Air 3 RTH question

[davedrone 178]

I have no control of my altitude when a RTH triggers. It doesn't matter if I choose "optimal" or preset" in the safety settings. This happens day or night. My Mavic 3 would let me adjust the altitude during RTH during night time shooting only. Doesn't seem like you can adjust altitude during a RTH regardless of why RTH was triggered

 

[solidhouse]

I have no control of my altitude when a RTH triggers. It doesn't matter if I choose "optimal" or
"preset" in the safety settings. This happens day or night. My Mavic 3 would let me adjust the altitude during RTH during night time shooting only

What do you have the RTH altitude set at? What altitude does it actually RTH at?

 

[davedrone 178]

What do you have the RTH altitude set at? What altitude does it actually RTH at?

whatever altitude I'm flying at, thats the altitude she returns home at the second RTH triggers, whether I trigger it or the drone triggers it, regardless of any setting in the APP. I'm always flying higher than the 328ft preset altitude I chose in the app for RTH

 

[solidhouse]

whatever altitude I'm flying at, thats the altitude she returns home at the second RTH triggers, whether I trigger it or the drone triggers it, regardless of any setting in the APP. I'm always flying higher than the 328ft preset altitude I chose in the app for RTH

That is the way that it supposed to work. If you are flying higher than the preset RTH altitude, it will stay at that altitude. If you are flying lower than the preset RTH altitude, it will ascend to the preset altitude and RTH.

 

[davedrone 178]

Sometimes I like to lower the altitude when she is returning to dodge some wind.
My Mini 3 Pro, Mini 3 and Air 2s can all be lowered during any kind of RTH. I just thought that if I have RTH set at "preset" in the APP instead of "optimal" I could manually lower the drone during RTH at least to the preset level of 328 feet.

 

[Droning on and on...]

Wow, with full 360 OA RTH has really been enhanced. Looks like DJI has added enough autonomous functionality to fix the running-into-an-NFZ-during-return disaster (as well as other obstacles).

There's an "Optimal" mode which essentially allows the drone to completely fly itself back, controlling altitude and path dynamically in real time.

This ain't your Daddy's RTH of yore. No more ascending to a preset altitude and flying straight-line back. There's a "Preset" mode that works mostly like this, but deviates from old-school by first flying itself around until it finds a place clear overhead that it's happy with, then behaves from that point like old-style RTH.

For "Optimal", you don't even configure a return altitude.

See pp. 49-53 in the user manual. I like these changes. Fewer, maybe no more stories of getting stuck under an NFZ on RTH and just waiting for a critical battery forced landing – into a river

Downside is it's a lot more complex. It's a challenge for long-time experienced DJI pilots to get a solid understanding, there are so many turns and twists in how it works. Had to read the RTH section thoroughly twice to fully get what it's doing.

 

[Droning on and on...]

That is the way that it supposed to work. If you are flying higher than the preset RTH altitude, it will stay at that altitude. If you are flying lower than the preset RTH altitude, it will ascend to the preset altitude and RTH.

Uh, no. You need to read the manual, and pay particular attention to the default "Optimal" mode.

Another experienced DJI pilot being bitten by being an experienced DJI pilot... start counting

 

[old man mavic]

@davedrone 178 ,if you read the different RTH scenarios in the manual, it does state that the altitude cannot be altered, once a particular RTH has been activated
is there a specific reason why you choose such a high RTH altitude ,where the wind speed is usually higher
the only way round it is to cancel the current RTH, lower the drone ,and then initiate RTH again,
in optimal RTH then the aircraft will use the APAS 5.0 to fly
the drone home in the shortest possible route avoiding obstacles as it does it
i am hoping if the weather is as forecast ,on this coming Friday, to try out the Optimal RTH setting to see exactly what it does ,as it returns home
@Droning on and on... beat me to the punch

 

[Droning on and on...]

When I get mine, since I'll have care refresh I'm gonna test this out just a few trees deep into a forest, with an open field on the edge.

Of course not until I get the initial thrill out of my system, which minimum will take at least a week.

How smart is it? Will it turn around in place, looking for what looks like the clearest path direction? Will it see and understand the open field just through a tree or two?

I'm so curious...

 

[old man mavic]

@Droning on and on... me too ,if it all goes to plan i will let the forum Know

 

[mavic3usa]

When I get mine, since I'll have care refresh I'm gonna test this out just a few trees deep into a forest, with an open field on the edge.

Of course not until I get the initial thrill out of my system, which minimum will take at least a week.

