MY SIGN SIMIU AND MY DRONE IS NOW. I'VE LOST

[HWCM]

RTH doesn't always work. I was flying my drone and it wasn't far only like 400 feet away from me. My app crashed and I couldn't reconnect. I tried RTH and it did nothing. Luckily I was able to visually find my drone and the remote still worked but not the RTH. So I got it back to me safely.

You probably got impatient and hit rth twice, canceling the first.

 

[HWCM]

Would signal be lost straight away in case of a bird strike?

no

 

[HWCM]

Exactly! So, in the OPs instance, he lost his drone because something happened that STOPPED the RTH from initiating, or completing successfully. A complete LOS only initiates an RTH.

According to the video OP posted, he was not in RTH because he was flying backwards, RTH only works facing toward the home point. He has done something wrong and is blaming it as a malfunction.
Also, if RTH is initiated and you move the right stick, it will stop the Mavic from accending and it will come back at the altitude it was cancelled at.

 

[HWCM]

Upload your flight logs, someone will be able to tell you what went wrong. But looking at the video the video signal looks great, so the control signal probably was also. You seemed to be up high enough to clear the hills, unless you flew backwards into one or a tall tree. But still, the video would have caught some sort of tumble or crash. I have never seen a video that clear just stop unless it was stopped or the app closed.

 

[Kilrah]

So to enable RTH on the controller if the app crashes you need to unplug the cable to the phone before pushing the RTH button on the controller? If true it seems like a design flaw.

No. Please reread my posts.

 

[HWCM]

So to enable RTH on the controller if the app crashes you need to unplug the cable to the phone before pushing the RTH button on the controller? If true it seems like a design flaw.

Please read your owners manual.

 

[Anthony]

How does one do this on a Mavic?

No need to remove the battery ... just turn the mavic onto it's side and it will shut off.

 

[ajsiemers]

How does one do this on a Mavic?

VERY carefully! Cut my finger a little while doing it but there is a little room if your fingers are long enough. Didn’t know about the turning on it’s side trick though...

 

[autarh]

I really do not like to see people judging even before they have all info ...

This is facts
1 RTH do not work always..
2 RC can disconnect and u can not press RTH
3 Drone do not always LAND on RTH initiation


This is my video made about 2-3 weeks ago for DJI support, they have never contact me in this issue with good explanation...
LEFT part of screen is MOBILE cashe, RIGHT is drone recording...

Firs u will see a time delay between this two video after 11 minutes... strange but delay increase during the time ..

11:25 u can see lost of signal RC-DRONE ... and drone starts behaving strange ... he went in spiral

NO CONNECTION AND NO CONTROL FROM THIS POINT

11:39 i guess he went in RTH but not sure...
12:04 he started descending some 15 meters from RTH point
12:11 strange glitch on gibal
12:32 he start hovering about 7 feet in air..
12:39 i tried to grab him, but big hands and no place to grab him properly
12:49 he went one more feet in air (i guess sensors and my hand done that)
13:59 i am recording from mobile RC unit , that is not connecting (i turned it OFF/ON before that)
15:06 i grab it and try to bring him down ... after couple of seconds he turns OFF ...

 

[HWCM]

My first thought about the RTH issue is how high was the drone above your home point? If your RTH altitude was say 30 metres, and the ground below your drone was more than 30 metres above your home point, it’s first action upon losing the signal would be to descend to 30 metres, and hit the ground. Of course, we’d expect the sensors to see the ground, but maybe not so clearly if there were trees and branches below.

This is incorrect. If the mavic is above the set RTH height, it will not descend to the set RTH height. It will turn to the home point and go home.
Please read the owner's manual.

 

[HWCM]

No need to remove the battery ... just turn the mavic onto it's side and it will shut off.

This is incorrect.

 

[Huddy]

This is incorrect. If the mavic is above the set RTH height, it will not descend to the set RTH height. It will turn to the home point and go home.
Please read the owner's manual.

Yes. Someone corrected me earlier. As for me reading the owner’s manual. I have. So I made an error. I daresay I’ll make more errors in the future. I’ll thank you not to adopt that sarcastic and somewhat trenchant tone with me.

 

[ac0j]

Yes. Someone corrected me earlier. As for me reading the owner’s manual. I have. So I made an error. I daresay I’ll make more errors in the future. I’ll thank you not to adopt that sarcastic and somewhat trenchant tone with me.

In his defense, sometimes the "foot on your throat" approach will make you a better person.(in his view)

 

[HWCM]

Yes. Someone corrected me earlier. As for me reading the owner’s manual. I have. So I made an error. I daresay I’ll make more errors in the future. I’ll thank you not to adopt that sarcastic and somewhat trenchant tone with me.

K

 

[Qoncussion]

No, I'm wondering how it even CAN happen! I'm questioning people who suggest in this thread that RTH "doesn't always work." I contend that if it didn't/doesn't work, the pilot probably made a mistake. Did or didn't do something critical to a proper RTH. Asked an 18 mph drone to fly against a 25 mph wind to get home. Something like that. I want examples of RTH not working when everything is within correct parameters.

I can give you one example where RTH would not have worked as expected... I was flying in a signal-infested area, atop a mountain surrounded by communications towers. At 13m:20s into my second battery, the flight log on my device stopped recording the log file, because the app crashed. I think the high interference had something to do with the app crashing, as my device (LG-G2) had never crashed before, nor since. I rebooted the app, which started a new log file @ 14m:57s ~same flight - spread across two log files. When it started the second log file it also (automatically) reset the home point to the location of the aircraft, which was only 84ft away from me when the app crashed. I never lost RC control of the craft.

If I had been way out, over the valley when this happened, and had I used RTH (which I don't) the craft would have returned to the wrong home point.

Log pt.1: Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Log pt.2 Airdata UAV - Flight Data Analysis for Drones

Here's the final production from that flight ~where you can see the communications arrays...

 

[msinger]

When it started the second log file it also (automatically) reset the home point to the location of the aircraft

Did you look at the GPS data in those logs to check if the home point was really reset?

 

[DavidGlennPDX]

Wow, interesting thread. I think one advanage to my 3DR Solo over my Mavic may be that I belive in the Solo the onboard computer keeps the RTH position so that even if the App and Controller both die it is stored onboard from takeoff and not altered.
I think it makes sense to at least have an option where the Home point simply will not change from the initial

 

[Qoncussion]

Did you look at the GPS data in those logs to check if the home point was really reset?

Yep ~ you can actually see it on the map overlay on the AirData links I posted... I took off and landed on the same launchpad (original home point) ~but at the end of the second log, it shows me landing 733ft from home.

 

[msinger]

you can actually see it on the map overlay on the AirData links I posted

Right -- AirData always shows the home point has changed when a log is split (even though it hasn't really changed). That's why I'm wondering what's inside of those log files.

 

[Kilrah]

I belive in the Solo the onboard computer keeps the RTH position so that even if the App and Controller both die it is stored onboard from takeoff and not altered.

DJI craft do exactly the same.