We haven't been very pleased with the RTH feature the few times we've tested it as the landing is usually pretty rough and the location has been out by 10s of meters.  If something goes wrong we just cancel the RTH and land manually (and much more gracefully / acurately).

The battery got to 15% and we tried to cancel the RTH.  It wouldn't cancel, and proceded to fly pretty much straight into the gravel driveway once it got to the general area of the Home Point.

Luckly the only thing that broke was the twist-off lens cover.  I'm going to call our local depot about a replacement one.  I don't realy care if we have to pay for it, we just want to get back in the air.

We may also see if there's a way to completely disable the RTH feature until improvements are made.

The camera happened to be running while all this was happening.  Enjoy

broken lens cover

I tested RTH today as well and while it wasn't as dramatic as yours it did fail. Instead of going to altitude and then coming back to the home point it just went straight down and landed. Glad I wasn't over any water at the time!

It also didn't come down at the velocity your's did. That is quite disconcerting.

BTW, how does one cancel RTH? I knew how to do it with the P2V+ but it obviously isn't the same with the P3.

The RTH button in the app turns into an "X".  Press the "X" and confirm the cancellation.

I'm so sorry for your crash. Yet another reminder NOT to rely on RTH except for emergencies. Looks like you're lucky that the damage was not worse. The gimbal is fairly delicate - and to  my knowledge most damage can't be repaired. And it accounts for perhaps 50% or so of the cost of a new Phantom (we will see what the spare part will cost when it gets available). Wonder if anyone ever got that black thin cable repaired when it broke in crashes? Does seem crazy if a little cable breaking means trashing a whole camera and gimbal...

You can twist the front of the camera off?

I can't twist it off (dare not use too much force...). But I can see yours is off. There are threads? Can you do close ups of it? How much force does it take?

--

The Return-To-Home is sadly marketed as a cure-all, giving new pilots a false sense of security. It is not a cure-all. It is something you (in my opinion) should NOT use regularly. It is there for emergencies only. It hurts me to see accidents that could likely have been avoided. People should learn to fly, take baby-steps, don't rush it and even better - learn to fly on a cheap "toy"quadcopter like the Hubsan X4.

It is scary when suddenly the Phantom decides to land on its own. Which is why I try never to go below 20-25% battery. Going lower also hurts the battery more than necessary. I will gladly end the flight with 30-40% battery left.

I've only once pushed the battery too far (on my P2V+ that I have flown hundreds of times) - and to my huge dismay it began to descend on its own - while I was about to hand-catch it. Oh, and it was right next (1 meter) from a lake). I noticed that I could have it hold its altitude by pushing it up. And I could control it side to side etc. Not being able to go up a little bit (at low altitude (1-2 meters) was annoying. But I should not have put myself in that situation.

Why is your Phantom suddenly going fast across the house, rather than just straight down to where you are standing? And what is happening after it hits the ground? It keeps flying across the ground?

--

Most importantly - I suggest never to push the battery that far. The 23 minutes flying time is the theoretical maximum - but then the battery would be empty. And you never want that - for a number of reasons. A realistic flying time is more like 18 minutes at best with a fresh healthy battery.

Yep, threads.  It took about as much force as opening a new tube of toothpaste (not much).  Now that I look at the cover though, it looks like the "glass" is held in place with a rubber O-ring and nothing else.  I wonder if we could have some glass of similar thickness cut at the local...somewhere...

We've been training with a ~$200 "all-manual" toy drone since last fall.  Some of the automated features on the Phantom are nice, but others (like RTH) have proven to be annoying.  The position hold has been about the only thing we've really liked.

During our "actual" flights we never go below 30% battery.  But like with other tools we use, we like to test things.  For Science!

As for the unit taking off across the house, the original take-off point (Home Point) was on that side.  It flew up, across the house (barely missing the roof and the tree on the other side), then down onto the driveway.  It bounced a few times then stopped.

There is a lesson to be learned here in my opinion. RTH didn't fail. It returned it to home. Do you want it to land on a dime? It is an emergency feature it shouldn't be used otherwise in my opinion.

Interesting... I've tested the RTH feature 3 times. Each time I was higher that the default altitude that it is suppose to jump up to. Each time it kept the current altitude and turned and flew to the home location at that same altitude. Then decended straight down rather slowly. So slow the last time I had to pull my throttle lever down all the way because I was getting close to the battery timer running out and I was imagining me trying to catch it free falling. Looks almost like this one was out of power. Each time the landing was off by a meter or 2. You can still control it on the way down to nudge it if it's close to hitting something.

