I had a scare on Saturday![size=14.6667px]I've been flying the spark for a little over a week and doing well with it. I'm an advanced RC plane pilot but new to drones. Today, my grandson wanted to try it so we went out to the big field and cranked it up. I heard  the Home Point Locked message. I had a good GPS lock. We had a low fog ceiling about 150' to a shelf of fog. He took off and was doing real good then I had to open my big mouth. I asked him if he would like to see what the RTH feature would do, and he said yes. We were using the RC controller.

[size=14.6667px]He flew way out into the field and then pressed the RTH button. I told him to watch how it goes up to about 100 feet and then just comes back. HA![size=14.6667px]That is when the fun began. The spark started to ascend and then it just kept going up up up up, disappearing into the thick fog. I didn't panic. I told him not to touch anything and just see what happens.

[size=14.6667px]Soon...we get the "Maximum height" message and the screen showed 396 feet. We kept waiting and I just trusted that the drone was in the same position, or coming our way, even though we could not see it. The height display stopped working and no longer showed the number of feet. The camera showed only thick FOG.
[size=14.6667px]It was overdue, enough time had passed to RTH.

[size=14.6667px]Soon, we got the "low battery warning" and I thought.... gee if it goes totally dead at 400 feet there will be a big crash. So I took the controller and pressed the big X button to stop the RTH function. Then I just held the down stick down hoping it would start descending. Finally, Zack caught sight of it and it was coming down. The battery went critical and I kept holding the stick down.

Good ending[size=14.6667px].... we hiked out into the field to where it was descending. We got there in time to have it land impressively in my palm.

[size=14.6667px]During the whole flight, I never lost connection and never lost GPS lock, as far as I know. My best guess is that it just got confused by the fog. It should have made it home without ever getting into the fog but when it reached 100 feet, it just kept going.  No more foggy days for me!!
[size=14.6667px]Helpful comments appreciated.

130 meter RTH height?  I don't think it has a foot option on that submenu.  Imperial is just for the data display.  Good job getting on the sticks when the autopilot failed.  I am an RC modeller too.  I have had my drone for almost two months now and have never used the RTH.  I'm a better pilot than the RTH.  It is more fun to bring it in hot in a steep decent while doing sport mode speeds (25mph), then flare for the hover by you for a hand landing.

Gunship9 Posted at 2017-11-21 21:32
130 meter RTH height?  I don't think it has a foot option on that submenu.  Imperial is just for the data display.  Good job getting on the sticks when the autopilot failed.  I am an RC modeller too.  I have had my drone for almost two months now and have never used the RTH.  I'm a better pilot than the RTH.  It is more fun to bring it in hot in a steep decent while doing sport mode speeds (25mph), then flare for the hover by you for a hand landing.

My RTH height is set to 30m and it usually rises to 98 feet then return.  This time, it rose to the 30m mark and then just kept going, and going.  I should have got on the stick sooner for sure.  Once it disappeared into the fog, I pictured myself searching all day to find it.  Later that day, I flew 3 more flights and tested the RTH twice and it performed normal, but there was no fog by then.

Mmhhh, maybe it did the 'obstacle thing in front, ascending 5 m, obstacle .....', b/c of the fog?
I would think, the flight log should tell.

djiuser_2p4HkSr Posted at 2017-11-21 22:01
My RTH height is set to 30m and it usually rises to 98 feet then return.  This time, it rose to the 30m mark and then just kept going, and going.  I should have got on the stick sooner for sure.  Once it disappeared into the fog, I pictured myself searching all day to find it.  Later that day, I flew 3 more flights and tested the RTH twice and it performed normal, but there was no fog by then.

It is lucky that you find your drone. We would not recommend users fly in fog weather because it may cause malfunction of drone. Please choose a good environment and fly with strong GPS signal.