Why does everyone use RTH?

[Frits]

I know it is there and I know how to use it if needed but I never have - not even tried once.

 

[Oingo Boingo]

havent once landed with RTH... Have no need to... If you know where youre flying , you know you battery statusto and you know what the obstacles are you dont need RTH

 

[gnirtS]

RTH is handy. I use it maybe half the time if i can't be bothered to fly it back. Just engage it, verify and monitor to make sure its behaving and its fine. Very useful if talking to someone, packing a bag or just lazy. There is no extra "risk".

There is no "piloting" on a mavic. The non RTH option of turning it so an arrow points at you then holding a control lever up until you see it arrive isnt piloting any more than pressing an RTH button.

Its not an "emergency" procedure - its a bit of software that replaces holding that one lever fully forward. A convenience tool. Its also useful to very RTH works and its behaviour so if it IS needed in the event of a problem (signal loss, low battery)you can have some confidence the thing works and the potential flaws with it.

The only time i wouldnt trust it is with wind or in a confined area.

"not having tried it once" doesn't strike me as ideal because if it kicks in knowing how it'll behave, how it'll act and how to override is quite useful.

I do chuckle when people mention "piloting skills" when referring to operating a mavic in P-GPS mode.

 

[Pathogen]

"not having tried it once" doesn't strike me as ideal because if it kicks in knowing how it'll behave, how it'll act and how to override is quite useful.

Wise words. For example, less battery is used the faster one descends, and so there am taking photos, just about to switch to sport mode for a quick landing, but before I could, emergency RTH kicked in because it calculated that I didn't have enough battery reserve left to land safely, and so it used far more battery coming down slowly than it would have had I been able to use sport mode, which it wouldn't let me do.

All these automated safety features are not without their own risks. The more we are familiar with them the better!

 

[QuadFlyerPhilly]

Because I can? I laugh when people act like they are better 'pilots' because they don't use it. Hey if you flew to wherever I am sure you can fly back.I guess you never use cruise control or adaptive cruise in your car either? Does it make you a better driver? You can always at any point manually fly and land. #rafiqshrug

 

[Keng1f]

Most of the time I don't use it but every now and then it's fun to push the button and have Mavic return and land exactly where it took off from all by itself. I do it for fun not necessity.

 

[Robbyg]

RTH is handy. I use it maybe half the time if i can't be bothered to fly it back. Just engage it, verify and monitor to make sure its behaving and its fine. Very useful if talking to someone, packing a bag or just lazy. There is no extra "risk".

Hmmm I wonder why we have so many threads about Mavics not returning after using RTH? Your statement is based on the assumption that everything is set right and working properly. I had my own case on my 5th flight were my cell screen became useless. Flying blind my first thought was to use RTH. Had I done so my Drone would have been lost!
I had my RTH altitude set to 30M and had flown past several buildings that were above that height. The first four flights had been relatively close to me but on the 5th I got cocky and confident and decided to go out to around 3000 feet away which meant flying past several tall buildings.

My first instinct was to press RTH, I had my finger over the button when I suddenly remembered that I had left the RTH altitude at 30M. So yes there is extra risk, it may come in the form of not being sure the home point is set correctly or it could come from an improper altitude setting.

Almost all the posts about "my drone never returned after pressing RTH" involve pilots who could have easily flown it in manually but instead pressed RTH and found out that the Home point was set for a completely different location.

Rob

 

[laura schlenker]

I've only used it 2 times out of over 100 flights.

 

[whiskeylover]

Hmmm I wonder why we have so many threads about Mavics not returning after using RTH? Your statement is based on the assumption that everything is set right and working properly.

Everything SHOULD be set up properly. Okay, maybe not everything, but at least the home point and the RTH altitude. What if you lose connection with the controller? It has happened to me once, and the aircraft made it safely back home.

I had my RTH altitude set to 30M and had flown past several buildings that were above that height.

So it's a pilot error then. If you know you're going to be flying around buildings that are > 30m in height, you should increase your RTH altitude accordingly.

Almost all the posts about "my drone never returned after pressing RTH" involve pilots who could have easily flown it in manually but instead pressed RTH and found out that the Home point was set for a completely different location.

Some. Not all.

All I'm saying is by occasionally using RTH, AND keeping an eye on the craft while it's returning, you can be sure that when the need arises it will actually come back home.

 

[Robbyg]

Everything SHOULD be set up properly. Okay, maybe not everything, but at least the home point and the RTH altitude. What if you lose connection with the controller? It has happened to me once, and the aircraft made it safely back home.

Yes and it has also happened to me at over a mile out and it also returned safely. The point is that the added risk is from something not being set right in the RTH. If you don't need to press it then why do so?

So it's a pilot error then. If you know you're going to be flying around buildings that are > 30m in height, you should increase your RTH altitude accordingly.

