DJI drones don't use Sport Mode or Normal Mode for RTH.
Uh huh....Fair points.
2.8 km = 1.74 miles. I said "almost 2 miles". I'll stand by my "almost"
By the way, I can see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye, and that is 2.537 million light years away!
But I digress. I said I maintained "line of sight" which is defined by Miriam Webster as "a line from an observer's eye to a distant point". That I did. I said nothing about always being able to see the MM. In fact I know I very briefly lost sight of it each time I blinked.
Sadly, that’s not the definition that most countries use when referring to drone operation. For example, the UK CAA says:
Sorry, but I have to disagree with you on this. I have had parabolic reflectors on my remote controller and flew my Mini straight up while my reflectors were pointed forward and I never lost a signal. Granted, I was only a couple of hundred feet up -- not 5,000 -- but I still did not have it pointed at the drone.
@Meta4 I didn't realise the Mini RTH speed got increased from 8m/s in a firmware update - good to know though! Do you happen to know which update that was included in?
Yes...you are correct. At close range it makes no difference. At 5000 feet out it makes a huge difference.
No ... but I've only noticed it in flight data in the last month or so.
Isn’t the law VLOS... ie “visual”, meaning you can actually see the drone?Fair points.
2.8 km = 1.74 miles. I said "almost 2 miles". I'll stand by my "almost"
By the way, I can see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye, and that is 2.537 million light years away!
But I digress. I said I maintained "line of sight" which is defined by Miriam Webster as "a line from an observer's eye to a distant point". That I did. I said nothing about always being able to see the MM. In fact I know I very briefly lost sight of it each time I blinked.
This thread popped up for me and after just re reading it I am interested to know, has the MM's entirely automated RTH speed definitely been increased from 8m/s? If so to what?
Actually... the RTH mode can now go even faster than any other mode if during RTH function is in play and you push sticks to help it. The Mini 1 ESC's only allows it to go 29mph top speed in sport mode. I had it going 34 Mph this past weekend. I have it screenrecorded
It indeed did just that. Theres's no sound sweeter in the middle of the night than that of the Mini arriving overhead during a RTH after you've seen the purchase figures flashing before your eyes while the control is nothing more than a piece of plastic with a phone attached to it. The Mini has a mind of its own I had a message similar to that once when I unintentionally flew behind a ridge, but I don't remember the exact wording. Are you sure it said "automatic" RTH was unavailable? At the time, I took it to mean I couldn't initiate RTH from the controller, which is to be expected if you've lost connection. In any case, the failsafe RTH activated, and it flew straight home (and I got a nice video of it clearing the ridge by only a couple of feet because this was only my 3rd or 4th flight and I forgot to set the RTH altitude!).
This is the worst place to talk about LOS. There are many different types of LOS but almost everyone focuses on one. Doesn’t matter if you say, “hey, I lost signal but I had good LOS.” Obviously you are talking about signal strength but nope…here comes the pack of wolves “YOU COULDN’T SEE YOUR DRONE!!!! YOU FLEW TOO FAR!!!! YOU’RE A POS FOR LOSING LOS!!!Fair points.
2.8 km = 1.74 miles. I said "almost 2 miles". I'll stand by my "almost"
By the way, I can see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye, and that is 2.537 million light years away!
But I digress. I said I maintained "line of sight" which is defined by Miriam Webster as "a line from an observer's eye to a distant point". That I did. I said nothing about always being able to see the MM. In fact I know I very briefly lost sight of it each time I blinked.
When drone hobbyists go on public forums and YouTube to actually brag about their lack of regard for drone regulations, it gives the whole community a bad reputation. The result has been -- and will continue to be -- more restrictions that hurt both hobbyists and commercial pilots. I'm sorry that you don't understand why we don't need any more of that.
You and everyone else act like that distance is the one and only thing that causes regulations. You see on the news every day about sightings at airports, White House, prisons, forest fires, and every other restricted areas. I’ve never seen “this guy flew too far” in the news and then more regulations come from it. Now is it still right? Depends on the situation, I’ll always say that. But everything else I mentioned will never be right and I have never done any of those.
That assertion has no basis in fact, but it doesn't matter; you're missing the point. I'll highlight it:
