P3 will get a sat lock almost instantly compared to the P2 which we all know would take WAY longer. 2. There is NO wifi to wait on. When you power on the P3 it will connect virtually instantly. Seriously, it’s just night and day compared to the P2.
As for the RTH, again, this is my understanding and experience I’m going off of. If I’m wrong I’m sure someone will be able to correct me and I invite that! When you first power on the P3 there is a “warm up” period that can take a good minute or so where you aren’t able to initiate a CSC AND as best I know doesn’t matter if the TX is connected or not because the bird is basically locked until the IMU is finished warming up. Now if you’re in an area with view of GPS sats that will also give the Phantom plenty of time to get a good lock and set the home point. If you’re indoors and there is no sat reception then……well, I’m not 100% sure that it will Have a “home point” to RTH to. I haven’t tested it so that’s speculation! I can only refer WAYYY back to the AR drone which relied on its VPS and what it would do if it lost signal is it would just sit an hover where it last had a signal until you moved close enough to regain control. Once again, I haven’t tested this and there is basally NO information or documentation that I have found in the poorly written manual but I would have to assume that’s what it would HAVE to do to prevent a crash. If control is never regained then I would guess it would go into a low battery failsafe and just land?? IDK for sure and I’m not willing to test it! LOL!
As far as going back to the last recorded home point that is only for the current flight since each “home point” is set at the time you power it on. No different than the P2 in that respect. If there is no sat lock then there is no home point set to return to.
You’re kind of throwing out a lot of “what ifs” that offers up a lot of different situations where as the pilot; you’d have to take responsibility for if ya put the quad in varying situations that could cause loss of GPS or some other interference. Other than the failure of one of the 4 systems GPS,VPS,compass, barromiter and tx.
If anyone here is willing to test any of my theories or knowledge I would welcome the feedback!
I’m more of a visual and verbal communicator so If I don’t make any sense I apologize in advance. I was a bit late in life when it comes to computers and using a keyboard!
As for the fellow in the video. After watching again I can honestly say the worst thing he did wrong was to calibrate the compass inside the house. I'd really like to see the flight log with the stick movements. I believe he had control the entire time and the crash was caused because of his inexperience and being in a small area. Not the Phantom
