Landing to a new location at a long distance from home point

Spy_Corfu · Mar 21, 2017

Has anyone tried to land the mavic pro to a new location say about 7-8km away from home point and from the remote controller of course?
Point is would the landing sensors slow down the mavic so not to hit the ground at high speed as at that distance it is difficult to judge height.

Also i was wandering with Litchi app as i use it a lot if anyone has tried a 12-13km mission one way to a landing sight with no connection to the remote controller, as its possible with litchi to fly missions without the mavic starting the RTH whenever the signal is lost .. which means it would go on its mission untill all the waypoints are finished or it runs out of batterie.

msinger · Mar 21, 2017

Spy_Corfu said:
Has anyone tried to land the mavic pro to a new location say about 7-8km away from home point and from the remote controller of course?

It would be possible as long as you have a direct line of sight. Otherwise, RTH would be auto initiated when the remote controller signal is lost as the Mavic is landing.

Spy_Corfu said:
would the landing sensors slow down the mavic so not to hit the ground at high speed

Yes.

Kilrah · Mar 21, 2017

In theory you'd have to have signal at least up to the point of being above the intended landing spot so that you can reset home point to current aircraft position before landing to be sure it lands there instead of trying to come back when it loses signal (you'll almost certainly not have signal at that distance anywhere near ground level even with a valley inbetween).

msinger · Mar 21, 2017

Kilrah said:
In theory you'd have to have signal at least up to the point of being above the intended landing spot so that you can reset home point to current aircraft position before landing

Yes, that would technically work too. It might be a bit sketchy though since it would be tough to tell exactly where the Mavic is going to auto land when it's high up in the air.

rbhamilton · Mar 21, 2017

This sounds like the start of a new thread begging for help locating a lost drone...

Logger · Mar 21, 2017

I dont see any issue with having Litchi land at a remote location, provide you are satisfied it is a safe spot to land..
It allows you to reset the home point to anywhere you like. It is not restricted to Aircraft or RC position as is the case with DJIGo. So you can easily change the home point to the remote landing site KMs away. Therefore you would not actually need signal over landing site.

"Point is would the landing sensors slow down the mavic so not to hit the ground at high speed as at that distance it is difficult to judge height."
The sensors are autonomous and will work just as well having it land 10 feet or 10km away.

I routinely have Litchi autoland at the end of an 11km route. This is not dependent on signal connection or home point which is elsewhere albeit nearby in my case.

For a one way route with Litchi,you could simply set the finish action to Land at last WPT (as I do) and move the home point to the final Wpt/ remote Landing site once underway to prevent it flying back original home point on low battery.

dewster · Mar 21, 2017

Interesting. Would RTH initiate on signal loss after starting the auto land feature?

Grey Wolf · Mar 21, 2017

Not playing devil's advocate here but why do you need to fly 11 km routinely and land?
What is the purpose?

Wombat55 · Mar 21, 2017

Grey Wolf said:
Not playing devil's advocate here but why do you need to fly 11 km routinely and land?
What is the purpose?

Why do people do all of the other crazy things that they do with their Mavics? Because they can. Face it, these forums would be pretty dull if everyone was using their Mavics to just fly high overhead and take landscape pictures.

Spanishcop · Mar 21, 2017

I guess I'm one of the dull ones lol. I don't have 5 or 6 mavic to spare for catastrophes. I'm all about doing what they were designed to do. Record scenery, family and vacations and enjoy the flying.

Kilrah · Mar 21, 2017

Wombat55 said:
Why do people do all of the other crazy things that they do with their Mavics? Because they can. Face it, these forums would be pretty dull if everyone was using their Mavics to just fly high overhead and take landscape pictures.

If he does it routinely then he must have a specific purpose for it rather than just "do it becasue he can"- he's just curious as to what that could be, and so am I.

