landing pad missed by drone.

[moldorf]

My Mini 3 seems to consistently miss the home point by 3-6 feet and always in the direction it first flew when leaving home point.

not a problem to cancel RTH at 8-10' above the ground and finish the landing manually. Actually, it's good practice. Pretty much the same variance with the Mini 2

on the other hand, my Mavic 3 hasn't missed the home point by more than 8 inches. I can usually allow it to complete the landing by itself. Pretty amazing technology when you think about it

 

[Meta4]

Not sure what your method is, but my RTH is within inches from take off, not feet. That's all my DJI drones, Spark, Mini, Mini 2, Pro and Pro 2.

It's not about my or anyone's methods.
It's about the limitations of GPS technology.

 

[Meta4]

I must have got a lemon . My Mini 3 Pro seems to be hitting the mark pretty good on RTH. The times I notice it being off the mark occasionally by a meter or two are during extremely windy conditions. No matter what, I always bring it in manually for safety sake. I did the same with my Air 2S as well. Just like the range issues that dog us…RTH issues seem to be dependent upon your areas signal characteristics too. Maybe I’m wrong. Just a thought though.

GPS (in)accuracy is variable.
If you were to test 100 times, you'd observe that the drone will be within 2 metres most of the time, but sometimes it would miss the mark by 3 metres or more.

 

[zeusfl]

The more GPS satellite locking you have at the moment of set your home point on NONE precision landing drones, the better is. The GPS accuracy it is what it is.

The wind has a play on drones specially the mini at the moment of landing.

 

[Meta4]

The more GPS satellite locking you have at the moment of set your home point on NONE precision landing drones, the better is. The GPS accuracy it is what it is.

The drone won't record a home point until accuracy is as good as it can be with consumer GPS.

The wind has a play on drones specially the mini at the moment of landing.

The drone will work to maintain position in a wind.
It would take a strong wind to blow the drone off course.

 

[rickmurray1989]

Does the Mini 3 have the Precision Landing feature that needs this?
There's no mention of it in the latest manual.

No.

 

[JimSteadman]

My Mini 3 Pro may not have precision landing, but it does a darn good job of getting home. Seldom more than a few inches off and then only during windy conditions.

 

[zeusfl]

My Mini 3 Pro may not have precision landing, but it does a darn good job of getting home. Seldom more than a few inches off and then only during windy conditions.

As we mentioned. They do a good job but once every Monday will land with FT of missing spot.

 

[Flakey Flier]

Rth

 

[123taff]

Personally, I don't see the need to permit my mini 3 to auto land. I prefer to continually practice my flying skills and the RTH to me is a failsafe system for when things go wrong or on the odd occasion when I fail to spot my drone after glancing down at the RC.
Even when I use the RTH I will cancel it and fly the last bit manually!

 

[minipro3]

My Minipro 3 is ALWAYS off by a foot or 2. One time it came down 20 feet off. Minipro 3 does not have precision landing yet.

 

[Anthony Ivory]

WHY? Don’t expose your drone to known hazards. Always think is this picture/ video going to make me enough money to replace my drone.
Is there a better/ safer way to get the picture I want.

 

[Anthony Ivory]

I find that if I Hoover over my launch point while double checking my. R TH settings it seems to be a little more accurate when returning. Not sure why. ?

 

[AMann]

I was shocked to find out the accuracy of consumer GPS is only 5 meters. Plus, it gets worse if you are around buildings and wires.

No GPS unit, survey grade or commercial, is <3-5m accurate when running by itself without using RTK or post-processing. It’s not the fault of the GPS unit, it is because of signal deflections from the surrounding environment as you mention but also from various deflections caused by atmospheric affects, e.g., various ionosphere layers can slow down and deflect the signal affecting their timing, etc.

 

[shawgod]

I know when I land with the Mini 2 and Mini it isn't that accurate. When I fly with the Air2S and my Phantom 4 Pro it is almost right on all the time. You have to give it a little time after takeoff to take a picture of the landing site. Also make sure you're using your landing pad. This makes it easier for the drone to see where it is suppose to land. On my mini's I may use the RTH but I always take over at the end and land it myself. I would rather land on the pad than the grass or pavement to protect the drone from debris or pavement damage.

 

[Donnie Frank]

I am new at flying drones. I have a whole 45 minutes of flight time logged so far. LOL. When I signal the drone to RTH. it does. But, It always lands one to two feet from the landing pad it took off from. Is there something I can do to address this?

Yes. Land manually. Bonus points if the camera is facing you. More bonus points if you land in ATTI mode. I do this almost every time I fly. My point is that having good pilot skills will save you from technology glitches, bugs and errors. Counting on technology to save one from one's lack of skill almost always ends in disaster and subsequent confusion. "Why did IT crash???" IT didn't. YOU did.

This advice may seem harsh, but believe me, it's GOOD advice. And I don't just talk the talk...

D

 

[Photobobhunt]

I actually learned about the precision landing of the Air 2 s recently from YouTube or this forum. And since then, I followed the instructions of hovering before flight...... it works well.
But I agree with the general consensus that a pilot should learn to land manually.
With return to home initiated (Usually when I lose sight) I usually cancel it during the decent and land manually.
In fact, I rarely use RTH. When I finish a flight, I use the map and make a "bee line" back to home.
I've yet to try those built in functions like Rocket, & Dronie but I will eventually. Right now, I like learning how to do those things manually, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment.

 

[Meta4]

I actually learned about the precision landing of the Air 2 s recently from YouTube or this forum. And since then, I followed the instructions of hovering before flight...... it works well.

The precision landing feature doesn't require any hovering.
What it needs is for the drone to climb vertically for at least 7 metres before flying off.