my 1st "long distance" flight - weak signal, wind, RTH in sport mode

[motopokep]

so having done some LOS quiet park flying and having done a few out of sight residential flights, I got a bit more confident and it was a quiet winter evening, no people or cars outside, weather said 7mph wind, but at ground level it felt like zero wind (though I know it can get windier higher up). So I flew my MP 1/3 of a mile out at about 120 ft average height. My house was blocking the view, and probably some signal. Video was perfect, was dark out but the street lights and roads were enough to understand where I am This is a residential area, all 2 story houses, all look the same from above.

At 1/3 of a mile out I got a "weak signal" warning, I took it to mean the RC, and at the same time I got a wind warning. At the same time the video on my tablet started to freeze and would cut in and out. I turned the Mavic around and was about to fly back manually, but again, I didn't fly out in a straight line, it was night and hard to see exactly where to come back, so when I turned it around, I couldn't exactly see a path back. If I didn't have a weak RC signal warning coupled with a wind warning, coupled with video cutting out, I would take the time to fly back manually by telemetry and I'm sure video would kick in any second. But my heart started racing and all I could think about is that I can lose my Mavic if the winds pick up and my video would keep cutting out.

So I flipped it in sport mode and pressed RTH. Shortly, the video cut back in and it showed that it was heading in my direction. I have RTH set at 35 meters (so 115 feet). It didn't take too long to get back right above me and land in the same spot where it took off. One thing I didn't like is that in previous flights, before it landed, it would stop and hover for a few seconds, and land very softly. Today it didn't do that, and just kept landing continuously and hit the ground harder than I'd like it to land, shaking the video. I gotta see if I turned off precise landing by accident.

Overall, very impressed with the Mavic, how it warned me of adverse conditions, and came back with no issues. I have yet to explore the many intelligent features such as follow me, terrain, circle around me, etc...but for now I'm not too much into it filming myself, rather I'm more into getting into long distance flying.

My goal is to fly to my friend's house, 2.9 miles out, and land in his back yard...doable? or will I lose RC signal in a residential (suburban) area? Is the long range reception generally limited to non-residential areas, like farm fields, parks? What are you guys getting for range in residential areas? 1/3 of a mile is way too little, maybe had something to do with my house being in the way of the signal, or maybe there is a cell phone tower nearby, or those electricity wires along the road? I was using signal boosters on the antennas, for what they're worth.

 

[lolo780]

You might be able to do it depending on what exactly is in the way, and what sort of RF reflections you can get. At that distance almost certainly you'd need to amplify the aircraft side radio. You could put 20W of power out of your remote, but if it can't 'hear' the aircraft, it's no good.

Aircraft Antenna Mod

 

[Youser]

Lots of WiFi signals in residential areas will probably have and affect on your signal. You could try getting on the roof of your house and flying at high altitude to to get to your friends house. Wouldn't advise you to do it though.

Also, next time you're feeling confident enough to try something new, do it in daylight.

 

[lolo780]

One more thing is aircraft antenna placement. I'd relocate the left side (motor #2, what DJI calls right) antenna higher up, center or rear.

 

[motopokep]

Lots of WiFi signals in residential areas will probably have and affect on your signal. You could try getting on the roof of your house and flying at high altitude to to get to your friends house. Wouldn't advise you to do it though.

Also, next time you're feeling confident enough to try something new, do it in daylight.

I agree, and I've flowed mostly in daylight before, much easier. Problem is, the wind for some reason is usually stronger during the day, and it's almost always calm in the evening...live in a windy state...should be calmer by summer. Good idea about the roof...though I won't climb the roof, I can open the 2nd floor window and fly out of my back yard in that direction, and there would be nothing blocking the direct visual path of the drone and the signal. I gotta admit, I am nervous about flying in a residential area. If something goes wrong, there's less chance of recovering my Mavic if it gets stuck on someone's roof, as I'd have to hire a pro roofer to get it down, cuz I ain't climbing no steep roofs. Or if it crashes on the road, it'll get run over by a car...let alone I really don't want it to crash on a car a person, which is another reason I flew out at night, as the streets are dead. Problem is I got my Mavic during winter and I'm very eager to fly, and it's rare to have good weather right now so driving far out is not worth it this time of year, so it's tempting to just dart outside for a 5 minute flight. I won't be flying around here much once the weather gets nicer, and by next winter I'll probably get my fix in during the warm seasons to allow me to wait through the winter.

 

[motopokep]

One more thing is aircraft antenna placement. I'd relocate the left side (motor #2, what DJI calls right) antenna higher up, center or rear.

interesting, I'll have to look into the antenna mods once I get more advanced and start flying out further

 

[787steve]

I have to ask, is this 2.9 mile residential flight plan serious, or a joke?

 

[lolo780]

I fly Sparks 3 miles out. Mavics can reach 5+ miles in stock form. Dipping out of LOS is a different story though.

 

[ManuCH]

About your hard landing: I've read that precision landing and/or ground detection doesn't work as well at night, especially if the spot you land on is not well illuminated. Some people recommend performing a manual landing in these conditions in order to avoid hitting the ground too hard.

Also, entering sport mode for RTH won't work. RTH always uses the same speed, regardless of the sport mode toggle. If you really are fighting some serious wind, enter sport mode and fly manually.

 

[Youser]

About your hard landing: I've read that precision landing and/or ground detection doesn't work as well at night, especially if the spot you land on is not well illuminated. Some people recommend performing a manual landing in these conditions in order to avoid hitting the ground too hard.

Also, entering sport mode for RTH won't work. RTH always uses the same speed, regardless of the sport mode toggle. If you really are fighting some serious wind, enter sport mode and fly manually.

I'm sure I read on this forum that the RTH in Sport mode increases the speed of return. Guess I'll have to test this myself next time I'm out.

 

[mel.m]

When in sports mode u disable obsticale avoidance no sensors = hard landing

 

[motopokep]

As far as RTH in sports mode not increasing return speed, I'm curious to test this myself next time, as the MP returned quite quickly...maybe favorable wind. Yes, I really wasn't planning RTH back, was hoping to have fun with a manual flight, but given the dark conditions, signal cutting in and out, and a wind warning, I decided to rely on that. was flying higher than anything so not worried about obstacles. Yes, definitely am going to avoid night flying out of LOS from now.

As far as my 2.9 mile residential flight, it's a dream but now I'm realizing it'll never turn it into reality, for public safety reasons and fear of losing my Mavic. I'll have to find some remote land to try that though. Maybe fly that far out over water? Gotta read up on water, signal and wind. I will however maybe continue to discover up to a half mile around the neighborhood, though I know I shouldn't..sometimes too lazy to drive out and make a day out of this for every flight.