Crash video - Make sure your RTH Altitude is good for the surrounding area!

Colorado_Dave · May 9, 2018

Lost Signal when Mavic Pro Pt got behind a ridge or two in the mountains of Colorado. Signal Loss prevents you from having a view of the RTH flight as well as the ability to Pause the flight, of course.
I made the mistake of not setting my RTH altitude to something reasonable - probably 100m or even 200m in the mountains. Obstacle avoidance is sloppy also and when the MPP hit the brakes it veered sideways into a tree. I was able to triangulate it's location before the battery died, but it was 40-feet up in a Ponderosa Pine. The next day, 7 hours of hiking, 15 tree steps and a 20-foot pole with a hook on it (as well as rigorous 8 mile round-trip hike) I was able to recover the MPP but both landing gear legs were broken - so far that is all! I had a spare for one and should have the other tomorrow.

naderiano · May 9, 2018

Colorado_Dave said:
Lost Signal when Mavic Pro Pt got behind a ridge or two in the mountains of Colorado. Signal Loss prevents you from having a view of the RTH flight as well as the ability to Pause the flight, of course.
I made the mistake of not setting my RTH altitude to something reasonable - probably 100m or even 200m in the mountains. Obstacle avoidance is sloppy also and when the MPP hit the brakes it veered sideways into a tree. I was able to triangulate it's location before the battery died, but it was 40-feet up in a Ponderosa Pine. The next day, 7 hours of hiking, 15 tree steps and a 20-foot pole with a hook on it (as well as rigorous 8 mile round-trip hike) I was able to recover the MPP but both landing gear legs were broken - so far that is all! I had a spare for one and should have the other tomorrow.

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Isn't the MP supposed to go upwards when the obstacle sensing detects an obstacle? (And not sideways)

Just_nick · May 9, 2018

naderiano said:
Isn't the MP supposed to go upwards when the obstacle sensing detects an obstacle? (And not sideways)

Correct. I think this just happened to be because of how it was flying and how OA was trying to recover

Colorado_Dave · May 9, 2018

the side motion that put it in the tree was really a little drift - the braking is often "sloppy", maybe a little wind also. I had no view, camera view, or control of the aircraft at the time due to the signal loss.

GavieboyDji · May 9, 2018

A bit of info on rth feature out of the mavic manual. If you are more than 20 meters away and above your rth hight it just flys back at that hight.

The aircraft cannot avoid obstructions during RTH when the Forward Vision
System is disabled. Therefore, it is important to set a suitable Failsafe altitude
before each flight. Launch the DJI GO 4 app and enter “Camera” and tap to
set the Failsafe altitude.

RTH Altitude
If Return to Home (RTH), including Smart RTH and Low Battery RTH, is
triggered and the aircraft is further than 20 m from the home point:
1. It will return to home at the current altitude if flying at or above the RTH
altitude.
2. It will ascend to the RTH altitude if flying below it.

RTH Altitude
If RTH, including Smart RTH and Low Battery RTH, is triggered between 16 ft
and 66 ft (5 m and 20 m) from the home point, and Forward Vision System is
activated:
1. If aircraft's current altitude is greater than 32 ft (10 m), the aircraft will return
to the home point at the current altitude.
2. If aircraft's current altitude is lower than 32 ft (10 m), the aircraft will first
automatically ascend to 32 ft (10 m), from the current altitude.
The flight speed will be adjusted to 9 mph (14 kph). The aircraft will start
landing immediately if the Forward Vision System is deactivated. When entering
Failsafe RTH, the Forward Vision System status is evaluated and RTH will adapt
accordingly.

RTH Altitude Aircraft automatically descends and lands if RTH is triggered when the aircraft
is within a 16 ft (5 m) radius of the Home Point.
Aircraft cannot return to the Home Point when the GPS signal is weak or is
unavailable.

Press the Flight Pause button to exit from RTH. The aircraft will stop
ascending and hover.

GavieboyDji · May 9, 2018

I just leave mine at 100 meters and if I forget at least it's set to a hight that will clear everything unless I'm flying underneath trees I'm always walking behind it and I always set the rth to the controller so it just lands instead of shooting up into the canopy. I have a written flight checklist stuck to the inside of my Mavic case so it always remembers me to check everything. Sorry about your crash hope you get back flying soon the video was going nice as well enjoyed watching that. Great place.