Near Flyaway - need help understanding flight log

[LOkayaks]

New Pilot here, but learning. Would appreciate help understanding two flights that were near-flyaways.

I was flying over a river, filming kayakers. When finished, I hit "RTH" and the drone tried to land right there, ON THE WATER. i had to wrestle it back to me, it kept wanting to land.

Again, a little later in the day, I tried to fly over water again. I started up, waited until the Home Point was surely set, then flew. When I got the footage I wanted, I again hit RTH, but the drone flew over me and continued about 200 yards away from me before I was able to wrestle it back to me. It felt like it wanted to go somewhere other than to me, like a teenager running from home.

Here are the two flight logs. I don't know what I'm looking at or for. Would appreciate any help understanding where I went wrong. Many thanks in advance.

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

DJI Flight Log Viewer - PhantomHelp.com

 

[RodPad]

The logs work!
You will get a lot of help here!

I just can't figure out completed ones.
I still have a Phantom IQ

Rod ..

 

[msinger]

In the first flight, RTH was not initiated. The log shows you flying a circular pattern over American River and then manually landed 1.9 feet away from the home point.

In the second flight, RTH was initiated and the drone flew back to the home point and started landing. While it was landing, you manually flew it away from the home point and then back to the Watt Avenue Boat Ramp where it landed. At 12 seconds into the flight, you reset the home point to a new location 67 feet away from the original home point. So, perhaps you were confused by that new home point location.

Original home point:



Updated home point:



You navigating away from the home point while the drone was auto landing:



In both of these flights, you took off before the home point was set. If you wait until the home point is set before taking off and don't reset it mid-flight after taking off, you should be able to eliminate confusion like this.

 

[LOkayaks]

In the first flight, RTH was not initiated. The log shows you flying a circular pattern over American River and then manually landing near the home point.

In the second flight, RTH was initiated and the drone flew back to the home point and started landing. While it was landing, you manually flew it away from the home point and then back to the Watt Avenue Boat Ramp where it landed. At 12 seconds into the flight, you reset the home point to a new location 67 feet away from the original home point. So, perhaps you were confused by that new home point location.

Original home point:
View attachment 171827


Updated home point:
View attachment 171826

Thank you. Now that I look closely at the second flight, the home point is wrong - so somehow when I initiated the flight, it registered the wrong home point, so when it flew over me to go way over there (I was on the boat ramp), I panicked and started overriding it.

For the first flight, I can't see the erratic "trying to land on the water" behavior that I saw from riverside. Weird. The spot where it looked like it was trying to land on the water is

Anyway, this was a good exercise in learning to read/review the flight logs - I hadn't done that before. I'll drill down a little further in the logs, perhaps it was one flight a few moments earlier.

 

[msinger]

@LOkayaks FYI, I added some more context above after you replied.

this was a good exercise in learning to read/review the flight logs - I hadn't done that before

Lots of data available in the TXT flight logs! For easier access to them, you can install Flight Reader (my other log viewer) directly on your computer.

 

[Starz]

Something to consider.
The return to home feature is certainly something that needs to be understood in how it works and the settings that apply. It’s also a good idea to get as much time in actually flying the new aircraft. If you spend some time going through all the settings in the app and understanding how the home point is established, and how to verify that the home point is accurate, you will probably feel a bit more comfortable when it’s in the air doing what you want it to do.
Be safe!

 

[MS Coast]

Some other things offered for consideration, with a little redundancy.

Prior to takeoff, verify that the drone's orientation on the map agrees with reality, i.e. that the compass hasn't been biased by ferrous metal or a magnetic field.

Before proceeding with the flight, verify the home point location on the map.

Be aware that you don't have to wrestle with or try to override RTH, just switch it off.

 

[Yorkshire_Pud]

One other suggestion, when you launch fly the drone a short distance away but far enough to be beyiond the minimum necessary distance the initiate an RTH. Check where it heads for and starts the landing phase. If it is not to your liking bring the drone overhead and reset the homepoint to the drones location.
Why do I suggest this? I had a drone RTH to somewhere 20ft away from the launch point and the home point was over a Fir tree.
Some will probably say it is an unnecessary check but better safe and certain rather than lose the drone.

 

[RodPad]

RTH, has a lot of variables, now being able to change the home point on the fly I understand that purpose.

You think it is a fail safe, until it fails, it only got me once had to a pay for a repair on a P3S it came back to slow. I should have took over.
A few others before and after I figured out what was happening, these are all on Phantom 3 serious.

Rod ..