Well, it happened. This morning I started my flight from my driveway. It always tells me that it has updated the Home Point, and it did so this time. I have a very large area that I can fly in and I found that at about a mile away, the video I was receiving was getting temperamental. I knew that I was at risk of loosing my connection, so I tried increasing height, which worked. I started the return flight when my screen went black. Oops, time to move around to see if I could regain the signal. While I was trying that, the video image started again and I could see that it was doing an automatic RTH. This was satisfying. When it was close to the house I saw it high overhead at the 150 feet that I programmed. It started it's descent, but it was very difficult for me to determine if it was over the driveway. Suddenly I realized that it might not be over my driveway, instead it may be too close to the house. I quickly tried to cancel RTH, but in looking back and forth between the drone and controller repeatedly, in my panic I clicked on "No" for Cancel. It descended until one leg was in the rain gutter. It was making a terrible racket. I then tried to fly "up", but it would not. After what seemed like forever, it finally stopped all motors and tumbled to the ground. My guess is that when its descent stopped, it thought it was on the ground.
I have heard suggestions that upon takeoff the drone should be hovered for a while high above the starting point (30 feet?) for accurate RTH, but I don't know if this is a myth or a requirement.
Moral to the story, my story, is to always cancel RTH when it is close to the landing site, if possible. Lesson learned. Fortunately the only damage included: white paint and nicks on the propellers, gimbal plate was 'out of place' and could be moved back into position, and the aftermarket lens hood shade popped off.
I have heard suggestions that upon takeoff the drone should be hovered for a while high above the starting point (30 feet?) for accurate RTH, but I don't know if this is a myth or a requirement.
Moral to the story, my story, is to always cancel RTH when it is close to the landing site, if possible. Lesson learned. Fortunately the only damage included: white paint and nicks on the propellers, gimbal plate was 'out of place' and could be moved back into position, and the aftermarket lens hood shade popped off.