Would what happen in this scenario?

[BaNZ]

Say during the middle of a flight.
1. My phone breaks down and I'm not able to power it up? I'm assuming that I can trigger RTH and it will go to the last home GPS position that it recorded. Can I swap out a working phone and regain control?
2. My phone reboots itself and takes a minute to come back up? I'm assuming signal will be lost and RTH will be triggered.

Just prepping myself and trying to think of the worse case scenario so I don't panic.

 

[Mossiback]

A phone or app crash should not affect your MA. You can fly it without an app. To better prep yourself for this eventuality, unplug your phone from your MA while in flight, fly around a little, and plug it back in. As long as you are keeping it in sight there should be no problems with this test.

 

[tracer bullet]

^^^ Agreed. Before I sorted out Android issues with my Shield tablet, I lost the screen several times while it rebooted. Just let the drone hover until you reboot.

I would suspect a different phone tablet would work, plug it in, let the app connect tot he remote, and go from there. Assuming the app was indeed installed.

This scenario is a good reason you should always check RTH settings before you fly. And your home point location as shown by your app before you let it get very far away after take-off. So that if you need to hit that button, or its initiated on its own, you can feel reasonably sure it actually indeed will return to home.

 

[Mossiback]

I guess I really did not answer your questions. RTH will not automatically be triggered in either of your scenarios. Automatic RTH happens when your remote (or desplay device if not using the remote) disconnects from the MA or if the app detects low battery power. The home point is stored in the Mavic so it does not need the app or remote to come home. I have not tested whether low-battery RHT is possible without the app running. You can manually trigger RTH with the button on the remote.

 

[Just_nick]

If you are doing what you are supposed to and flying VLOS, the app crashing and losing video feed is irrelevant because you can still control the drone with the remote itself. Part of the reason we have VLOS regulations.
If you are BVLOS, you can use the RTH button and it will return to the recorded home point, at which point you can begin controlling it with the remote when it's within your sight. The app crashing will not cause your drone to RTH, and neither will your phone disconnecting. And you can switch phones if you so choose, it doesn't impact flight. It's when your remote disconnects from the AC that you will trigger an auto RTH

 

[RayOZ]

You can still fly with the RC even if your phone reboots. But note that flight logs are stored on the phone/mobile device. If it's a distance away, and you can see it, you might not be able to gauge the orientation. So hit RTH, let it orientate towards home. You can then cancel RTH and fly back towards you manually, while your phone reboots. If you continue to fly while your phone reboots, and it gets blown off by the wind or something, you would not have flight logs to determine where it might have crashed.
It's less of a panic if your drone is hovering next to you while your phone reboots or while you swap devices.
And if your mobile device reboots itself regularly, time to get a new one.

 

[msinger]

Can I swap out a working phone and regain control?

You could swap out mobile devices mid-flight. Assuming you can see your Mavic and/or know where it's located, it might be easier to just fly it back to the home point with the assistance of your eyes.

 

[BaNZ]

Unfortunately I live in a NFZ and I have to travel far. Although I've got the MA for 2-3 weeks now, I've not flew it many times due to the weather and wind conditions.

I have a dedicated S6 for it with pretty much nothing else apart from DJI apps so it is working well. I'm thinking I should also use my other phone for backup in case if I ever run into any issues.

 

[Tinmania]

Say during the middle of a flight.
1. My phone breaks down and I'm not able to power it up? I'm assuming that I can trigger RTH and it will go to the last home GPS position that it recorded. Can I swap out a working phone and regain control?

As already stated, your phone can die completely and you will not lose control on the RC itself. But that begs the question, are you flying with the RC and a phone or just a phone by itself (wifi mode).

Regarding your comment about "last home GPS position that it recorded," maybe I took it wrong but you should always be aware of where your home point is located, which in most cases should be right where you took off. Make sure that is set before even leaving the ground, the app will announce it and you should check it on the map like it says. If you do that, and of course have your RTH configured properly, you are assured the best results if you need to use RTH.

2. My phone reboots itself and takes a minute to come back up? I'm assuming signal will be lost and RTH will be triggered.

Again, one must assume you are flying with the RC and a phone and not just a phone. If so then as has been mentioned that won't initiate RTH since the RC would still be connected to the aircraft.



Mike

 

[BaNZ]

Yeah I always fly with RC + phone. Never just with the phone as I don't trust the range on it.

I always hit the Set my current location as home. Sometimes the position is set but I don't get the audio notification. So I only take off once I hear the sound. But I also heard that some users noticed that the GPS location is from the last place they took off. So now I always bring up the map to ensure that I'm indeed in the right place!

I don't fly out of vision so it is normally okay. But I do find that I stare at the screen more often rather than look up to the drone due to the sun.

Thanks!

 

[Tinmania]

I always hit the Set my current location as home. Sometimes the position is set but I don't get the audio notification. So I only take off once I hear the sound. But I also heard that some users noticed that the GPS location is from the last place they took off. So now I always bring up the map to ensure that I'm indeed in the right place!

"Your" current location means your phone's location. Do you want the Mavic to land where it took off, or where you were standing when it took off? I prefer the former, where the Mavic took off. If you take off using the take off button in Go4, and check the "precision" takeoff option before sliding to take off, the Mavic will rise to about '20-30' to accurately record its location for RTH (it takes a photo or photos of the ground so it can match to that on RTH). You can manually perform a precision take off by doing about the same thing manually (take off, ascend to 20'-30' feet and hover for several seconds). In either case I wait for the home point to be updated--and it is verbally announced--before even thinking about taking off. Once home point has been updated I then check it on the map, as well as checking to be sure the physical heading of my Mavic matches heading shown in Go4. THEN I take off.



Mike