Why RTH from boat?

[Jameslavis]

this seems common sense to me but maybe I’m missing something. If flying off a boat it’s hand launch and land. Downward opticals off and RTH in hover mode.

Flight wise, you’re all manual. No RTH to be safe. YouTube of full of folks having RTH scares. Maybe these forums make you smart but that seems moronic.

 

[tcope]

YT is full of people who have never read the manual and don't know how the Mavic works.

 

[Jameslavis]

I see that. It came up in a feed and I’ve boat launched a few times. RTH for me makes sense on land but never over water. I manual fly back on land or water.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

RTH is the mother of all FXXX ups. On land as well as water. It's only there for emergencies that shouldn't happen in he first place. If one needs to engage RTH it's usually because of flying too far or too long.

Over water always take 5 minutes extra for (hand)landing due to unexpected events, waves, passing boats, etc. And indeed switch anything off that can mess things up and invoke unexpected automated 'intelligent interventions', like VPS, LP and OA.

 

[Spy_Corfu]

i fly all the time from my boat and there are several facts to consider:
In small boats you have to take off and more importantly by hand so you have to disable the downward sensors otherwise it want let you catch it.
Now the RTH feature can save you from loosing you drone in some cases as long as you use it wisely.
There was a time when i was in the middle of the ocean following a sailing boat race and when i wanted to return to my boat i could not find it! Basically the sun was very bright so i could not see anything on my mobile phones screen and also there was no distinct land mark to locate where my boat is as it was drifting all the time. So the compass aid for a visual/manual return to home was issueless. I tried to set the home position to where i was now but that did not work either .. if it had then yes the RTH would easily save the drone .. just to return on top of the moving boat and then you just land it manually.
Fortunately for me i located a nearby sailing boat and took my boat there to meet with the drone.

 

[Jameslavis]

If you have cell signal, I update my hp every so often. I think many use RTH and let it do it’s thing. Those cases usually end up with a. Flight log post looking for Sar to drop some detective work.

 

[Jameslavis]

I haven’t flown out of the new boat yet. It’s a 20 foot metal hull so that may make things complicated. Won’t be taking off until I check all sensors for Interference

 

[Volffas]

You can still hand land with the bottom sensors on. I have been practicing on land to get ready for boating season.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

You can still hand land with the bottom sensors on. I have been practicing on land to get ready for boating season.

Sure, as long as landing protection is off. However, over water the VPS can be misled because of optical reflections, and the sonar partially penetrates the water, so it's pointless. Besides, VPS will also react to the rocking of the boat. Not that it's impossible to fly over water with VPS but it's not recommended to have it activated, specially while flying low. I have tried VPS on my Inspire1 while using floats and the bird still thinks its airborne and hovering, even when it touches the water, because it doesn't sense solid ground. With floats that's not a big issue if you're prepared for that.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

If you have cell signal, I update my hp every so often. I think many use RTH and let it do it’s thing. Those cases usually end up with a. Flight log post looking for Sar to drop some detective work.

But some people here needed Sar's expertise and detective work even when they updated the homepoint to their cell phone's GPS location. It's just not reliable enough for me.

 

[Jameslavis]

I agree. I manually return my air. I don’t trust RTH

 

[Moving Zen]

You know, it really depends on your situation. I have a flats boat and had no problem taking off and landing from the bow multiple times. I didn't turn any sensors off and the air landed easily. Also, I had my bow planted in grass so RTH worked for me. If the boats not moving RTH is fine, you just might need to take control at the end to correct any small errors in the landing position. Hover in place over a mile away, in a spot I wouldn't have been able to get my boat to, would have been a very bad idea the few times I lost connection. Now, flying into trees over water.. that's a whole different ballgame.

 

[Dtokez]

I agree. I manually return my air. I don’t trust RTH

saying you don't trust RTH is like saying you don't trust the GPS on your drone. I use RTH almost all the time when I'm done flying, mostly out of laziness it has never let me down, even doing back to my phantom 3 days

 

[Jameslavis]

Nope, many don’t even touch RTH. Especially if trees are in the area. Manual at all times. Use the map and fly it back. Dono why you’d just hit RTH and chill.

 

[Lake_Flyer]

saying you don't trust RTH is like saying you don't trust the GPS on your drone

Correct. Having a long RC flying history I use GPS but I will never trust it to the full. Neither do I trust DJI have accounted for every combination of all the possible factors that could lead to a problem during RTH.

 

[Dtokez]

Nope, many don’t even touch RTH. Especially if trees are in the area. Manual at all times. Use the map and fly it back. Dono why you’d just hit RTH and chill.

Correct. Having a long RC flying history I use GPS but I will never trust it to the full. Neither do I trust DJI have accounted for every combination of all the possible factors that could lead to a problem during RTH.

Slightly off topic because I'm not talking about boats here lol.....but

Strange mentality. The drone knows its exact location, hence the GPS lock and hold - and it knows your home point. As long as you have set the RTH height correctly there is nothing that could possibly go wrong. The Air even has a precision landing option, it is able to RTH and land within millimetres of its take-off point.

 

[Jameslavis]

The RTH in a boat won’t happen, not on my lake. The drifting alone will kill that, even anchored. Also with precision landing, I’ve seen it miss a 3 foot landing pad I use. RTH is an ok fail safe if connection is lost.

The safest option in a boat is hand launch, hand catch and manual all the way.

 

[ScubaBob]

this seems common sense to me but maybe I’m missing something. If flying off a boat it’s hand launch and land. Downward opticals off and RTH in hover mode.

Flight wise, you’re all manual. No RTH to be safe. YouTube of full of folks having RTH scares. Maybe these forums make you smart but that seems moronic.

I almost lost my drone on my first attempt at launching from a boat. I had max distance set at 500 meters but due to boat drift and the fact that the drone recorded HOME at the take off point (and thus 500 meters was calculated from that point), I could see my drone about 30 meters from me but could not get it to close the distance because it was 500 meters from "Home". I was down to about 30% battery. Luckily, I had a more experienced droner with me and he quickly set max distance to 5000 meters which allowed the MP to come to the boat. We had previously turned off landing protection and downward sensors but still, landing for a "hand catch" was not easy as the boat was rocking back and forth in the waves. My advice is to exercise extra caution when launching / landing from a boat, check all your settings before launching and leave some extra battery capacity for the landing.

 

[SkyCat_Cape Town]

I just recently flew off a catamaran in Mauritius... The sun was setting shoreside and we were approaching land. I hadn't turned any of the sensors off and due to the wind, the cat was sailing quite fast and my Mavic's front sensors decided that the sun was a big obstacle and it decided to stop. Of course we were travelling at a good speed on the boat so had to spin the MP around and fly in backwards in for landing. You need some practice catching the drone from a moving boat, pushing the throttle forward (or in my case backwards) to overcompensate for the forward movement of the boat. Was quite a scary situation and my "catcher" was so nervous her hands were shaking. After a couple minutes, my MP was safe and back on the boat. Best not to panic in a situation... Keep calm even through your heart is sitting in your throat ;-)

 

[Donnie Frank]

this seems common sense to me but maybe I’m missing something. If flying off a boat it’s hand launch and land. Downward opticals off and RTH in hover mode.

Flight wise, you’re all manual. No RTH to be safe. YouTube of full of folks having RTH scares. Maybe these forums make you smart but that seems moronic.

Same goes for a car. There's another "feature" of RTH that engages when the drone has just enough power to make it back to the home point. But if your home point has moved (by a mile or two), that feature becomes moot. Learned quickly to turn that off. Fortunately, tossing the bird in Sport mode quickly defeats RTH.