What if remote goes dead mid flight?

[JMC3]

fly out a little ways and turn your controller off and see what happens.

Nope Nope Nope

 

[Rich QR]

You can switch order as well on a PG level....RTMF...... Read The Manual First But yeah

No need to switch order. It stands for "Read The Fine Manual".

 

[Meta4]

Nope Nope Nope

Why?

 

[jimlips]

I have tested this with all my aircraft (Phantom 3 Advanced, Spark, Mavic Pro Platinum and Mavic Pro). It gives me a better feeling knowing what will happen if the controller fails or dies. They all returned properly - just make sure to fly at 60m away before you power the remote off. Also, remember that you can also power the remote back on and it will re-connect if something bad happens (as long as the battery isn't dead). Try it in an open field and see for yourself. Just make sure that, before you take off, the top line is green and says "GPS".



That means that it has GPS lock. If it is yellow, you can still take off, but it does not have GPS lock, and you have no idea what will happen if you turn the remote off. I always make sure that the map shows where I really am, and not somewhere else. Then I know it will truly return to where I am.

 

[rangemaster728]

No need to switch order. It stands for "Read The Fine Manual".

Read The Flight Manual...

 

[ehje]

It may, but it's better to do this under controlled circumstances as a test of the system's capabilities versus having it happen on its own for the first time causing possible shock and lockup on the part of the pilot. When testing, you also know that you can turn the RC back on and resume cont

It may, but it's better to do this under controlled circumstances as a test of the system's capabilities versus having it happen on its own for the first time causing possible shock and lockup on the part of the pilot. When testing, you also know that you can turn the RC back on and resume control.

This reminds me

If you think that's scary, try losing signal without knowing what's going to happen.
Everyone should get some practice with RTH to learn what it does and how it works.
It's very reliable but the day you need it isn't a very good time to start learning about it.

it is called “simulation” and also builds confidence....

 

[JOE CHRONIC]

I have tested this with all my aircraft (Phantom 3 Advanced, Spark, Mavic Pro Platinum and Mavic Pro). It gives me a better feeling knowing what will happen if the controller fails or dies. They all returned properly - just make sure to fly at 60m away before you power the remote off. Also, remember that you can also power the remote back on and it will re-connect if something bad happens (as long as the battery isn't dead). Try it in an open field and see for yourself. Just make sure that, before you take off, the top line is green and says "GPS".

View attachment 123020

That means that it has GPS lock. If it is yellow, you can still take off, but it does not have GPS lock, and you have no idea what will happen if you turn the remote off. I always make sure that the map shows where I really am, and not somewhere else. Then I know it will truly return to where I am.

Good info, thank you...

 

[Stickybit]

Some advice for this: always start from a location with enough space for this failsafe RTH to work. Sometimes I see people start their drone from under trees, fly out to an open field (a few metres in front of them) and then do their thing. When those people get a failsafe RTH because their controller fails, they'll loose their drone also because it crashes in the trees..

 

[fr4nszzz]

Rth will runningtowards home point

 

[Pktm80]

Hypothetical... Lets say you update your home point before take off and you're
out flying when your remote dies, will the drone (MA2) return home with no signal from the
remote that went dead?

Should check the battery before take off, no excuse for dead battery ?
If on the other hand you might have an app crash- always make sure home point has set before you fly away

 

[Marko9219]

When my Mavic Pro was still pretty new to me, I tested the RTH failsafe.
I went to a very empty, remote location in northern Utah, USA. Antelope Island State Park if you know of that. I launched the drone and confirmed it's home point was set. I flew directly west, which took the drone out over the Great Salt Lake. I flew about 2 miles out at an altitude of 100 feet. At that point, I literally turned off the controller, threw it on the seat of my car, crossed my fingers and waited. I'm still flying that drone today. Learn to use and trust RTH.

 

[DanMan32]

Some models will retrace previous path for 60 seconds before actual RTH.

If it gets signal back, it will ask if you want to RTH. No response for 10 seconds will RTH. I think it might prompt for RTH even without RC detecting signal in case it's only one-way.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

A few weeks back I took my Mavic 2 Zoom to the local radio control flying field to test both fail safe RTH and low battery RTH. Took off, ascended to 50 feet and flew out 100 feet or so and then shut off the controller. Maybe 10 seconds later, drone executed RTH. Then, relaunched, flew around and took some pics and then just hovered not too far away until the battery level triggered RTH. That, too, executed perfectly. I now have a higher comfort level having tested that functionality in a very controlled environment.

I think you might find it interesting to do some more testing including distance variations, it's quite complicated behavaiour especially when you add in the failsafe options hover & land.
I did something similar with a MM and the fail safeset to hover.

 

[projectarjun]

When my Mavic Pro was still pretty new to me, I tested the RTH failsafe.
I went to a very empty, remote location in northern Utah, USA. Antelope Island State Park if you know of that. I launched the drone and confirmed it's home point was set. I flew directly west, which took the drone out over the Great Salt Lake. I flew about 2 miles out at an altitude of 100 feet. At that point, I literally turned off the controller, threw it on the seat of my car, crossed my fingers and waited. I'm still flying that drone today. Learn to use and trust RTH.

My heart rate was picking up while reading your post, haha