Why does everyone use RTH?

[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

Noobs **** you autocorrect

 

[iMario]

Both times I used RTH was when I lost signal to the drone. Although, even then I was cancelling it as soon as I would get the signal back.
Just a force of habit as I started with Ph3 which was flying home in a straight line, and that's not something I wanted AFTER I went behind some castle to film it from the other side. Setting up the height is ok, but I don't really want to risk it and have the needed altitude misjudged.

 

[jerryflah]

"INSURANCE" confirmation.

 

[Acrawford]

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?

I routinely use the feature. Nearly all of the flying I do is for photograph or video. To maximize flight time I frequently run the battery down to the point where I get the return to home warning. At that point I want to get the mavic back home, replace the battery and put it back to work.. my RTH is set for 130 feet, so in most cases I feel comfortable that it can return in a straight line and avoid any obstacles.

 

[Z953]

Because EVERYONE doesn't...

 

[HSK]

Think I may of uses it at the beginning to "test" the feature and see the accuracy of the landing spot.

Then there has been one occasion where it has triggered after signal failure...drone was 50 meters away. So that was strange.

 

[theDaVinci]

I agree with all. RTH is good but I really do enjoy flying back on own. I frankly find it thrilling to land and make all the necessary adjustments. The control is fun. And RTH has bailed me out a couple of times...phew.

 

[Ian in London]

I use RTH because I lost my Mavic when I didn't...........

In truth, I still usually fly manually back home; you don't waste time elevating to your RTH altitude and it's nice to return under your own speed and time... But after losing mine once thru trying to be too smart, I'm far more incluned to just hit RTH and let it do the work .... Befiore you know it, it's overhead and landing nicely....

Cheers,
Ian

YouTube / Ian in London

 

[wsalopek]

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?

I do.

Lazy...well, maybe.

But for me, I know if the computer is flying the drone back, human error is virtually eliminated (assuming, of course, the RTH altitude is set high enough...but even then, DJI obstacle avoidance may save you). By "keeping control", you are actually taking control AWAY from the computer, which in most cases, flies better than a human (and what if a bug flies in your eye, or the sun is in your face, or you simply make a mistake).

Of course I always keep my eye on the drone as it's returning, in case the computer fails in some way, or I set the RTH alt wrong, or whatever.

Sometimes I take over when the drone is 20 feet up or so...sometimes I let it land itself.

--

Bill

 

[Ozz]

I used always use it on the phantom I had but on the mavic only once ... but it saved my drone.

Some skangers aproached me while i flying in a quiet park and told me they wanted my phone- i walked quickly out of the park with the RTH making that horrible loud beeping - people in nearby houses were looking out the windows at the commotion -the lads scarpered- police were called.

So RTH saved my drone in a completly unexpected way- all true - and i have the video to prove it...

 

[Rotorman]

RTH is a safety feature predominantly but I can see why many people who may not be 100% sure of their abilities may use it regularly. I've never had a lost connection or low battery RTH kick in. When flying we should all be aware of what out UAVs are doing and what their current battery and signal status is etc. Ive used it a few times to test system out and to show others as people think its amazing that it can automatically come back at a press of a button. Also if im being distracted by someone or something I have used it but usually always cancel it and manually land it as I prefer to have full control of it myself. Being used to flying my 200mph RC planes so I prefer to be fully in control.
I always have the RTH set to 40 or 50m altitude to avoid any trees or other tall things in vicinity so it something does go wrong then it has a clear path back. Nice to have the knowledge that if something happened nearby that you had to instantly attend too then your safe in knowing your beloved drone will come home to you
..

 

[pixl]

I get why some people use RTH for casual/non-emergency situations. You don't have to want to practice flying technique to own a Mavic -- everybody has their own ideas about what they want to accomplish, and there's no right/proper goals in owning one.

Many here just want to get up in the air and "look around" which is cool I admit... I'm a Google Maps junkie for this reason. Others want to shoot still photos - probably my favorite use. Others love video -- something I find myself doing more and more -- and this is where practicing manual flying skills comes into play -- and manually landing is a great opportunity to practice "crane shot" skills.

I won't advocate for what is the right or wrong way to fly your drone. Calling people names for not doing it your way is pointless, and I wish people would understand that there is room for more than one opinion on the topic.

But one thing I will say with some authority, is that 50% of all crashes I've seen are with RTH. Mostly due to misunderstanding how it works -- which DJI hasn't done a great job of explaining -- and occasionally from a flaw in the software.

In this regard, I don't really trust any of the "intelligent flight" features -- the only one that I've found useful to me is "cinematic" mode -- which doesn't take over operation, but rather slows stick response. I have yet to try "fixed wing" mode which is similar, but adds slow sweeping turns to the mix. With the jerky yaw we otherwise experience, this sounds good.

