Long Distance Flight Scare

[Meta4]

Pg 14 of the user manual, bullet point 3, states the "speed, altitude and orientation" of the aircraft can be altered during RTH if there is a control signal. It doesn't explicitly confirm that the aircraft can be "pushed" to go faster than default RTH speed, but kind of implies it can.

It's always been possible to change altitude and orientation with other models in RTH.
In other models, RTH is slower than Normal mode and you could always boost the speed in RTH, but no more than the max for Normal Mode.
This is different as the tilt angle and speed are what the Mini does in SPort Mode.

 

[Carlos56]

@Meta4 It doesn't explicitly confirm that the aircraft can be "pushed" to go faster than default RTH speed, but kind of implies it can.
Handy to know, especially if it's a bit marginal weather.

Yes. It is good to know.
I thought perhaps the "Smart RTH" had increased the max speed because of the wind, but it sounds like it may have been my prolonged full throttle stick setting that pushed it beyond the default speed.
Hmmm. ?

 

[Scubadiver1944]

its a better thrill than being in the bookies waiting on a three horse multiplier bet to come in on the last furlong.
RTH is fairly bulletproof long as you have the correct height set and arent trying to return against a gale force wind.

That's a nice analogy!

 

[Buzzman]

Carlos56- You were lucky. I lost my Mavic2 Pro (crashed in a very treacherous AZ badlands area near Winslow, AZ) in June. Signal loss and RTH never clicked in. Hovered until it sank into the dust. Posted my flight log and nobody here could figure out what happened, except perhaps an internal power failure. No telephone wires, no bird attack, no wind. Batteries were about 70% at the time of crash. Clear line of sight and UAV was only 700 feet away, flying back to me, and 30 feet AGL. Applied for and got a slight discount from DJI on the new bird. Well, I'm flying again with a new Mavic2 Pro.
Steve

 

[japharl]

It's certainly a panic when that happens, especially the first time! But RTH has never failed me yet, difficult to have faith though until it reconnects to your phone.

it failed me once... pro tip - ensure your altitude return home setting is above any tree height!

 

[Ol' Sparky]

One thing I discovered about the parabolic reflectors is that the farther out you go, the narrower the field that it will keep contact. You have to keep the controller pointed at the bird or it will lose contact. I was out about 5000 ft with my Spark over the ocean and turned my head and the controller moved with me and instantly lost connection. She came home, but didn't regain connection until it was about 3000 feet away. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

 

[Carlos56]

One thing I discovered about the parabolic reflectors is that the farther out you go, the narrower the field that it will keep contact. You have to keep the controller pointed at the bird or it will lose contact.

Yes, that's a good point. I may have turned briefly. Thanks. I'll file that away in my brain for next time.

 

[kamidoko1974]

I get nervous flying my Mavic Mini over trees, because if it falls in the forest around here, there is a very good chance it’s going to be stuck 40 feet up somewhere, and I don’t think the neighboring landowners would like me coming onto their property to look for my drone with a chainsaw in my hand! Haha.

I got brave one day and decided to make a long distance flight across flat fields and forests. I was quite nervous but went about 1.2 miles the first time before having signal strength issues and returning. A few days later I put parabolic reflectors on the controller and tried again.

I flew at 200 feet altitude to a distance of almost 2 miles (2.8km). I had good LOS, and it was supposed to be a calm evening, wind about 7 mph from the west, on both weather apps I use. I was flying out directly south.

I had no issues on the outward leg, but shortly after I swept around a loop to come back, I started losing signal. The video kept cutting in and out, and I was getting signal warnings. I quickly started to climb assuming some trees might be interfering with the wifi. I only reached 230 feet before getting wind warnings for the first time in the flight, and it was telling me that automatic return to home was not possible.

I couldn’t believe it because it was such a calm evening. I figured out later from looking at the drone attitude on PhantomHelp there was quite a cross wind, a bit north of west – so also a little bit of a headwind on the return leg. I would never have attempted the flight if I had known those were the conditions.

The signal was still cutting in and out as I flew home, but I was afraid to go higher trying to improve it because of the wind. The last thing I wanted was to lose signal and have a fly away at the same time. I was also worried it might try and land where it was which might have meant losing it in the forests. I dared not go higher because of the wind, or lower because of the weak signal. So I kept flying and prayed.

I had climbed to 230 feet, but I lost the signal completely anyway. At some point I got and RTH intiated message, then nothing. My heart rate started to rocket! I kept trying to fly it forward in the hope it was getting my joystick commands, and that it might reconnect when closer. I didn’t know what else to do. I had no video or telemetry.

I thought about closing and reopening the GoFly app, but didn’t think that would help. I was really unsure in my panic as to whether I should initiate RTH, but was afraid it would land where it was because of the wind, and I wouldn’t have the GPS info and never find it. In fact I thought it might be landing at that very moment anyway.

After the longest 30 seconds of my life, and with my heart pounding, the connection suddenly restored. I switched it to Sport mode and flew it home. It took me a while to calm down from that experience.

