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Change in GEO RTH setting in the new update, confused beginner?

Hobo

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I posted this in the wrong forum... now, reposting it here.

From the wording in the new manual, it appears DJI has made a change in what the drone does during RTH in a GEO zone. Does "hover in place" mean: The drone will not descend and continue to fly home, but hover in place until the battery dies and drops to the ground? I'm confused. Can anyone clarify this statement for a beginner?

User manual v1.2 (2021.06 page 16)
“GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH, it will either descend until it exits the GEO zone and continue to fly to the Home Point or hover in place due to altitude limits.”

User manual v1.4 (2021.06 page 16)
“GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH it will hover in place.”
 
Last edited:
I posted this in the wrong forum... now, reposting it here.

From the wording in the new manual, it appears DJI has made a change in what the drone does during RTH in a GEO zone. Does "hover in place" mean: The drone will not descend and continue to fly home, but hover in place until the battery dies and drops to the ground? I'm confused. Can anyone clarify this statement for a beginner?

User manual v1.2 (2021.06 page 16)
“GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH, it will either descend until it exits the GEO zone and continue to fly to the Home Point or hover in place due to altitude limits.”

User manual v1.4 (2021.06 page 16)
“GEO zones will affect RTH. If the aircraft flies into a GEO zone during RTH it will hover in place.”
There aren’t any notes in the firmware release notes about a change to the RTH behavior which is where I would expect to have a change noted but my take on this is you really don’t want the aircraft to descend without pilot input especially without front sensors. If that was ever actually the protocol that would be pretty dangerous if the drone descended below obstacles with no front sensors during RTH.

By hover in place they mean hover until the batteries get low then the drone will auto land where it is. It won’t just fall from the sky.

At any rate you want to avoid this situation.
 
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There aren’t any notes in the firmware release notes about a change to the RTH behavior which is where I would expect to have a change noted but my take on this is you really don’t want the aircraft to descend without pilot input especially without front sensors. If that was ever actually the protocol that would be pretty dangerous if the drone descended below obstacles with no front sensors during RTH.

By hover in place they mean hover until the batteries get low then the drone will auto land where it is. It won’t just fall from the sky.

At any rate you want to avoid this situation.
Thanks for that answer. See Item 1 in this release log that's in the updated manualScreen Shot 2021-06-17 at 4.54.30 PM.png.
 
The GEO zones are not properly represented on the 2D map as they are 3 dimensional. They expand as an upside-down cone from the actual lines on the map. This is why you can launch from and fly around (up to certain ceiling) at a seemingly authorization zone, but your set RTH height might put the drone into the no-fly zone cone right above you. Mavic Air 1 used to give you a proper warning for that, word by word.

I believe Mini 2 descended automatically to avoid the cone before (never tried, interpreting the manual) which it does not do any more.
 
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The GEO zones are not properly represented on the 2D map as they are 3 dimensional. They expand as an upside-down cone from the actual lines on the map. This is why you can launch from and fly around (up to certain ceiling) at a seemingly authorization zone, but your set RTH height might put the drone into the no-fly zone cone right above you. Mavic Air 1 used to give you a proper warning for that, word by word.

I believe Mini 2 descended automatically to avoid the cone before (never tried, interpreting the manual) which it does not do any more.
Yeah, I forgot about the inverted cone... I took Aviation Ground School several decades ago when studying for a pilot license and now remember that. I probably shouldn't be concerned, since I'll likely stay away from GEOs anyway. But, was just wondering about the logic that DJI would change the RTH procedure with this update.
 
The GEO zones are not properly represented on the 2D map as they are 3 dimensional. They expand as an upside-down cone from the actual lines on the map. This is why you can launch from and fly around (up to certain ceiling) at a seemingly authorization zone, but your set RTH height might put the drone into the no-fly zone cone right above you. Mavic Air 1 used to give you a proper warning for that, word by word.
Only enhanced warning zones are altitude based and there’s usually only two tiers not shaped. Remember not to confuse DJI GeoZones with actual controlled airspace.
 
Only enhanced warning zones are altitude based and there’s usually only two tiers not shaped. Remember not to confuse DJI GeoZones with actual controlled airspace.
I used to get the "RTH will pass true no-fly zone" warnings quite frequently when I had the Air1 flying in authorization zones (basically the whole town I live in and most of the neighboring towns are in an authorization zone). If my memory serves right, the errors eventually disappeared (without changing the RTH altitude) the farther away I got from the runway, despite still staying in the auth. zone. In all honesty I did not bother to test whether the change was quantized... I believe our airport is considered a "high risk airport", don't know if it makes a difference.
 
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I used to get the "RTH will pass true no-fly zone" warnings quite frequently when I had the Air1 flying in authorization zones (basically the whole town I live in and most of the neighboring towns are in an authorization zone). If my memory serves right, the errors eventually disappeared (without changing the RTH altitude) the farther away I got from the runway, despite still staying in the auth. zone. In all honesty I did not bother to test whether the change was quantized... I believe our airport is considered a "high risk airport", don't know if it makes a difference.
Must have been a bug that was fixed. If you are already in the GeoZone and unlocked it you shouldn’t have received that notice to begin with.

That warning you got is suppose to tell you that while your aircraft isn’t in a GeoZone now the direct RTH path from the drone’s current position would take it through a GeoZone that you don’t have authorization for which would obviously be an issue. So you would have had to fly around the GeoZone to get where it is.
 
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