Flying without GPS?

[pinzmann]

So I got a action camera mount for my Air 3 and wanted to try it out with my Insta360x3. After mounting and activating everything, I waited for GPS lock which never came but did get 8-10 satellites. Really wanting to try this I went ahead and took off. I did realize that the camera was interfering or blocking the gps signal but was hoping that once up in the air more sats would acquire. Nope, depending on the orientation of the drone I got between 7-11 sats. Once up in the air it was rock solid. Flu it around no farther than 50 meters and 10 meters above the ground but it responded normally. Didn’t try a RTH. Got some unique video. Tried it the next day when more sats were up and did get a GPS lock with 14 sats. Usually I’ll get around 20 or so so the camera does affect the GPS. Not sure if I would try it again without getting the lock, especially if I went any distance or height.
So is there any danger of the drone flying off into oblivion or will it just act erratically? Is this what they call ATTI mode?

 

[Meta4]

So is there any danger of the drone flying off into oblivion or will it just act erratically? Is this what they call ATTI mode?

Flying without GPS does not cause the drone to fly off or act erratically.
It will fly exactly the same except that it won't have any horizontal position holding ability.
It will be subject to being blown around by any wind and it won't have "brakes".
RTH cannot work without GPS and if you lose signal, the drone will land where it is.

 

[BigAl07]

When the drone doesn't have sufficient satellite DATA you lose the "Training Wheels" (or at least some of them) and be unable to hold position or know WHERE it is in the sky. It will be up to you, the RPIC, to be able to control the aircraft without those training wheels.

Keep in mind, if there is wind (and there will be) the aircraft won't counteract it and will float along with the wind unless YOU do something to counter it.

ATTI mode should be "manually enabled" so we can teach/train without GPS but DJI determined several iteration ago that it can't be forced on manually. That's sad because EVERYONE should understand it and be able to recognize it and be able to HANDLE it.

 

[akdrone]

Keep in mind that if you are some short distance from take off (50feet???) a RTH will result in simply landing. People have flown over water nearby and had their drone land in the water...It only comes back to the take off if you have flown sufficiently far off but I don't recall how far that is.

 

[Yaros]

So is there any danger of the drone flying off into oblivion or will it just act erratically? Is this what they call ATTI mode?

No, the drone won't act erratically, however keep in mind that without GPS if you loose signal, your drone will land.

ATTI mode is when both GPS and Visual Positioning systems are unavailable (higher than 7m over ground).