It was pilot error but if you read my post, I did not have a phone or tablet that I could go into and change the settings. I suddenly found myself flying with the RC only. It turned out to be a cable issue.

Some. Not all.

All I'm saying is by occasionally using RTH, AND keeping an eye on the craft while it's returning, you can be sure that when the need arises it will actually come back home.

If you mean keeping a VLOS eye on it, lets face it most people are never flying in VLOS. You can monitor the display, but as people state the press RTH and then go sip a Beer waiting for it to return.

Even if you press RTH and look away from the screen for one minute you may look back and find that the drone has flown out of range.

 

[whiskeylover]

If you mean keeping a VLOS eye on it, lets face it most people are never flying in VLOS. You can monitor the display, but as people state the press RTH and then go sip a Beer waiting for it to return.

Sorry, that's not what I meant by "keeping an eye". I meant looking at the video feed to make sure it's not about to run into stuff. That's what I personally do when I use RTH. Also, beer, whiskey - I don't discriminate. I like them all

 

[WilsonFlyer]

I have a P3P, a P4, an Inspire and a Mavic. I don't remember the last time I pressed that button nor do I recall ever even thinking about using it.

 

[gnirtS]

D

Hmmm I wonder why we have so many threads about Mavics not returning after using RTH?

Because most people are too lazy to even be bothered to read the manual for their $1000 toy so don't understand how it works. Its user error.

I had my RTH altitude set to 30M and had flown past several buildings that were above that height. The first four flights had been relatively close to me but on the 5th I got cocky and confident and decided to go out to around 3000 feet away which meant flying past several tall buildings.

So user error. I fail to see how thats extra risk with RTH. You could just have easily manually flown it into a building.

So yes there is extra risk, it may come in the form of not being sure the home point is set correctly or it could come from an improper altitude setting.

So user error again. Nothing to do with RTH. Thats basic operation and pre flight planning. Again no extra RTH risk.

Almost all the posts about "my drone never returned after pressing RTH" involve pilots who could have easily flown it in manually but instead pressed RTH and found out that the Home point was set for a completely different location.

So user error. Again, where is the extra risk? Every single scenario you've mentioned is user error. Nothing to do with RTH introducing risk.

 

[rstekeur]

Ahh so BEER is the secret to being able to tolerate that god awful beeping!

Or a little "doobie" brother

I do a lot of commercial mapping and Drone Deploy and Map Pilot at the end of the mission turn on RTH and the drone comes home. I always land manually but RTH always does what it's suppose to.

 

[Robbyg]

D


Because most people are too lazy to even be bothered to read the manual for their $1000 toy so don't understand how it works. Its user error.




So user error. I fail to see how thats extra risk with RTH. You could just have easily manually flown it into a building.


So user error again. Nothing to do with RTH. Thats basic operation and pre flight planning. Again no extra RTH risk.




So user error. Again, where is the extra risk? Every single scenario you've mentioned is user error. Nothing to do with RTH introducing risk.

Almost every crash can be contributed to pilot error, whats your point?
RTH can create another pilot error because some setting was incorrect, this one can easily avoided by landing it yourself.

Also RTH can crash your drone without pilot error due to known bugs.
Serious bug in the Mavic's "Home Point Me" function - caused loss of drone!

 

[Av8rshane]

Only use it when showing someone how it works. Like to fly out and back and explore new ground both ways.

 

[ICHOTT]

Fly my drone home.

Seems like a few people that use RTH have lost their drones; not often, but does happen occasionally. Not sure that would be an issue if they just flew it home. Just read a thread that battery was low and they hit RTH. Why? Just trying to understand.

How would it help you in your flying career if you did understand why people use rth?
You know it’s there for people to use, you are so experienced you know you don’t need it, in fact why do you fly it back when you could simply press rth? Rhetorical question ;-)
IMHO some questions just don’t need to be asked!

 

[Pol]

I've never had a commercially sold drone before. I've always built my own. The Mavic Pro Plat. is shipping soon and after a lot of reading, I'm surprised to see so many people using RTH daily.
I have to say after about 10 years of flying and building quadcopters, I've only used RTH maybe 3 times when I had video failures.
Why does everyone use RTH for simple things like low battery or just too lazy to fly back themselves? Seems that I'd rather keep control the whole way when possible.
How many people routinely use RTH when not in trouble?

Only used it once, just to make sure that it worked.

 

[serpa4]

I usually land myself, but I did have a signal loss once and was disoriented in another situation and it was comforting to hit RTH.

That would probably constitute and emergency and warrent RTH use.

 

[Regulator247]

I don't use rth. I prefer to fly it home myself every time. Could it be that I have a problem relinquishing control...or do I think folks that use rth are boobs. Maybe both

Fly my drone home.

Seems like a few people that use RTH have lost their drones; not often, but does happen occasionally. Not sure that would be an issue if they just flew it home. Just read a thread that battery was low and they hit RTH. Why? Just trying to understand.