Question about Smart RTH

[solidhouse]

Hello all,

I have a question about Smart RTH / RTH and what the behavior is.

My RTH altitude is set at 115m.

Today, I flew my drone to a field about 1 mile from the home point. I lowered the altitude to about 10m to get a better look at what was on the ground. The signal was lost at this point. The drone initiated an RTH. When my video feed came back, the drone was only about 30m in altitude and headed straight towards some trees. I had to quickly cancel the RTH and increase the altitude to avoid crashing into the tree tops.

My question is, why didn’t my drone go straight up to the RTH altitude of 115m before starting to return home?

Thanks,

Solidhouse

 

[msinger]

My question is, why didn’t my drone go straight up to the RTH altitude of 115m before starting to return home?

Can you share your flight log? You can upload it here and then share the link.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

We know that if you use the RTH to close to you it will start to come back without full height , it may be you were just to low and it reacted similar fashion.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water.

 

[LoudThunder]

Have you ever experimented with the RTH function? The first time is always scary as you are not in control… I fly a Mini 2 and I wanted to know how it worked and what to expect. I went to a big open park and stared slowly (you gotta be over 20-meters away or it will not work…)

It's scary to hit RTH and have your drone shoot up to the specified height, yeah I know, you can always cancel it, but like I wrote, I wanted to understand it and I used it both as a directed RTH (hit the button) and by shutting off the controller…

Like I said it was scary, but I tested it at various distances and set the RTH to various heights and I am no longer afraid to use it intentionally, or it I loose comm…

I'll let more knowledgeable folk reply to the possibilities for your drone failure, I am just trying to sell the idea of not waiting for a crisis moment to find out if it works…

 

[Phantomrain.org]

When I am flying in a storm I loose all sense of orientation and that RTH can be used several times in a single flight to get me going the right way ..

It's one of the best features on the drone ,

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Land on the water

 

[mobilehomer]

Read the manual!!! That explains the different RTH modes.

 

[Meta4]

My question is, why didn’t my drone go straight up to the RTH altitude of 115m before starting to return home?

To give explanation for your incident, we'd need to see your recorded flight data.

Go to DJI Flight Log Viewer | Phantom Help
Follow the instructions there to upload your flight record from your phone or tablet.
That will give you a detailed report of the flight.
Come back and post a link to the report it gives you.
Or .. just post the txt file here.

 

[mobilehomer]

 

[a2tomm]

Hello all,

I have a question about Smart RTH / RTH and what the behavior is.

My RTH altitude is set at 115m.

Today, I flew my drone to a field about 1 mile from the home point. I lowered the altitude to about 10m to get a better look at what was on the ground. The signal was lost at this point. The drone initiated an RTH. When my video feed came back, the drone was only about 30m in altitude and headed straight towards some trees. I had to quickly cancel the RTH and increase the altitude to avoid crashing into the tree tops.

My question is, why didn’t my drone go straight up to the RTH altitude of 115m before starting to return home?

Thanks,

Solidhouse

to close to home point

 

[Starz]

to close to home point

May not be the case based on what the op has stated. I’ve been wrong before.

I flew my drone to a field about 1 mile from the home point

 

[a2tomm]

May not be the case based on what the op has stated. I’ve been wrong before.

My mistake then if you were over a mile then it should have reached set levels ,that being said I live the middle of a huge mountain range in Pa and so mine is set at 350 feet and has been reset on more than 1 drone after a firmware update .All the things we take for granted and expect from DJI tends to have our guard down from something as RTH .It was a God sent that you were on top of things .
Happy and Safe flying

 

[Ranman1022]

My mistake then if you were over a mile then it should have reached set levels ,that being said I live the middle of a huge mountain range in Pa and so mine is set at 350 feet and has been reset on more than 1 drone after a firmware update .All the things we take for granted and expect from DJI tends to have our guard down from something as RTH .It was a God sent that you were on top of things .
Happy and Safe flying

Im not sure what makes you think your settings will transfer when a update occurs! It's just like fresh install of DJI FLY so the first thing you better do is check ALL settings!

