Tips for Distance test?

[JDawg]

The RTH will always be a straight path, no matter what manner of RTH it uses.

Also, if your aircraft is above the RTH altitude, then it won't descend on it's way back. Same goes for obstacles. If it senses an obstacle, then it elevates above it and continues at new altitude, unless you turned on horizontal obstacle avoidance, which is asking for a disaster!

" 1. "Smart RTH" flies directly to the Home Point based on preset altitude. 2. Failsafe RTH returns to Home Point flying back along flight route (FS RTH Overrides "Smart RTH"). 3. Low Battery RTH flies directly back to Home Point (Overrides FS RTH & Smart RTH). 4. Critical Battery Warning (Activates immediate landing.) Overrides all of the above. Seems to be the same for all the DJI Drones.

 

[Odom1957]

I am going to test this again, cause I have done all three RTH and it came straight back each time. I'm thinking I did something wrong.

 

[JDawg]

I am going to test this again, cause I have done all three RTH and it came straight back each time. I'm thinking I did something wrong.

I saw a discussion on this a while back and someone showed the screen grab of the Air retracing its original path which surprised everyone but me because I didn't know enough at the time to be surprised.

 

[Mossiback]

Keep it low, stay out of sport mode, use fresh battery.
Do all those sound right? What else?

My first thought is; "Don't do it". You will be flying out of VLOS and risking your investment to things out of your control (wind changes, software, battery health, etc). But...if I were to do a distance test I would do it in an area where I could recover it if it went down; few trees and not over water. Of course, you get the best distance over water but it would be preferable if you could fly along the shoreline instead of out to sea.

 

[Odom1957]

I heard the same about the Mavic air, but also heard that on the phantom, it would back track for something like 20 seconds, then return home in a straight line.

Nowhere in the manual of my pro does it say anything about retracing its flight path. It only says it will ascend to the RTH altitude, if below it, and RTH. I even looked at the latest version on the DJI site and it says the same.

I thought I had done the test correctly by flying out a bit, turning left 90° and flying a bit, then shutting down the remote and watching where it went. It came straight back to me with the remote off.

I'm assuming that was failsafe, but I am still new at this drone also. I will say that it landed in my hand while sitting in my folding chair! Talk about a good precise landing point.

 

[thebigbaddan]

Yep. "Don't do it", unless you want to take a shot at the leaderboard, and/or can afford to lose your drone.

I recommend a "how far can I fly and be comfortable with it" test instead.

However, if you still want to do a distance test-- fly out of town for sure, and where you can recover it.

 

[Gizmo]

I'd be interested in knowing if turning off the sensors helped, keep us posted

 

[Gmgfarrand]

Well... since my emergency landing and having to avoid stupid tall tree canopy, I’ve been playing it safe
I launch of the second floor balcony at my office building and it’s kind of cheating since it’s so high up.
I get a much better signal there than from ground level.
I got about 13,000 ft away before losing signal and on 2.8gjz.
Switched to 5.8 and got a little over 20,000 ft away.
Farmland will be next test...

 

[thebigbaddan]

Wow, that is stupid far on a stock air!!!! I haven't tried manually setting 5.8, I will have to try that.

I doubt you're going to get much further than 20,000 feet... that's pretty **** far. Yes, you're cheating, and I love it.

 

[Odom1957]

No it isn't cheating! A lot of people do distance tests from the top of a large hill, so 10' off the ground is nothing by comparison.

My distance tests so far have been along the beach at very low altitude. If anything happens, it will land on the sand and I can just walk down to pick it up, which I have had to do a couple times.

 

[Gmgfarrand]

Hitting the beach of Lake Huron in August might just do that.

 

[Gmgfarrand]

Well, In just installed the Raptor XR.
Did NOT realize how large it was, as for taking the controller apart, not a big deal and had LESS of an issue doing the mod than the person in the official video.
I got mine installed faster.
Have yet to try it, might to a short flight, got a high winds warning earlier and do NOT want another search and rescue mission.

 

[Merced69]

Keep it low, stay out of sport mode, use fresh battery.
Do all those sound right? What else?

I find a better result for distance if I keep it in the air....but maybe that is just here?

 

[Capt]

Disable OA, I had mine stop facing the sun. If you have it set to rise to avoid obstacle it will go up and you might run out of battery and it will emergency land where ever it is.