Who has has the guts to take it to the max.

Droneteen · Jan 16, 2018

Can you explain, don't count on collision sensors part? Sorry, new guy.

joejaxvic123 · Jan 16, 2018

Man, I freak out at 150 feet high!

Nathan Hoover · Jan 16, 2018

Personally I very rarely turn on the obstacle sensors.

They only work front and down
They have a limited range
Enabling them reduces your speed
They sometimes miss thin obstacles
They sometimes stop you from flying where you know you can fly - and you want a very close shot
I prefer to require myself to be more aware and less reliant on something supposedly "smart" that isn't actually.

When I'm going ActiveTrack I typically keep them on. They sure would be better if they worked in all six directions rather than just two.

Howcroft22 · Jan 16, 2018

Couldn’t have said it better.

KTFARAH · Jan 20, 2018

I have done it on 2 or 3 occasions just to test it. I do that every 8 to 9 months. Has always worked perfectly. I also test it to the max altitude over a remote area to 1,640 feet works perfect and about 8,000 feet out over water. Never and issue. You can check footages on instagram. @ADRONEWITHANEYE or for longer clips on YouTube under. KTFARAH1 hope this helps .

RustyStainless · Jan 20, 2018

Don't be, just do it. Hold the right stick forward until the system announces RTH. I've never done it with the Mavic, but sent my Spark 4km away.

pgh1949 · Jan 20, 2018

The best reassurance you can get is to actually try it and see what happens

There's something quite magical the first time you lose signal and you watch that lump of plastic and metal rising up, turning round and coming back to you like a good little dog

Take your shiny new drone into a wide open space, make sure RTH is set properly (the defaults are fine BTW), send it out a couple of hundred feet, take a deep breath and switch off the controller. That's one of the first things I did when I got my Mavic just before Christmas.

Now I have the confidence to send it much further away under manual control. I've also flown Litchi Waypoint missions where I've lost signal and it just keeps on flying the pre-programmed route and eventually I get back both signal and my drone! The only other bit of advice I'd give as a relatively new owner myself is to take relatively small steps to build up your confidence (and that of your parents

!!) It's tempting to send it in the wild blue yonder but keeping it in sight will do wonders for your skill as a pilot and keep risks to a minimum.

Happy flying

p.s. Having said all that I did take a risk yesterday. See at least the first bit of this video:

Tail Gunner · Jan 20, 2018

I'v seen 17k+ ft. out over the bay and turned back on my own accord. Two blocks inland over the houses and the RTH kicks in, lol.

jazar · Jan 20, 2018

I tested mine by flying a few hundred feet out and then turning off the controller. It came back.

OkieDroner · Jan 20, 2018

I've taken mine out to the flat farm land west of where i live in Oklahoma and flown mine 4 miles out down a dirt road and chickened out on going further and flew it back, no RTH needed.

mph300 · Jan 20, 2018

Not related to drones but good job on setting a goal and achieving it. Breath of fresh air among the younger crowd.

borzoiboy · Jan 20, 2018

I started with a Phantom 3 Standard a little over 2 years ago. Got my Mavic when they first came out. On both birds one of the first things I did was try to learn to trust the software. I would fly out about a quarter and turn off the controller. I have tested and tried most all the features and they seem to work if you follow the instructions. I have never had RTH or anything else on the Phantom or the Mavic software not work pretty much as advertised. I’m one of those guys who reads all the instructions, three times, and religiously applies all the updates. I believe I was lucky both times and got good builds. But I believe taking time to read and understand the instructions would take care of 80% of the problems I’ve read on most forums. I rarely see a disaster that couldn’t be at least partially attributed to pilot error.

DrStrange · Jan 20, 2018

This guy totally took his Spark to the limit. I’m sure with the Mavic he would have had more time but suspenseful nonetheless.

Howcroft22 · Jan 20, 2018

Yeah. I ended up going for it again and got out 14,100 feet and the battery low warning was on. I barely made it back. There was a headwind going out. So I used the tail wind coming back.

Bosco · Jan 20, 2018

I've done this a couple of times with perfect success. Of course I can't recommend that anyone intentionally do this. It should always be used as a fail-safe. However, anyone attempting to do this, make sure you have a fully charged battery, make sure firmware and software updates are completed first, make sure your compass is properly calibrated, perfect weather, best time of day, etc... Do this as a mission. Missions are prepared in advance. Missions account for problems. Know in advance what you would do if you encounter an issue (which is always a possibility when taking a risk like this). Fly along a path that if anything were to happen between you and the Mavic, no one could get hurt, no property damage could occur, and you would be able to access the location if you needed to retrieve the Mavic.

I've heard of a few fly-away issues with ALL drones. I can't speak to that as my Mavic has never even flinched on me. I do believe that at least some of those pilots weren't flying under the right conditions, didn't have their drones properly updated, calibrated, and the worst; low batteries were most definitely the cause of some of their issues. Even though the Mavic has a low battery fail-safe, I would NEVER put it in this situation. This is the most foolish decision a pilot can make - just don't do it.

robrow · Jan 20, 2018

I tried to get my RTH to kick in naturally at extreme distance once but chickened out at 5 miles. Good job I did really, only just made it back with a strong headwind, 10 mile round trip. All over open countryside.

jpbluzharp · Jan 20, 2018

And you wonder why the FAA wants strict regulations on drones? How often will pilots brag about breaking LOS rules before dones are outlawed?

Seriously. If we all take our time to establish a record proving the safety of the crafts and the efficacy of self regulatation we will be able to expand our legal flight capabilities.

Daring each other to “top this” is a fools’ errand more likely to impede our progress than ensure it.

Kleetus · Jan 20, 2018

I did it while in Picton New Zealand. I flew across the harbor and behind a small mountain. The next thing I know I got a disconnect. When I finally regained the signal, the MAVIC was returning to home about 15' over the treetops of that mountain. I had my RTH altitude set at 100 Meters. It was a very close call but all worked out fine. Naturally, when I downloaded the files from the SD card it looked great. the bird continued to film the entire time.