How smart is it? Will it turn around in place, looking for what looks like the clearest path direction? Will it see and understand the open field just through a tree or two?

I'm so curious...

yeah i was going to say the same, when you get YOURS, please try it....because i still don't trust. fly out a mile in heavy trees/brush/poles/roads/buildings/etc, lower the drone to 10 feet off the ground, cut the power to the remote....see what happens.

 

[old man mavic]

@mavic3usa wow that's a bit ambitious for a first test ,maybe just lower it to 50ft for the first go

 

[Droning on and on...]

yeah i was going to say the same, when you get YOURS, please try it....because i still don't trust. fly out a mile in heavy trees/brush/poles/roads/buildings/etc, lower the drone to 10 feet off the ground, cut the power to the remote....see what happens.

I don't fully trust it either, so, Care Refresh

I never crash (braggart ), Avata excepted, so the money I spend on CR for every drone might as well get used. And the beauty of it would be it's DJI's fault.

If it crashes. I'm hoping it's smart enough to understand the field beyond the trees that it can see through them, and head there.

That's what I'm hoping. What I believe is it's not that smart, but instead will head in the direction of the HP, deeper into the woods if that's the direction, and use OA to weave through the trees and get there, stopping and hovering in place if it can't figure out a flight path around the obstacle.

 

[davedrone 178]

Not sure why DJI doesn't give you the option at all to alter altitude on RTH. All other DJI drones let adjust altitude during RTH

 

[davedrone 178]

Uh, no. You need to read the manual, and pay particular attention to the default "Optimal" mode.

Another experienced DJI pilot being bitten by being an experienced DJI pilot... start counting

No need to pay "particular attention to the default "optimal mode" it works the same way in "preset" mode" and it works differently than the Mavic 3 which I did read the manual so I assumed the Air would work the same way.

 

[Droning on and on...]

No need to pay "particular attention to the default "optimal mode"

Sure seemed like it from your post.

 

[DirtyDrone]

So, I was just about to post a new thread when it recommended this one so I’ll try here first.

looking to see if this is normal or not, when I’m a ways out over the farm fields, I forget the actual distance but I can barely see the A3. In ”pre-set” RTH, altitude set to 262 feet, it will start head home but climb slowly until it reaches max altitude.

If I cancel the RTH and lower altitude when it’s closer, it will simply climb to exactly 262’ and head home as I would expect it to. I set it that high to be safe around some high-lines (electric) in the fields.

Can anyone confirm this is normal operation? I will try to get some specific distance for better reference shortly.

 

[mavic3usa]

looking to see if this is normal or not, when I’m a ways out over the farm fields, I forget the actual distance but I can barely see the A3. In ”pre-set” RTH, altitude set to 262 feet, it will start head home but climb slowly until it reaches max altitude.

If I cancel the RTH and lower altitude when it’s closer, it will simply climb to exactly 262’ and head home as I would expect it to. I set it that high to be safe around some high-lines (electric) in the fields.

Sounds like the correct behavior but let me try to help understand this a bit better:

You set your RTH altitude to 262 feet because you want to fly over the tallest objects in the area. When you press the RTH button when you are lower than 262 feet, the drone stops, climbs to 262 feet exactly, and then comes home as expected.

While the drone is coming home (and I've cleared the tallest objects in the area), I cancel the RTH and I use the sticks to manually bring the drone down the 100 feet, and....from there I kinda get lost.

BTW, if you are too close to home when you trigger RTH, the drone may not climb to 262 feet first before it makes it way back home.

 

[DirtyDrone]

When it is a “far” from home it will automatically climb, while moving towards home, to maximum altitude.

When I am closer to home, it does NOT climb to max altitude, it climbs to the 262, holds altitude and heads home just as I am used to with my A2S.

Sorry for the confusion, I was multitasking while typing that ha.

 

[mavic3usa]

When it is a “far” from home it will automatically climb, while moving towards home, to maximum altitude.

When I am closer to home, it does NOT climb to max altitude, it climbs to the 262, holds altitude and heads home just as I am used to with my A2S.

Sorry for the confusion, I was multitasking while typing that ha.

Please define your "maximum altitude" in feet please. If you have your RTH set to 262 feet *and* you have manually set a "maximum altitude" which your cannot exceed.....

Also let us know if you are flying (when near or far) in a restricted area that might be affecting how your drone flies.

Finally I believe the newer drones have a smart RTH feature which (when implemented) will behave differently that the traditional RTH we are used to. During "smart RTH" the altitude is "unpredictable" at best and I don't use it.