Drone did not RTH!

[Lone Droner 10]

Used the "take off" and checked "precision landing" on the DJI Go 4 app. The app confirmed "home point has been updated", the aircraft launched as normal. I was flying in a new area but took off from my orange landing pad. I had forgotten to change out the battery so after just a few minutes I got the "battery level low" warning so I engaged RTH. I got a message I have never seen before after some 2 1/2 years of piloting both my Phantom 3 Advanced and the Mavic Pro. The message said "Return to "current" location or "original" location. Without really thinking it out, I chose "current" location. Aircraft took off and did not return home. Using the log and latitude and longitude coordinates, located the Mavic via Google Earth but it was not reachable. Anyone ever have this message appear? Plan on calling DJI

 

[msinger]

Anyone ever have this message appear?

Since you were using a mobile device with a GPS receiver, that message was asking you if you wanted to return to the last marked home point or your current location (your mobile device's location). It sounds like your mobile device might not have been reporting an accurate current location. You could review your TXT flight log to see what it was reporting.

 

[Lone Droner 10]

Thanks. I guess what concerns me is that after many, many flights using RTH, this has never happened before - asking me which location to RTH. The other strange thing I failed to mention was that the telemetry was showing that my distance from home was 435,000 feet! What? When I saw that I realized I was going to be screwed. $1,000 up in smoke since according to my flight log and the lat and long, the Mavic is on the side of a huge cliff. And of course, DJI cannot do anything unless they have the aircraft.

 

[msinger]

I realize hindsight is 20/20, but you can easily cancel RTH in DJI GO or from your remote controller if you notice your Mavic is not flying back to the location you thought was the home point.

 

[Lone Droner 10]

I agree and I knew that but I had flown it in an area that I was not familiar with and unfortunately, by the time I realized I could not hear it overhead it was gone and I could not find it using my iPhone.

 

[FlyGuy8675309]

Sorry about your Mavic -- lots of lessons here.

 

[mkp2020]

If you share your coordinates maybe someone could suggest a way to retrieve it.

 

[mavicQ]

wow how easy $1000 is lost...

 

[Dan]

Go by your local rock climbing gym and see if you can get any volunteers.

 

[PDXteriors]

Lol

 

[Rnl]

Rescue with another bird.

 

[Duse]

Rescue with another bird.

agreed.Do you know anyone else with a drone.

 

[gnirtS]

Ive had one flight where the home point was correct (set as drone location) but distance from controller was well over 500,000ft.
Turns out it was the tablet reporting an incorrect GPS possibly due to a roof in the way and incorrect wifi and other assists helping.

 

[Bernie707]

Would having your handheld decice on airplane mode have prevented that.? I'm a newbie but I assume airplane mode is the safest way fly. Is that wrong?

 

[sar104]

Would having your handheld decice on airplane mode have prevented that.? I'm a newbie but I assume airplane mode is the safest way fly. Is that wrong?

Airplane mode is only recommended because it switches off the mobile device wifi, which might, conceivably, interfere with the RC - aircraft link since it is also in the 2.4 GHz band, and it switches off the cellular radio (if present) and prevents incoming phone calls (in the case of a cell phone) while flying. If it also switches of the mobile device GPS then that is not an advantage - it's just a receiver so it won't interfere with anything and it prevents the app from knowing the device location.

 

[KONY]

so to all of us in fear that happens to them : what to do ?

If i'm using RTH i only want it to come back where it took off (presuming i didn't walk away or i was not on a moving boat)...so what setting to make sure i activate to only have the drone to go back to the take off location as recorded by the aircraft...and not some unknown GPS location provided by the smartphone or tablet ?

In a week that's the second time i read someone having to face this quesion upon RTH : current location Vs original location...

How to make sure the phone 's GPS doesn't come into play : should we switch off phone's GPS before flying ??

 

[msinger]

so to all of us in fear that happens to them : what to do ?

Choose to return to the original home point if you see that prompt. And learn how to cancel RTH in case your Mavic ever starts returning to a different location.

 

[rydfree]

Would having your handheld decice on airplane mode have prevented that.? I'm a newbie but I assume airplane mode is the safest way fly. Is that wrong?

Yes it would most likely have prevented the issue .

 

[skunkman]

Were you unable to fly home visually using your phone and the camera? Get disoriented?

 

[KONY]

Choose to return to the original home point if you see that prompt. And learn how to cancel RTH in case your Mavic ever starts returning to a different location.

THANK YOU

always helpful dear msinger

How to cancel RTH?