I did some work with the RTH feature today (P3A) and found that when I hit the RTH button, when the drone had reached a point that I wanted to take control again, just hit the RTH button once more and it cancels the auto home/land feature. Brill !

Buzz

taylor@digitald Posted at 2015-5-12 12:42
Yep, threads.  It took about as much force as opening a new tube of toothpaste (not much).  Now th ...

Son-of-a-gun!  After reading an earlier post where somebody mentioned there was a screw off lens cap I wanted to put in a gel polarizing filter but I couldn't get the dang thing to budge!  And it's not exactly the sort of thing you'd want to squirt with a shot of WD-40!

In my 1 1/2 years of flying Phantoms I've used RTH exactly twice.  
As others have mentioned, it's an emergency feature and "last ditch" effort when all else fails. Even when activated, it's probably best to turn it off once the unit gets close to you - and then take control.

Mine did land a good distance from the home point the one time I needed it - maybe 20 feet away. During that RTH I never saw the bird on the way back - thought I lost it until I saw it sitting there on the grass.

gil Posted at 2015-5-13 00:48
Son-of-a-gun!  After reading an earlier post where somebody mentioned there was a screw off lens c ...

I guess you have to slam it into a gravel driveway to loosen the cover

mmee1992@yahoo. Posted at 2015-5-12 13:23
There is a lesson to be learned here in my opinion. RTH didn't fail. It returned it to home. Do you  ...

I tested the RTH feature a couple of times on my P2 and it went fine; a good landing where I expected.

I think we should expect that normally a RTH should result in a soft touchdown, not a crash landing.

gil Posted at 2015-5-13 00:48
Son-of-a-gun!  After reading an earlier post where somebody mentioned there was a screw off lens c ...

Hi,
Remember those jar lids that were stuck, & we ran hot water over them... So my thought was,
If you soak a face cloth in very hot water, and place it in a ziplock bag, hold it around the cap for a minute or two, & then you should be able to warm it up enough, so the lens cap can be removed easier.

RedHotPoker

Paul@siess.ca Posted at 2015-5-13 04:05
I guess you have to slam it into a gravel driveway to loosen the cover

Ok, I've gone rogue and this may go on my permanent record.

This is a strictly do at your own risk and may void your warranty and all the usual disclaimers.   I figured out  How to remove a stuck lens cap

Update:  Aftermarket Replacement Glass

I had a local place cut a peice of glass the same diameter as the factory one.  The thinest they had was 2mm; the factory is less than 1mm.  I was worried the thickness might somehow mess with the quality, but it looks good!

We're still going to try to get a factory replacement.  I haven't heard anything back from DJI yet.

A couple of things

First is DONT land with your camera pointing down, its asking for trouble.

Secondly that landing looks odd, did you input the movement over the house, RTH even with low battery would not move at that speed whilst descending, if you are below your RTH hight it will ascend to it move to the take off point then descend stright down, if you are higher than the RTH height it will maintain the current hight and move to RTH location then descend again stright down.  if it does not think it had enough battery to reach the take off point it will land where it is coming vertically down.

Finally i have noticed RTH landing is rather hash on the P3, because of the VPS its able to judge its hight at low level, i had mine bounce a few days ago after it landed harsh, id only use auto land if you have no choice, if you use RTH just cancel it 10ft above ground and bring her in your self.

If you did not input the moment shown on the vid id contact DJI and send the logs in as its not rite.

Yep that landing looked totally wrong. I got my bird on Friday and have used RTH about a handful of times. Honestly I wanted to check to see if it worked, check to see if I could cancel and also test the fact that you can adjust the flight path while in RTH as written in the manual. I have to say it all worked fine for me. Mine will go to the specified height noted in the app and descends real slow. Like so slow at first you don't realize its descending at all. Yours did not look right at all. Not only did it descend real fast but it also looked like went straight to the ground at an angle instead of getting altitude over the home point and then descending gracefully. Ouch! Wonder why it did that? Were you holding the controls? Because you can alter the flight path to the home point while in RTH.

I do not use the auto take off and land or the full RTH landing features.

Auto take off: The quad only rises a foot or so off the ground when activated. I was under the impression it should rise to at least 5ft?
Auto land: The quad descends at an alarming rate. It comes down way too fast and on each occasion I have had to take over to avoid a crash landing.
RTH: As above, descends at an alarming rate and way to fast for a smooth landing. I use RTH to get the quad to the desired position and land myself.

Hornet22 Posted at 2015-5-19 05:36
I do not use the auto take off and land or the full RTH landing features.

Auto take off: The quad ...

Mine on auto-take off stays around 3 - 4 ft above the ground , not sure why yours would be 1 ft ?

