RTH at night

[Droning on and on...]

Unless you’ve got some kind of waiver that Flight Protection Max Altitude should be set at 120m or 400ft! That’s why the RTH height was going up and up. As for Max Distance set at No Limit, you really don’t want to keep your drone.

I'm of the opinion that setting the max altitude to the regulated 400ft/120m creates additional risk, and potentially unsafe conditions.

Reason being a pilot may find themselves in a situation where the safest move is to violate the 400ft AGL limit. Also, it's easy to hit this above TO limit in a hilly area, and get in a bind around trees even though we'll within the 400ft AGL limit.

There are plenty of other scenarios. Bottom line is more control and degrees of freedom is always better than less. Learn to constantly monitor the telemetry, and keep the drone below 400ft AGL as a matter of piloting discipline.

 

[MS Coast]

That's good advice, especially at night when the drone can get confused. But there's still an issue if you lose contact with the drone for any reason and it tries to RTH on its own, then the OP could be in for a world of hurt while it "hunts" for a way home by rising ever higher in the sky since his max altitude setting was 500m.

Yes, indeed. I can't see a reason to have set it to that extreme altitude.

 

[Bad Santa]

I'm of the opinion that setting the max altitude to the regulated 400ft/120m creates additional risk, and potentially unsafe conditions.

Reason being a pilot may find themselves in a situation where the safest move is to violate the 400ft AGL limit. Also, it's easy to hit this above TO limit in a hilly area, and get in a bind around trees even though we'll within the 400ft AGL limit.

There are plenty of other scenarios. Bottom line is more control and degrees of freedom is always better than less. Learn to constantly monitor the telemetry, and keep the drone below 400ft AGL as a matter of piloting discipline.

Some people have opinions to validate their decision to not follow rules.
Although there "could" be reasons to climb above the 400 feet from launch site, the majority of flights probably don't need that.
I'm thinking a case by case thing is a better approach but you do you, boo.

 

[mavic3usa]

When I am in controlled airspace and there's a grid limitation like 200 feet then I will set my max altitude because not only do I want to avoid accidentally going too high but also I want to protect against a disconnect or malfunction that could at least provide a chance. This is particular true when I am flying FPV and the drone is moving really quickly (aka DJI FPV). There is hardly ever going to be a situation in controlled airspace where I will need to go above a manned aircraft that was flying too low, it seems around here they respect the limits.

 

[hank970]

When I am in controlled airspace and there's a grid limitation like 200 feet then I will set my max altitude because not only do I want to avoid accidentally going too high but also I want to protect against a disconnect or malfunction that could at least provide a chance. This is particular true when I am flying FPV and the drone is moving really quickly (aka DJI FPV). There is hardly ever going to be a situation in controlled airspace where I will need to go above a manned aircraft that was flying too low, it seems around here they respect the limits.

You fly FPV at high speeds in controlled airspace at night? Regardless of altitude limits, an even with prior authorization, that seems like a risky proposition.

 

[mavic3usa]

You fly FPV at high speeds in controlled airspace at night? Regardless of altitude limits, an even with prior authorization, that seems like a risky proposition.

Yeah it gets dark here pretty quickly and when I'm out flying in controlled airspace and it starts to get really dark, I don't always pack up and quit. My FPV drones have a lot of lighting and I've learned to fly them well especially in an area I am totally familiar with. Not a problem. It's quite easy to fly the DJI FPV at 60mph in sport mode pretty much anywhere. Where I live it's flat and there is nothing taller than 80 feet AGL except the cell towers.

BTW, the small airport that I live near shuts down after dark (and controlled airspace becomes class G) so I don't need further authorization to fly thru the night and the airport traffic slows to a crawl although I do continue to respect the altitude limits (but I guess I'm free to fly up to 400 feet).