Spy_Corfu · Mar 21, 2017

Kilrah said:
If he does it routinely then he must have a specific purpose for it rather than just "do it becasue he can"- he's just curious as to what that could be, and so am I.

I agree .. all these are for fun and i always manage to break and loose things all the time because i stretch their limit a bit too far just to see what the limit is!
A few days ago i flow the mavic with some light rain and 6-7 Beaufort winds over a beach just to see how it behaved with extreme conditions and it was perfect.. amazing machine!
And no i dont have 1.200 euros to spare if i break so that is why i join forums like this to get advice from other 'crazy' guys like me that like to play with hi-tech toys!
I love using litchi as it enables me to record long distance with perfectly smooth video action as no manual steering is required. and most important of all i do not have to worry about loosing connection as the return to home does not start like on dji go app, which means i can send it to amazing places where "no human has ever gone before"
So just for the fun i was wandering if i could send it to land to another place.. just for the fun..

Spy_Corfu · Mar 21, 2017

Spanishcop said:
I guess I'm one of the dull ones lol. I don't have 5 or 6 mavic to spare for catastrophes. I'm all about doing what they were designed to do. Record scenery, family and vacations and enjoy the flying.

boring.. this is an amazing pease of machinery and it wants to be stretched to its limits.. Like driving a Ferrari at 40km/h!

Spy_Corfu · Mar 21, 2017

Grey Wolf said:
Not playing devil's advocate here but why do you need to fly 11 km routinely and land?
What is the purpose?

If you have not used Litchi for waypoint missions then you dont know what you are loosing! its like an adiction to be able to fly to some remote places which you could only see by helicopter before.. and now you can with a drone!
Dji go app does not allow to fly that far or as a matter of fact even near if you trees or buildings nearby as once you loose the connection the mavic returns home..
I leave in an island with high trees and a beautiful coastline with many hills and remote beachs that i can now send my drone to film..
Like the one i have attached its about 11km in total mission and i loose conection half way through the mission but still it keeps going untill it runs out of battery and returns safely to the home point.
If i could send it to a one way no return mission i could complete a greater costaline distance without having to go to 2 different villages to film the whole shoreline.
So dont assume things you dont know!

andy966 · Mar 21, 2017

speaking of risky maneuvers, i knew this was risky due to all of the metal and the interference that it could generate but I couldn't resist.

Spy_Corfu · Mar 21, 2017

Yes we all like to play with fire.. especially with long distance flights with litchi when most of the flight time you just sit and wait having a coffee or an ice tea and hope your drone does not smash on a tree a mountain or a building .. as you plan your missions from your computer with the help of google maps you estimate terrain lights to make sure you don't fly to low.. but then unfortunately does not return to home point as the new phantom 4 pro using the same route as before but reverse but straight line back if it calculates it will run out of battery so if there is something high there you will loose the mavic.

i set the flight times usually about 18 to 20 minutes max as for more flight time i find that the mavic will stop the mission and start a return to home at 35km/h i think aprox. which is very slow but something one can not change unless you gain control of the drone and fly it manually.

msinger · Mar 21, 2017

andy966 said:
speaking of risky maneuvers, i knew this was risky due to all of the metal and the interference that it could generate but I couldn't resist.

Taking off next to a car and/or from metal reinforced concrete (assuming that's what you did) was far riskier than flying around that metal crane.

andy966 · Mar 21, 2017

msinger said:
Taking off next to a car and/or from metal reinforced concrete (assuming that's what you did) was far riskier than flying around that metal crane.

I always take off about 10-15 feet away from my car and have not had an issue to date. Maybe I am just lucky. I did notice it game me some compass redundancy errors during that flight though.

msinger · Mar 21, 2017

10-15 feet away shouldn't cause any issues. I wouldn't launch/land my aircraft from that driveway though.

mikee1554 · Mar 21, 2017

I have seen this done, on youtube by a guy with a phantom. Flying a long distance one way and landing safely in his back garden

this is not my video.. just to show it's possible