Bummer; sorry you had this happen.  I too have tested RTH as a new DJI guy, but havne't had any issues.  I went from landing the grass (a little unstable, could tip over if not flat), to asphalt (much better), to catch it as it approached my height.  I love catching it... I think it's the best way to have a "smooth" landing-- I just grab it when I'm ready!

josepsamora@gma Posted at 2015-5-12 10:21
I tested RTH today as well and while it wasn't as dramatic as yours it did fail. Instead of going to ...

I think if you are within 15m or 30m of home point and hit RTH it will just land, maybe someone else can confirm this.

Paul@siess.ca Posted at 2015-5-13 04:05
I guess you have to slam it into a gravel driveway to loosen the cover

if you put too much pressure on it while twisting it will not budge, you have to lightly hold it while turning,
I couldn't get mine of at first until I lightened up the pressure.

taylor@digitald Posted at 2015-5-19 04:20
Update:  Aftermarket Replacement Glass

I had a local place cut a peice of glass the same diameter  ...

Specification

Glass   Diam  29.5 mm

jayson Posted at 2015-5-19 11:38
I think if you are within 15m or 30m of home point and hit RTH it will just land, maybe someone el ...

That's absolutely true - YOU MUST READ THE MANUAL.  They changed how RTH works from the P2 design.

josepsamora@gma Posted at 2015-5-12 10:21
I tested RTH today as well and while it wasn't as dramatic as yours it did fail. Instead of going to ...

just press the rth button on the controller again to regain control,  of course the only time it's triggered is when it lost signal and the phantom triggers it. I also notice that I can still rotate the phantom while on rth.

Bring the lens into your local eyewear store who make lends for glasses. They can replicate the lens for you. Costs almost nothing

I may be mistaken, but aren't there 2 options to the RTH/Failsafe function? "Return-to-Home" and "Landing"? Could it be you guys are in "Landing" mode when you hit the RTH button? You also need to select the Return-to-Home altitude to be something > 0' ft AGL, otherwise I'm going to once again guess the P3 will go to 0', and it might not do so gracefully.

I watched an extended video review yesterday where the guy tried several times to RTH, and every time the P3P landed below where it was, and did not Return To Home, and he discovered he had the Return-to-Home/Landing slider in the "Landing" position and had his Failsafe Settings set to 0'

Just something to check.

taylor@digitald Posted at 2015-5-19 04:20
Update:  Aftermarket Replacement Glass

I had a local place cut a peice of glass the same diameter  ...

What glass place did you get this made at...I have the same issue (cracked glass) and want to replace it.

Thanks

*****UPDATED******

Nevermind...didn't read far enough down the thread

Thanks

josepsamora@gma Posted at 2015-5-11 22:21
I tested RTH today as well and while it wasn't as dramatic as yours it did fail. Instead of going to ...

When you initiated the RTH was the Aircraft close then 20 meters (65 feet)  from Home Point?
If so the Aircraft will then land at the position it is when RTH is initiated. It has to be at more then 20 meters in order to climb to Failsafe altitude and then come back.
Bat

taylor@digitald Posted at 2015-5-11 23:42
Yep, threads.  It took about as much force as opening a new tube of toothpaste (not much).  Now th ...

It's a UV filter, not a "piece of glass".

gil Posted at 2015-5-12 16:32
Ok, I've gone rogue and this may go on my permanent record.

This is a strictly do at your own ris ...

A wide rubber band works better (no side pressure, spread the grip over as much of the circumference as you can).  Even better, a silicon  pad like used in the kitchen for hot objects has even better grip.  Grip loosely, no heavy squeezing.  Hold the body of the camera so you aren't stressing the gimbal.

Sorry for your broken lens cover. Even you lose the signal and go RTH, i'd recommend you to land it manually when aircraft is close to you and signal is back. we are working on how to make autolanding more soft and gentle

I can't stand the RTH landings, so like most, I hit cancel once it's where I want it. Yesterday, it didn't "cancel" and smashed the ground in its usual fashion, causing it to flip over and throttle up! It took way longer to shut down as well all the while kicking up gravel. I cleaned it up, did a quicky test flight, and all was well UNTIL I shut the radios down. It wouldn't restart, the gimbal moved about 20 degrees and stopped, and all else failed. I went to eat supper to let it AND me cool down and still no luck. Remembering the typical IMU reset techniques, I did a drop from a few inches upright on the landing gear (opposite of the way it hit) and sure enough, I could now make contact and perform all the IMU calibrations as a couple of numbers were off and it required a reset to even run. Thanks, but NO THANKS!