When I looked at the flight records, the MM had initiated Go Home after the disconnect, in spite of the wind and saying automatic RTH wasn’t available. It actually stopped, re-oriented to point home, and accelerated to Sport Mode speed (didn't know it would do that, but in windy conditions that is really smart!). I had set the RTH to 170 feet so it was already above that. It did exactly what I would have wanted it to do, but didn’t expect.

I’m not sure why it went into Go Home mode when it was giving me the warnings saying automatic RTH wasn’t possible, but happy it did. Maybe RTH was only suspended very briefly with a strong gust?? It came out of the mode for some reason during the return flight and handed control back to me. I’m not sure if that was because I was continuing to provide stick inputs. I didn’t even know it had ever taken control away from me, I was simply attempting to fly it the whole time.

Not sure I fully understand how MM's safety system works, but I'm very impressed. However, next time before a long flight I think I’ll go up to 400 feet briefly and check for wind warnings first.

Hi Carlos56, that stupid message is scary (RTH is not available) but is not true actually. It just means -RTH may not be possible in case of wind above 7m/s-. So it will be possible to attemp anyway. I still don't understand why in case of emergency the MM cannot try to reach the maximum speed of 13m/s during RTH in case of stronger wind...

 

[Nelson_Santos]

Hey Clark Kent “almost 2 miles (2.8km). I had good LOS,”
?.

thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[CaptSheffield]

I get nervous flying my Mavic Mini over trees, because if it falls in the forest around here, there is a very good chance it’s going to be stuck 40 feet up somewhere, and I don’t think the neighboring landowners would like me coming onto their property to look for my drone with a chainsaw in my hand! Haha.

I got brave one day and decided to make a long distance flight across flat fields and forests. I was quite nervous but went about 1.2 miles the first time before having signal strength issues and returning. A few days later I put parabolic reflectors on the controller and tried again.

I flew at 200 feet altitude to a distance of almost 2 miles (2.8km). I had good LOS, and it was supposed to be a calm evening, wind about 7 mph from the west, on both weather apps I use. I was flying out directly south.

I had no issues on the outward leg, but shortly after I swept around a loop to come back, I started losing signal. The video kept cutting in and out, and I was getting signal warnings. I quickly started to climb assuming some trees might be interfering with the wifi. I only reached 230 feet before getting wind warnings for the first time in the flight, and it was telling me that automatic return to home was not possible.

I couldn’t believe it because it was such a calm evening. I figured out later from looking at the drone attitude on PhantomHelp there was quite a cross wind, a bit north of west – so also a little bit of a headwind on the return leg. I would never have attempted the flight if I had known those were the conditions.

The signal was still cutting in and out as I flew home, but I was afraid to go higher trying to improve it because of the wind. The last thing I wanted was to lose signal and have a fly away at the same time. I was also worried it might try and land where it was which might have meant losing it in the forests. I dared not go higher because of the wind, or lower because of the weak signal. So I kept flying and prayed.

I had climbed to 230 feet, but I lost the signal completely anyway. At some point I got and RTH intiated message, then nothing. My heart rate started to rocket! I kept trying to fly it forward in the hope it was getting my joystick commands, and that it might reconnect when closer. I didn’t know what else to do. I had no video or telemetry.

I thought about closing and reopening the GoFly app, but didn’t think that would help. I was really unsure in my panic as to whether I should initiate RTH, but was afraid it would land where it was because of the wind, and I wouldn’t have the GPS info and never find it. In fact I thought it might be landing at that very moment anyway.

After the longest 30 seconds of my life, and with my heart pounding, the connection suddenly restored. I switched it to Sport mode and flew it home. It took me a while to calm down from that experience.

When I looked at the flight records, the MM had initiated Go Home after the disconnect, in spite of the wind and saying automatic RTH wasn’t available. It actually stopped, re-oriented to point home, and accelerated to Sport Mode speed (didn't know it would do that, but in windy conditions that is really smart!). I had set the RTH to 170 feet so it was already above that. It did exactly what I would have wanted it to do, but didn’t expect.

I’m not sure why it went into Go Home mode when it was giving me the warnings saying automatic RTH wasn’t possible, but happy it did. Maybe RTH was only suspended very briefly with a strong gust?? It came out of the mode for some reason during the return flight and handed control back to me. I’m not sure if that was because I was continuing to provide stick inputs. I didn’t even know it had ever taken control away from me, I was simply attempting to fly it the whole time.

Not sure I fully understand how MM's safety system works, but I'm very impressed. However, next time before a long flight I think I’ll go up to 400 feet briefly and check for wind warnings first.

There's a different antenna that is stand alone or with parabolic (modified) called yagi's. Don't have them yet,only just got a mini. But you tubers say they help a lot.

 

[Rwebdaddy]

Holy ****! Good story. I had a battery go from 67% to 0% in a flash about a mile away from me in the woods. I was flying over frozen lakes and woods when it did that and went into immediate landing mode over a frozen lake and couldn't do anything about it. The camera still worked as if descended and I was able to fly towards shore before loosing all contact. I was able to use the find my drone function to track it down so I started hiking through the woods and eventually found it in the cat tales on the edge of the ice. When I pulled the memory card I found it recorded the whole thing. After I lost video it eventually clipped some tree branches, tumbled and landed on its feet on some tall grass padding. What an experience.

