Why land immediately when 20 m within home point

Tymbo Sky · Oct 8, 2016

Good morning fellow pilots,

I just wanted to know why my beautiful brand new phantom 4 will immedietly land in place, in all RTH activations ( smart, fail safe ) within 20 m, if it clearly has the ability to land in the direct vicinity of my home point when over 20 m. Is there a positive side to this that I'm missing ?

Thanks and happy flying friends.

DanieOos · Oct 8, 2016

Id like to know too...

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alokbhargava · Oct 8, 2016

That's by the design.

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alokbhargava · Oct 8, 2016

alokbhargava said:
That's by the design.

Probably designers thought that it's not always safer ascending the bird to RTH height first and then get it to home point and then lower it for landing for such short distance RTH commands. Also one should be able to fly it back to home point manually in such cases. RTH should be used only when really needed as emergency.

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snowghost · Oct 8, 2016

You could always do Auto Land, but from what I've read it comes down hard.

Tymbo Sky · Oct 8, 2016

My main issue is the failsafe RTF when I loose connection when I'm snapping photos of homes. There is no way to over ride this function ?

Stolenvw · Oct 8, 2016

Tymbo Sky said:
My main issue is the failsafe RTF when I loose connection when I'm snapping photos of homes. There is no way to over ride this function ?

Set it to hover, then your going to have to walk around and get a connection again

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msinger · Oct 8, 2016

Tymbo Sky said:
My main issue is the failsafe RTF when I loose connection when I'm snapping photos of homes.

There are a few things you can do. First, disable Smart Return-to-Home so your Phantom does not attempt to RTH when the battery is low.

Next, set the Remote Controller Signal Lost setting to "Hover". That will tell your Phantom to hover in place if it ever becomes disconnected from the remote controller.

Finally, ensure you land before your battery reaches the critically low level. When the battery reaches that level, it'll auto land at its current location.

Tymbo Sky · Oct 8, 2016

Yea I've noticed that option which I have set to when I'm flying in that situation. I'm just surprised it's not an setting to allow to always land at home if it actually has the ability to.
Thanks guys. Appreciate it

Tymbo Sky · Oct 8, 2016

I guess If im flying over water I should just always make sure I'm 20 m away.

Does anyone know how often connection is lost on the phantom 4? Is it a rare thing ?

msinger · Oct 8, 2016

Tymbo Sky said:
Does anyone know how often connection is lost on the phantom 4? Is it a rare thing ?

It most commonly happens when there is an obstacle between the Phantom and the remote controller.

BMP · Oct 8, 2016

I posted a very similar thread the other day and got similar responses.
It really is a stupid function that does not make sense.
Return to home should mean "Return to Home"
In my case it turned out I had a faulty Remote Controller but if I had taken off over water I would have lost the drone.
It should at least be an option to set it as "always return to home" if ever signal is lost etc no matter how far away.

Tymbo Sky · Oct 8, 2016

BMP said:
I posted a very similar thread the other day and got similar responses.
It really is a stupid function that does not make sense.
Return to home should mean "Return to Home"
In my case it turned out I had a faulty Remote Controller but if I had taken off over water I would have lost the drone.
It should at least be an option to set it as "always return to home" if ever signal is lost etc no matter how far away.

Definitely agree with that. An option would have been nice. All it would take is an update. I mean it has the technology. Anyways. I will definitely set it to hover if I'm shooting photos for a house, and hope I don't loose connection in an open space when I'm flying over water within 20 metres.

BMP · Oct 8, 2016

Tymbo Sky said:
Definitely agree with that. An option would have been nice. All it would take is an update. I mean it has the technology. Anyways. I will definitely set it to hover if I'm shooting photos for a house, and hope I don't loose connection in an open space when I'm flying over water within 20 metres.

Yes - I think it would probably be a very simple software update for them.
As someone else said, if taking off near water or a cliff or anything get 20 to 30 metres away asap.
At least we know now about this "feature".