 

[Cut.Aussie]

I use RTH for roughly the same reason I use an autopilot when flying a real plane

 

[JMF]

I love using RTH, it's very cool watching the Mavic fly itself back to it's nest.

 

[Flying Ant]

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?

 

[Robbyg]

I get why some people use RTH for casual/non-emergency situations. You don't have to want to practice flying technique to own a Mavic -- everybody has their own ideas about what they want to accomplish, and there's no right/proper goals in owning one.

Many here just want to get up in the air and "look around" which is cool I admit... I'm a Google Maps junkie for this reason. Others want to shoot still photos - probably my favorite use. Others love video -- something I find myself doing more and more -- and this is where practicing manual flying skills comes into play -- and manually landing is a great opportunity to practice "crane shot" skills.

I won't advocate for what is the right or wrong way to fly your drone. Calling people names for not doing it your way is pointless, and I wish people would understand that there is room for more than one opinion on the topic.

But one thing I will say with some authority, is that 50% of all crashes I've seen are with RTH. Mostly due to misunderstanding how it works -- which DJI hasn't done a great job of explaining -- and occasionally from a flaw in the software.

In this regard, I don't really trust any of the "intelligent flight" features -- the only one that I've found useful to me is "cinematic" mode -- which doesn't take over operation, but rather slows stick response. I have yet to try "fixed wing" mode which is similar, but adds slow sweeping turns to the mix. With the jerky yaw we otherwise experience, this sounds good.

Yes and as well as some known bugs you also might run into heavy wind which will either deplete your battery or send you backwards. There is one well documented crash centered around this. The guy admitted that if he had just cancelled the RTH and gone into sports mode he would have been fine.

We also have crash cases during RTH that involved the Sun and the drone stopping and gaining altitude.

Rob

 

[Fearless Flight]

I've never used RTH on any of my aircraft including my Mavic.

I keep telling myself to try it to make sure it works but my enjoyment comes from flying it.

I guess that's why I also enjoy flying it LOS and not just staring at the arrow. It helps learning orientation when flying airplanes, which is critical.

 

[Ian in London]

I've never used RTH on any of my aircraft including my Mavic.

I keep telling myself to try it to make sure it works but my enjoyment comes from flying it.

I guess that's why I also enjoy flying it LOS and not just staring at the arrow. It helps learning orientation when flying airplanes, which is critical.

And this perfectly outlines how this hobby has diverged in some respects; many people enjoy flying the craft as the sole or primary reason for flying; others enjoy filming and taking aerial photos as the primary reason for flying, and the actual flying is very much secondary, and often fraught with concern about crashing your very expensive aerial camera. And I think the number of people falling into the latter category is very much on the increase, lured in by hi-def cameras and lots of failsafe (ish) functions to supposedly keep you, others and your drone safe....

I am still half and half, but freely admit I got into this purely for the aerial photography. I still rarely fly if it's a boring landscape....

My 2 pence worth

Ian

 

[The Fat Controller]

And this perfectly outlines how this hobby has diverged in some respects; many people enjoy flying the craft as the sole or primary reason for flying; others enjoy filming and taking aerial photos as the primary reason for flying, and the actual flying is very much secondary, and often fraught with concern about crashing your very expensive aerial camera. And I think the number of people falling into the latter category is very much on the increase, lured in by hi-def cameras and lots of failsafe (ish) functions to supposedly keep you, others and your drone safe....

I am still half and half, but freely admit I got into this purely for the aerial photography. I still rarely fly if it's a boring landscape....

My 2 pence worth

Ian

Precisely. I bought mine primarily as a flying camera to get shots I couldn't ordinarily get, but it's great fun to fly too

 

[Robbyg]

And this perfectly outlines how this hobby has diverged in some respects; many people enjoy flying the craft as the sole or primary reason for flying; others enjoy filming and taking aerial photos as the primary reason for flying, and the actual flying is very much secondary, and often fraught with concern about crashing your very expensive aerial camera. And I think the number of people falling into the latter category is very much on the increase, lured in by hi-def cameras and lots of failsafe (ish) functions to supposedly keep you, others and your drone safe....

I am still half and half, but freely admit I got into this purely for the aerial photography. I still rarely fly if it's a boring landscape....

My 2 pence worth

Ian

I can respect that and I also agree. The problem is that if you decide to become an Appliance Operator (A Person who has very little flying skill and depends on Automatic flight) you are always going to be very limited in what you can do and where you can go. Also your much more likely to crash your drone as compared to a person who is a real drone pilot.

For example there are no intelligent flight modes that allow you to circle a moving boat going at 30mph. There are none that allow you to zig down through mountain passes, follow a river and fly under a bridge.

My point is that its a lot easier and quicker and better to get great footage if your a real drone pilot and not someone dependening on "intelligent flight modes" and automation.

Rob