 

[TeroFin]

....
I had no issues on the outward leg, but shortly after I swept around a loop to come back, I started losing signal. The video kept cutting in and out, and I was getting signal warnings. I quickly started to climb assuming some trees might be interfering with the wifi. I only reached 230 feet before getting wind warnings for the first time in the flight, and it was telling me that automatic return to home was not possible.
....

This same happend also to me couple of weeks back. Mini was quite far away, but the rf connection was still perfect (with Yagi antennae). When I decided to turn back home, I turned Mini 180 degrees and I instantly lost the connection ? Luckily RTH saved the situation and after couple of minutes the visual connection was back. I learnt from this quite stressing situations, that in the similar far distance flights I have now always flown the Mini back withouth turning it around before I am very sure that the short time period of time, when the antennae alignment changes, the rf connection won't be lost.

 

[Dronernator]

knew that, but I was also using the UAV Forecast app which allows you to set altitude for wind data. As I said, to be more confident before a long flight, I will fly to 400 feet first to get some confirmation.

Never ever trust a weather forecast app. Use trees, waves on water, etc but never an app.

 

[SpitFire]

I love the MM, don.t have one yet, still looking for great deals. You are really fortunate that you and others that fly long distance. And, still have it come back to you, many others have not been that fortunate. Out of the VLOS, The MM does not benefit from having Ocusync transmission system, like the MP. Which has 2.4 ghz band, the Phantom 4 has a Duel band 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. AS well, as the Mavic 2 which has a duel band Ocusync trans mission system. My Mavic Pros have the one band
2.4ghz, but I do not fly out of the VLOS, which the FAA says is illegal if your MM is out of your VLOS. Its signal is more prone to interference from WIFI. , Primary role of the MM is to fly as a selfie camera, never designed to fly long distance. Most flight controls problems are cause by Six different issues. One of them is Wind Speeds in excess of the design limits of the aircraft. Been flying MP's now for almost five years.
never out of my line of sight. Even have strobes on the rear legs, so I can fly farther and keep it in my VLOS. Even with the MM its good to have a PRE FLIGHT CHECKLIST, one of the things is check wind speed, another is take off area. Check for obstacles/alternativ landing area/interference, Another one, what to do in emergency.
What to do if you have have to Abort RTH? Keep flying with the rotors pointed up.

 

[zeusfl]

Thanks. Good to know.
What about it changing "RTH" to "Landing" in high winds? Is the "Automatic RTH not available" warning something to be concerned about? I would particularly want to know that it might hover or attempt to land if I'm over water when I lose connection.

The trick for RTH safe in Windy conditions is BEFORE click RTH change to sport mode. Then click RTH, when you hear the beeping sound just full up the right stick. This will give the full power available returning to home. This will help the MM fight the wind coming back to home. Remember this can drain the battery quickly than Normal mode so make sure you are close.

 

[zeusfl]

Never ever trust a weather forecast app. Use trees, waves on water, etc but never an app.

Me either.
What I do before go far is fly around 100FT. I know how fast is the mini in normal or sport mode. My mini can do around 28-29Mph in sport mode. I fly North, South, East and West for test the speed. If notice in any direction the speed drops from 28-29 that's head wind. That's the direction you want to fly if you are going far. In that way you will make sure you will wont be dragged coming back to home. If you need to go to the opposite direction where you will be dragged returning to home, make sure you can fly low sufficient and plenty of battery to come back. If the wind is over 12Mph i simply don't take chances going far. Wind condition can change by temperature, altitude from 1 minute to another specially in Florida.

Now flying my M2P or MA2 I don't care too much about the wind except when i am really far away using spotters. The experience will give you the command sense.

 

[Ex Coelis]

I do. I was referring to LOS in the context of wifi signal connection strength. As far as vision goes, I am one of the few that you mention.

Two statute miles is in fact 3.22 klicks, not 2.8...
And you could see an MM at that distance???
Mmmm... Nope, not buyin’ it!

 

[Carlos56]

Two statute miles is in fact 3.22 klicks, not 2.8...
And you could see an MM at that distance???
Mmmm... Nope, not buyin’ it!

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.

 

[Carlos56]

Never ever trust a weather forecast app. Use trees, waves on water, etc but never an app.

I agree. I look at the tree tops here first, that's all I have visually. They were barely moving that day at 60 feet or so, but I had wind warnings at 230 feet. That's what I hoped the UAV weather app would tell me. It is usually pessimistic saying it's too windy up higher and yet I find it's OK. But that day everything was telling me it was OK and it wasn't.

 

[Carlos56]

I thought perhaps the "Smart RTH" had increased the max speed because of the wind, but it sounds like it may have been my prolonged full throttle stick setting that pushed it beyond the default speed.
Hmmm. ?

Update on this.. I tried the RTH a few days ago as a test, and the MM automatically flew back at Sport Mode speed without any input from me, and it wasn't in high wind.

Does the software now use Sport Mode for RTH whenever it can? Perhaps it looks at how much battery life is remaining and flies home as fast as possible?