Noob here, stupid question about vlos

[GMG]

A good thing is also to think about likely OMG scenarios and ensure that you've got your head around what reflexive actions you should make. There's lots of threads covering tricky situations where people have forgotten things that would have been useful.
An example for me is that I use Litchi and it's easy to forget that you can disengage and take manual control of an automated flight by shifting from P mode into Sport mode (which isn't exactly something you'd do instinctively). A couple days ago I ran a Litchi mission that I run once every few weeks and at the end of the sequence, the MP suddenly veered off toward some trees only 5m away. I'd drilled it into my head to hit the switch to Sport mode, although it'd been awhile since I'd used Litchi. I was a bit slow to respond but it came back to me just in time and only because I'd spent time thinking about it.
After a couple unsettling scenarios I thought it might be worth posting a series checklists that people could offer feedback on and refer to help them quickly work through options. In certain situations you might be able to consult the checklist (e.g. loss of connection, with reasonable battery left), in others you'd have needed to have practiced the scenario so that it's more or less automated behaviour (e.g. the Litchi example described). This is common practice flying manned aircraft, so that you minimise cognitive load in stressful situations and improve chances of a successful outcome. I'm curious as to whether anyone else has considered or done this.
I say all of this knowing there's a reasonable chance that in the not distant future I'll have a post headlined "Mavic disappeared, then hit tree...anyone got a tall ladder I can use!"
Apologies for the long post, but it seems relevant.

 

[Gary cato]

I am a little complacent sometimes too i think. Around me i have some good flying places and a bit further out i can go for some range.

My complacency is never really worrying about signal loss too much when i fly out. Why? because the Mavic has always done what it should every time and that is turn round and come home. That combined with i can fly at the same place and have various effects.

One day i will get interference warnings and still fly through them, i have had the RC show me zero bars and still been able to happily fly on a while longer.

Other times i have been out half the distance, same spot and had almost no warnings and instantaneous disconnection of everything except GPS locked to the drone.

and other times i have disconnects that last a second before reconnecting and i can often fly through two or three of these minor disconnects and get up to a kilo further on before i really need to come back.

All same flight path same -place sometimes same times of day.

I keep range to empty fields or out over water purely for safety reasons but have got so used to disconnects now of all kinds from just video feed to both Video and RC.

So that is my complacency, i do not know if it is the reduced TX power or the FW updates but signal loss now is always far far quicker than it was on 0400 FW. that was nicely graduated and gave me really good feel as to when signal would go.

now its so hit and miss that i pretty much gave up worrying too much about it

(yes one day she will not come home i am sure, every flight i expect she will not come home if i am honest).

That alone tends to keep me relaxed as i am already prepared for the AC to go down so when something has happened i am pretty calm about it, that seems to let my brain run through what i should or should not be doing, (most times that involves sitting down and waiting for the bleep bleep going home stuff).

If that does not happen after 10 secs or so then i start watching telemetry and working on it from there, Only once now in 110 flights have i ever really had a signal loss that caused me a worry.

Any other time the only worries are caused by myself and my terrible piloting skills in tight places.