LANDING!

[hiflyer201]

If you're a passenger in an aircraft at say 370..I'm pretty sure you could tell if the pilot was hand flying and if he was you'd wish he'd stop ..sorry capt..but that's my opinion.. ?
I usually try to pretty well orient myself for a flight, so it kind of panic's me if I don't know exactly the way home...A quick glance at the chart at the bottom helps... I can't think of a flight that I've used it on purpose but I've had a lot of dis-connects.

 

[bmwbob]

Tomatoes tomotoes. To each his own. The highest obstruction I have in my normal flight area is 150 feet. I hit return to home and know that it will return and clear any obstructions and accurately land on my landing pad each and every time. Been flying for 10 months with hundreds of flights and have never had more then a six inch misalignment on landings with RTH feature. I keep an eye on battery life and when it hits 20 percent home she comes. For me it is more fun to watch the technology work on the landings then manually landing myself. Yes, I have done enough manual landings to feel comfortable with my abilities in that area. Just my personal preference.

I use RTH all the time too, but I've got mountains in my area that I sometimes go behind and much taller than my standard RTH height. I haven't tested it yet, but A2 has a RTH failsafe that uses the forward sensor and will raise 15 feet and try to move ahead till it finds and altitude to go that has no obstacles!

 

[Lets Fly]

I’ve only been flying my MA2 for a couple of months now. This is my first drone and I live in NSW Australia and fly mostly every day if the conditions tick the boxes in UAV forecast. (Excellent app btw) I am well & truly “hooked” now as a new pilot, and amazed at what the MA2 can do. I’m a big fan of using RTH on the majority of flights. Always where it’s new terrain! Sometimes I use RTH until I can get a visual on the drone & then manually land it. Other times I’ll bring it all the way home completely using RTH. There is nothing more comforting than hearing that beautiful word...... Landing!

I guess some places do not require VLOS, but if you can't see the AC you can look at your screen and tell what direction to go. If you can see it why wouldn't you want to fly it,
after all that's what we are doing, just watching something fly itself is great technology but just that. Getting better at your approach and landing more precisely than even RTH is great practice. RTH should be for low battery or loss of signal.
As for me I like to fly, but to each their own.

 

[PhantomFandom]

A drone pilot doesn’t have 300+ passengers to be concerned about. Hardly apples to apples.

It's oranges to oranges in that every UAS pilot "should" treat the flight as if they were in the cockpit, and yes with lives depending on it. It's the cavalier attitude (not saying it's you) of many weekend warriors with a Best Buy special that they can do whatever they want without any real consequences.

Using RTH all the time will not make you a better pilot, just like using autopilot in a cockpit will not make you a better pilot. Oranges to oranges.

 

[PhantomFandom]

I am real sure that’s what they do almost all automatic and watch.

The cruising portion of long flights, sure because it does get monotonous. It's a tool to make the pilot's job easier, but not to fly the plane on its own. Generally 100% of aircraft takeoffs are done manually and I would say probably 99% of landings are done manually. Why is that? Because the hardest part of flying an airplane is landing it. Those are skills that need to be kept sharp. Also generally in heavy turbulence, the pilot takes over or the pilot even disengages automatically because a human can handle it better.

Lol. Besides automation is consistent.

EXACTLY the problem It is consistent and cannot think or evaluate the current situation. It is only as good as the programming and that leads to situations that cannot be handled by the computer. We need look no further than the 737 Max. Consistency and lack of intelligence led that system to kill innocent people.

 

[Juggler]

Yes it is just my opinion of course.

Think about this though...
If you are taking a commercial flight, would you rather have a pilot that always flies manually but knows how to use autopilot when needed, or would you rather fly with the pilot that always sets the autopilot for his flights and just watches?

Having been of heaps of flights in the "jump" seat in the flight deck the reality is
clear for t/o, v1, v2 rotate, positive climb,gear up, auto pilot engaged. Then ther is cat3 landings...when they cant see anything but the plane lands itself.

Boeing are currently working on a crew of 2 for the the aircraft of the future. A pilot and a dog! The pilot is there to feed the dog and the dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches anything.

 

[Juggler]

The cruising portion of long flights, sure because it does get monotonous. It's a tool to make the pilot's job easier, but not to fly the plane on its own. Generally 100% of aircraft takeoffs are done manually and I would say probably 99% of landings are done manually. Why is that? Because the hardest part of flying an airplane is landing it. Those are skills that need to be kept sharp. Also generally in heavy turbulence, the pilot takes over or the pilot even disengages automatically because a human can handle it better.


EXACTLY the problem It is consistent and cannot think or evaluate the current situation. It is only as good as the programming and that leads to situations that cannot be handled by the computer. We need look no further than the 737 Max. Consistency and lack of intelligence led that system to kill innocent people.

that is not quite correct...Boeing lied about th new system to get quick ez ceertification with no further pilot training. Hence there was no training on what it would actually do and there was only ONE sensor in control of the a/c. BIG error.
Think back to the early days of the classic 737 when they had several hard over rudder crashes....same thing one rudder actuator. now they have 2 as a redundency.
also the skill set of the pilots is in question IMO on the max crashes

 

[PhantomFandom]

Having been of heaps of flights in the "jump" seat in the flight deck the reality is
clear for t/o, v1, v2 rotate, positive climb,gear up, auto pilot engaged.

Very true. Once you reach minimum required altitude for autopilot, ot gets turned on. Well of course CAT III landings are a whole other ball of wax. However that does require specific equipment both in the aircraft and on the the ground, as well as certification of the crew. Even CAT III A still requires a 100 foot decision height.

