RTH Question

[lertsek]

I was reading some scary posts about losing contact, video, GPS, etc. and trying everything to get the drone to return to home. My question is: Is it OK to panic and hit the RTH on the phone and the controller multiple times, or are you negating the desired command?

 

[Meta4]

I was reading some scary posts about losing contact, video, GPS, etc. and trying everything to get the drone to return to home. My question is: Is it OK to panic and hit the RTH on the phone and the controller multiple times, or are you negating the desired command?

No .. it's not OK.
Most RTH problems are because the flyer didn't understand how RTH works and how to initiate RTH.
The best way to avoid RTH problems is to have read the RTH section of the manual (a few times) and then gone and practised RTH in a large, open area so you know what it does and how it does it.
That way if you ever need RTH you won't have any nasty surprises.

If you initiate RTH and then press the button again, it cancels RTH.
Get some practice and you'll fly safer and more confidently.

 

[lertsek]

No .. it's not OK.
Most RTH problems are because the flyer didn't understand how RTH works and how to initiate RTH.
The best way to avoid RTH problems is to have read the RTH section of the manual (a few times) and then gone and practised RTH in a large, open area so you know what it does and how it does it.
That way if you ever need RTH you won't have any nasty surprises.

If you initiate RTH and then press the button again, it cancels RTH.
Get some practice and you'll fly safer and more confidently.

Thanks Meta4! Apparently there's a lot of pilots that don't know this.

 

[BossBob]

Thanks Meta4! Apparently there's a lot of pilots that don't know this.

That will be because they haven’t read and understood the manual!

 

[FoxhallGH]

I was reading some scary posts about losing contact, video, GPS, etc. and trying everything to get the drone to return to home. My question is: Is it OK to panic and hit the RTH on the phone and the controller multiple times, or are you negating the desired command?

Press and hold the RTH button on your controller until you hear the tones from your controller to tell you that the RTH has been initiated. It's one command that needs a long press, so that you avoid accidentally making it happen. If you need to cancel it - then press it again (as Meta4 says above) - or press the 'Pause' button on the RC controller.
Big thing with RTH though, is to make sure that you are giving the Mavic every chance to figure out where it is on take-off. Best RTH results are when you have all the vertical position-keeping and landing-assists on - wait 'till the drone tells you it's got GPS lock, and then you use the take-off icon on the Go 4 app. Select the tick-box above the slider and then use the slider switch to take off. Once the Drone takes off, just let it stop in the hover, then without turning or slipping, go up to around 10 metres (30 ft), and THEN go off and do your flying. That process makes sure that the Mavic has an accurate GPS and video fix of the take-off point to do the accurate return. If you are still not getting accurate RTH, you may need to check INS and Compass calibration.
The User-manual will make more sense once you take the Mavic to a big open space and try RTH scenarios - but be ready with the pause button if it's not doing what you expect it to.

 

[Meta4]

If you are still not getting accurate RTH, you may need to check INS and Compass calibration.

Neither of those would make any difference to your RTH landing accuracy.

 

[DanMan32]

On an M2, don't bother with hovering 10m for visual lock. M2 doesn't have precision landing yet.

 

[Top Hat]

If you want RTH to work properly, wait for HP to be recorded b4 taking off.
Press and hold RTH button for a few secs to engage RTH.

 

[FoxhallGH]

On an M2, don't bother with hovering 10m for visual lock. M2 doesn't have precision landing yet.

Sorry Dan - I keep having to remind myself that the Mavic Pro 2's are on catch-up ... (in that regard anyway ...)

 

[draver]

I am still very green about the RTH system and would like to confirm my understanding. If I am using the controller as the RTH Home location, it is not a dynamic position, but will return to the location where the button was activated? So it doesn't track and try to return to a moving controller after activation, but will only return to a single fixed home location, is this correct? I've seen some explanations on the web about returning to a moving boat or vehicle and doubt that the system works in that manner.

