Flying Home Manually

[jasper43]

after a bit of newbie advice.

Ok, so the scenario is I’m flying a good distance away and can only just see my bird (M2Z) when my phone/tablet display dies and leaves me with just the controller display. I know that I can use RTH button but if I want to fly it manually back home, what tips have you got or what technique do you use. Bearing in mind that at the distance I’m talking about I can’t see the direction the drone is pointing so going full speed ahead/reverse might just take it out of visual range.

For the administrators, is it possible to have a “Tips & Tricks” subsection/folder in the Mavic 2 Zoom thread please?

 

[laurens23]

you can see the distance on the screen of the remote. just try a direction and see if the distance decreases. repeat until you're back.

 

[Dragonfly]

Hit RTH and count to 5 then cancel RTH. Now just push full stick forward as drone will be pointing at you. You can fly it manually at your own speed or height, just don't alter direction.
Watch you distance indicator to comfirm its coming to home.

 

[gnirtS]

you can see the distance on the screen of the remote. just try a direction and see if the distance decreases. repeat until your back.

Thats my method, it'll be a series of curves initially until narrowing down the exact heading but it works.
I prefer this method as if the home point has been reset somehow you can still bring it back using distance to controller.

 

[Meta4]

what tips have you got or what technique do you use.

Post #3 would work well or you could learn to use the radar display or the map display in the app.

 

[Photo Beaty]

Would you please give a few hints on how to use the radar display or the map display in the app. I should have this figured out by now but how to use these displays to return home as been a weak link in my flying. I still use trial and error while reading the distance. This works well at times but at other times the distance decreases for a while and then starts to increase and I realize I have flown past me and the Mavic is headed in the wrong direction.

 

[gnirtS]

Radar only works if the app is connected and works....

When it does work radar is FAR more useful than the map. Its my go to mode 100% of the time.

The centre of the circle is "you". The red triangle is the drone. The tip of the triangle is the direction the drone is facing. Its position around the circle is relative to you. If its 12 o-clock you're facing it. 6 o clock its behind you.
So to make sure you're facing the drone, turn around until the red triangle is at 12 o'clock.
To fly the drone back, point the triangle towards the centre using the rudder.

It also shoes the Home Point (H) and North.

In sport mode it'll also show you the power, pitch and roll.

 

[Cslucas34]

Assuming your screen died due to battery, if you saw that your battery was low in time, you can go to settings and have the controller provide charging to your phone while flying so it will not die on you. Although in your scenario this already happened so I would use the same method gnirts has discussed.

 

[Cometman]

Hit RTH and count to 5 then cancel RTH. Now just push full stick forward as drone will be pointing at you. You can fly it manually at your own speed or height, just don't alter direction.
Watch you distance indicator to comfirm its coming to home.

Things like this should be in a book. Great advice! Thanks

 

[doobry]

Turn the lights on, it makes the drone MUCH easier to see, then move the drone around until you can't see the lights or can see the lights when you move the stick forward or back.. If you can see the lights in one direction but not in the opposite, the opposite is flying toward you!

Edit: Obviously you need to configure the lights to one of your C buttons for this to work

Mine is on C1!

 

[doobry]

Would you please give a few hints on how to use the radar display or the map display in the app. I should have this figured out by now but how to use these displays to return home as been a weak link in my flying. I still use trial and error while reading the distance. This works well at times but at other times the distance decreases for a while and then starts to increase and I realize I have flown past me and the Mavic is headed in the wrong direction.

The arrow is the direction of the nose, the green is the direction of the camera, if you turn yourself until the arrow is directly north in the display then you are looking right at the drone. if you fly the drone at you and it passes you directly overhead and you don't notice it? Then I think you might need to look at your altitude settings

 

[jasper43]

Thanks all, this is just what a forum should be for. Sensible advice when asked for, opinion and experience always appreciated.

 

[DanMan32]

I saw a video for beginners navigation that was geared towards simpler drones.
Fly forward, and yaw in the direction the drone is going until it no longer is moving left or right.
Ex. Fly forward (right stick up). If the drone appears to move left, yaw left as you continue forward until the drone stops moving left. It is now flying towards you.
If flying forward it isn't moving so you don't know if it is coming or going, use the yaw trick to orient yourself.