 

[Ranman1022]

Hello all,

I have a question about Smart RTH / RTH and what the behavior is.

My RTH altitude is set at 115m.

Today, I flew my drone to a field about 1 mile from the home point. I lowered the altitude to about 10m to get a better look at what was on the ground. The signal was lost at this point. The drone initiated an RTH. When my video feed came back, the drone was only about 30m in altitude and headed straight towards some trees. I had to quickly cancel the RTH and increase the altitude to avoid crashing into the tree tops.

My question is, why didn’t my drone go straight up to the RTH altitude of 115m before starting to return home?

Thanks,

Solidhouse

Smart RTH! Don't do it! It's DUMB!

 

[JeffreyS]

I believe that Obstacle Avoidance would have prevented your drone from flying right into those trees. On my P4P, I once lost contact and it initiated RTH. Meanwhile it was still recording video. Later I got to see it heading straight to some cliffs and it just stopped, ascended above them and then continued on home. That was way cool.

 

[Suren]

to close to home point

Not really, at 1 mile out the drone is supposed to climb to the height set in the app unless the OP had it to RTH set to optimal, if he set it to Preset, the drone will climb to the altitude set in the fly app and come back at that height.

 

[Brojon]

When I am flying in a storm I loose all sense of orientation and that RTH can be used several times in a single flight to get me going the right way ..

It's one of the best features on the drone ,

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Land on the water

Glad to see others that use it for that! Points right at you so you are now oriented.
Yes, yes - I know that implies not LOS. Sue me for being an outlaw.

 

[Brojon]

I believe that Obstacle Avoidance would have prevented your drone from flying right into those trees. On my P4P, I once lost contact and it initiated RTH. Meanwhile it was still recording video. Later I got to see it heading straight to some cliffs and it just stopped, ascended above them and then continued on home. That was way cool.

There was a video here many moons ago where a guy was flying in a German city. He lost control and the drone did an RTH. He got his drone back (might have been a Phantom so on the "other" site). When he looked at teh video he was startled to see his drone fly right up to a high rise with a field of antennas on top. The video showed the drone "walking" up the building until it finally was clear to fly forward.
Impressive but I won't be trying it myself.

 

[jephoto]

We know that if you use the RTH to close to you it will start to come back without full height , it may be you were just to low and it reacted similar fashion.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the water.

That doesn't make sense- if the RTH was acting normally. Be design the "classic" RTH will first raise up to your set RTH height, Then come home. Unless you are really close to your homepoint, then it goes into Autoland mode. But you have to be fairly close for that to happen.
As said above if set to the new 'Optimal' setting it will take a more direct path including an angled descent, but supposedly will use the Obsticle Avoidance to keep from hitting things - but who wants to test that....?
I prefer the classic.

 

[JeffreyS]

That doesn't make sense- if the RTH was acting normally. Be design the "classic" RTH will first raise up to your set RTH height, Then come home. Unless you are really close to your homepoint, then it goes into Autoland mode. But you have to be fairly close for that to happen.
As said above if set to the new 'Optimal' setting it will take a more direct path including an angled descent, but supposedly will use the Obsticle Avoidance to keep from hitting things - but who wants to test that....?
I prefer the classic.

I will use it as soon as my M3 arrives. I have always used RTH on my Phantoms for years, and it nearly always puts it right on the pad as I simply watch.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Recently I landed the Mavic 3 on the Water with the Rescue Jacket and as it should Reset the Home point on the Water. In the middle of the storm i kind of forgot about it and ran the battery out really low and started to bring it back to me.

I had the drone about 3 ft from the ground in front of me and just when I thought it was landing it took off and landed itself right in the water . It happened so fast that it did not have time to climb up and just bee lined out to the home point in the Water and Landed.

My initial thought was that it would climb up first but it got to about 6 ft and headed out over the lake.
This is why i thought maybe it was because his drone was low enough that it reacted the same way.

That day I actually reset the home point like 15 times in a single flight, very cool.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain.