quick question on RTH

[Mcgon]

My MA lost signal at 1km. It then hovered, then started to fly away. I realized quick enough it was retracing its route home. No problem. This is what failsafe RTH does.

If I initiate RTH while signal is strong, it just flies straight back, line of sight. correct?

And finally, in a failsafe RTH (due to signal loss) will it retrace the flight path if to do so would mean there won't be enough battery to get home? i.e. sometimes a line of sight return will be a shorter distance than retracing the flight path.

 

[swooshdave]

I don’t think it’s suppose to trace the outbound route.

 

[Ian in London]

My MA lost signal at 1km. It then hovered, then started to fly away. I realized quick enough it was retracing its route home. No problem. This is what failsafe RTH does.

If I initiate RTH while signal is strong, it just flies straight back, line of sight. correct?

And finally, in a failsafe RTH (due to signal loss) will it retrace the flight path if to do so would mean there won't be enough battery to get home? i.e. sometimes a line of sight return will be a shorter distance than retracing the flight path.

Hi
If you initiate a RTH, or it auto-initiates due to signal loss, the same procedure happens:
1. If below the RTH height, it will rise to the RTH altitude and fly in a straight line back to the home point
2. If you're already above the RTH altitude, it will stay at that altitude and fly back in a straight line to the home point, then descend

This assumes you've not changed the RTH defaults to land or hover. Either way, it will never retrace its outward flight path; it always flies straight back

Cheers
Ian in London

 

[msinger]

If I initiate RTH while signal is strong, it just flies straight back, line of sight. correct?

That's correct. The aircraft will only attempt to retrace its original flight path if the remote controller signal is lost while flying.

For some reason, that function cannot be triggered by turning off the remote controller while flying. So, if you want to test it out, you'll have to somehow block the remote controller antennas.

in a failsafe RTH (due to signal loss) will it retrace the flight path if to do so would mean there won't be enough battery to get home?

This shouldn't cause a problem in most cases since the aircraft will only attempt to retrace its flight path for about 60 seconds. If the remote controller connection is not reestablished, the aircraft will fly directly back to the home point. This is covered in more detail in the following section of the Mavic Air manual:

 

[Mcgon]

Thanks for the feedback here guys.
@msinger that is exactly the behaviour I had observed. The explanation from the manual is very clear. thanks for highlighting it. Many thanks.

 

[tcope]

i.e. sometimes a line of sight return will be a shorter distance than retracing the flight path.

Actually, returning along LOS will always be the shortest distance. Not sometimes.