 

[Top Hat]

If your display device that is connected to the RC has GPS and you use RTH to RC or HP me, it will come back to you even if you move to another location.

 

[BossBob]

It should return to the homepoint that was last set. This might be the homepoint that was set at takeoff at the start of flight. You can then reset the homepoint during flight to either the aircraft position or, if the viewing device has gps, the position of that device. The home point will not follow the viewing device. If you move from the set position the homepoint is back where you set it. If you want the aircraft to return to your new position you have to set that as the new homepoint. You can check the position of the homepoint on the map, always a good idea.

 

[DanMan32]

You can check the position of the homepoint on the map, always a good idea.

It even tells you that.
"The home point has been recorded, please check it on the map"

Except you have to manually zoom in on the map to properly check.

 

[draver]

I was trying to confirm that I cannot set the controller as the Home Point, then move it and have the Home Point also move without manually resetting the controller as a new Home Point location. There are some YT videos and comments regarding boats that seem to imply the Home Point is constantly updating a newer, latest location automatically, based on a mobile controller. I have seen nothing official in writing that implies that to be true. Once set, the Home Point takeoff point, or controller is a fixed, static location until reset.

 

[Meta4]

I was trying to confirm that I cannot set the controller as the Home Point, then move it and have the Home Point also move without manually resetting the controller as a new Home Point location. There are some YT videos and comments regarding boats that seem to imply the Home Point is constantly updating a newer, latest location automatically, based on a mobile controller. I have seen nothing official in writing that implies that to be true. Once set, the Home Point takeoff point, or controller is a fixed, static location until reset.

The DJI Go app allows resetting the home point but it does not have a dynamic home point that will follow you.

 

[draver]

That's what I figured. That would take some real math & processing power wouldn't it? Would be nice though. Maybe someday.

 

[FoxhallGH]

I was trying to confirm that I cannot set the controller as the Home Point, then move it and have the Home Point also move without manually resetting the controller as a new Home Point location. There are some YT videos and comments regarding boats that seem to imply the Home Point is constantly updating a newer, latest location automatically, based on a mobile controller. I have seen nothing official in writing that implies that to be true. Once set, the Home Point takeoff point, or controller is a fixed, static location until reset.

You are correct ... There are a lot of YouTube vid's out regarding RTH, but in this one, Russ actually describes exactly what your question is all about i.e. He 'thought' that setting RTH as the controller position meant that it dynamically updated ... Until he tried RTH from his boat! [4:20 into the video]

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[FoxhallGH]

However, it does appear that if your controller has moved, you will get a pop-up window asking if you want to update the home point after pressing RTH [choice of 'Current Position' or 'Original Home Point']. I guess though, that if the RTH is due to signal loss, you won't get that option to update & the Mavic will choose the original controller position. In addition, you are updating/amending to a static HP, so this is not going to work for a moving controller (e.g. on a boat!).

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[Kenneth Coe]

Man, I'm glad I read this. I was totally mistaken as to how RTH works when Return to Controller is selected (I have never tried to use it, I always use return to HP and let it do a precision landing). Like others, I assumed that, when RTH was initiated, the device would determine where the controller was and go there. At this point, I have no intention of using "Return to Controller", but I'm glad to know that it doesn't work the way I thought it would. Good information and the video was excellent.

 

[FoxhallGH]

Man, I'm glad I read this. I was totally mistaken as to how RTH works when Return to Controller is selected (I have never tried to use it, I always use return to HP and let it do a precision landing). Like others, I assumed that, when RTH was initiated, the device would determine where the controller was and go there. At this point, I have no intention of using "Return to Controller", but I'm glad to know that it doesn't work the way I thought it would. Good information and the video was excellent.

Glad to be of help ... I think Return to controller is a great feature if you are using the Drone in some Active-track mode. It means that you can stop, hit the RTH button and just amend the home point to get the Drone back to you. I'm sure there would be several situations where you are on the move, and it would be more convenient to have the Drone RTH to you, rather than your start point.