Boeing are currently working on a crew of 2 for the the aircraft of the future. A pilot and a dog! The pilot is there to feed the dog and the dog is there to bite the pilot if he touches anything.

Hahahaha good one.

 

[PhantomFandom]

Hence there was no training on what it would actually do and there was only ONE sensor in control of the a/c. BIG error.

EXACTLY. Human error in design led to a system which could not handle the task as well as humans if the MCAS were not there at all. If it was a human pilot in full control and not fighting the automated stick, they surely would not have pushed the nose down till the plane hit the ground.

also the skill set of the pilots is in question IMO on the max crashes

That was Boeing's excuse. If it were pilot error the planes wouldn't have been grounded all this time. The cockpit gets to be a very busy place. Add to that the stress of having to fight an automated system, constant background alarms and warnings...and you get to a point of overload very quickly.

 

[Juggler]

1.. not human error (the knew what they were doing) in design just trying to do things cheaply to get get quick certifction and not upgraded training for the drivers ...Cost, Cost Cost...thats all that mattered
2. Ummm no lack of skill!! if the stab is "doing funny things" there is a s/w called "stab trim cutout". there were several other events that the pilots had enough nouse to actually flip it and recover the a/c

 

[Squidinc]

Tomatoes tomotoes. To each his own. The highest obstruction I have in my normal flight area is 150 feet. I hit return to home and know that it will return and clear any obstructions and accurately land on my landing pad each and every time. Been flying for 10 months with hundreds of flights and have never had more then a six inch misalignment on landings with RTH feature. I keep an eye on battery life and when it hits 20 percent home she comes. For me it is more fun to watch the technology work on the landings then manually landing myself. Yes, I have done enough manual landings to feel comfortable with my abilities in that area. Just my personal preference.

Agree 100%. However it’s also fun to fly home yourself. At the end of the day, whatever floats your boat.

 

[eaglesurfing]

I have tested it in almost every new area I fly. You never know when you will need it or when it will kick in.
I take it up about 100 feet and do a 360 to see if there is anything in the way. If there is then I move it up until I see it is clear then I check my settings.
Then move it out about 50 feet then hit return home.
Once that it is done then away we go.
I am that kind of guy who wants to make sure everything is working.

 

[Squidinc]

I have tested it in almost every new area I fly. You never know when you will need it or when it will kick in.
I take it up about 100 feet and do a 360 to see if there is anything in the way. If there is then I move it up until I see it is clear then I check my settings.
Then move it out about 50 feet then hit return home.
Once that it is done then away we go.
I am that kind of guy who wants to make sure everything is working.

Very thorough. ??

 

[buddb55]

I can honestly say I have never used RTH.

 

[flycaster1]

If you like rth then by all means, it works great! BUT,... when I lose sight of my drone, I like to use the graphic at the bottom center of the screen which shows you the drones orientation. Point the arrow towards you, flip it into sport mode and give full throttle. Make sure the arrow continues to point towards you while flying. Soon you'll hear the bird coming towards you where you can regain line of sight and continue flying or bring 'er home.

 

[Squidinc]

If you like rth then by all means, it works great! BUT,... when I lose sight of my drone, I like to use the graphic at the bottom center of the screen which shows you the drones orientation. Point the arrow towards you, flip it into sport mode and give full throttle. Make sure the arrow continues to point towards you while flying. Soon you'll hear the bird coming towards you where you can regain line of sight and continue flying or bring 'er home.

Well said ??

 

[Flynz]

If at distance I use the map in the corner to ensure that I am heading in the right direction. I like to fly to myself manually on the map. RTH is often set a little higher for safety and therefore wastes time and battery climbing. Also it can be fun to tour home, rather than fly in a straight line.

Finally I usually fly an approach to land rather than drop straight down. So I might descend over an open space and fly a descending approach to the LZ, a bit like a piloted aircraft would. It is more interesting than listening to the controller saying landing and requires more skill, including reverse orientation. Also it can be safer when flying into a confined area, trees, buildings etc. Once you have reverse orientation well sorted. Finally you can often avoid annoying people this way.

 

[Tentoes]

RTH is for when you're confused and don't know where the drone is. I've hit it a couple times to be sure it works, and it does. The rest of the time I just fly it back to me.

 

[silverdragon]

I tend to disagree. I can fly back manually in the majority of flights, however I don’t think RTH technology should just be used in an “emergency”? Each to their own, but personally I think it’s great, & makes most of my flights more safe & enjoyable. Important, though I agree that you need to be cognisant of adequate RTH altitudes for the terrain you’re in.

I use RTH the majority of the time, why...because it's there just for that "Return to Home".. isn't that what your doing? You all have to Return your drone at one point. That's exactly why there is a RTH button.

 

[Boxer1200]

Technique. I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong here. Manually, you can obviously make a mistake. Using the automation correctly can be very safe and more often then not is more efficient. However, it has it’s pitfalls as well. Like not being aware of obstacles around where the home point is located(take off under a high tree overhang), or not checking the RTH altitude and realizing too late it’s set very low for some odd reason. Strong headwinds and you weren’t paying attention so your drone essentially hovered till the batt died. I don’t use RTH, but it’s only because I enjoy bringing it back manually. It’s a fun thing. Set the orientation on the map and drive home. That being said, using the automation could free up a couple brain cells to improve situational awareness and maybe avoid something that could cause our expensive toys to be lost or broken. That is if you understand the system’s limits and set it up correctly.

Again, all technique. Notice DJI doesn’t call it ERTH (Emergency Return to Home). Just RTH.