After reading this topic (Thanks Hallmark for raising the issue!) it seems that Mavic Air has a bit of an RTH issue when the distance to the Homepoint is between 5 and 20 meter.

Like more DJI drones there is a feature that if those conditions are met, the Aircraft will RTH at its current altitude without ascending to the given RTH altitude. The Mavic Air also has this feature like stated in the manual, and its on by default. (Which I can confirm)

There is only one issue with that, eventhough the manual states you are able to turn it off, you can't, or at least I can't with either an IOS or Android device. The on/off switch setting is simply missing in the DJI Go App.

Quite frankly, this is something we need to be able to turn off because it could be dangerous when hitting that RTH button and seeing the Aircraft do something we don't expect it to do.

Can DJI fix this as soon as possible? In the mean time, be carefull when hitting that RTH button if the distance to the homepoint is between 5 and 20 meters.

Can you switch "RTH at current altitude" off on your Mavic Air?

Are you connected to your MA when you look for the setting? Some settings aren't available wihout an active connection to the AC.

Ex Machina Posted at 2018-2-13 10:41
Are you connected to your MA when you look for the setting? Some settings aren't available wihout an active connection to the AC.

Thanks for the suggestion.

And to confirm, yes, full wired connection with the aircraft with the remote and app connected, ready to fly so to say.

You shouldn't need RTH if you are that close to home.  Just fly it.

there you have it, he hath spoken

Whoever presses RTH intentionally at less than 20m distance from a home point, deserves some "lessons learned". I think DJI did this right, actually.

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2018-2-13 13:41
Whoever presses RTH intentionally at less than 20m distance from a home point, deserves some "lessons learned". I think DJI did this right, actually.

I think the problem is, the manual clearly tells you that >5 metre and  <20 metre you can enable aircraft to RTH at its current altitude and then land, the problem is you should be able to set this in the app but the setting is not there for some, so inside 20 metre aircraft just lands. There is often times when you are over water for instance at less than 20 metres from homepoint, it is not a good situation if you lose signal with RC and your aircraft lands in the water.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-2-13 14:02
I think the problem is, the manual clearly tells you that >5 metre and

Loosing the signal with such reliable technology as (E)WiFi at less than 20m is totally unlikely, at least according to DJI. And I don't speak video feed signal but control one. However, I do agree if something is specified in manual, it should work like that until manual is changed to something else.

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-2-13 10:57
Thanks for the suggestion.

And to confirm, yes, full wired connection with the aircraft with the remote and app connected, ready to fly so to say.

Welp, I'm not seeing the feature in Go 4 while connected to my Mavic Pro, either, using the recently released app and firmware updates.

FWIW, the language you are quoting from the MA manual is not present in the latest Mavic Pro manual.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2018-2-13 11:28
You shouldn't need RTH if you are that close to home.  Just fly it.

Although that may sound reasonable, choosing to use, or not use RTH within 20 meter is not valid reasoning because it's is a documented feature of the Aircraft.

hallmark007 Posted at 2018-2-13 14:02
I think the problem is, the manual clearly tells you that >5 metre and

RTH at current altitude is on by default, you just can't turn it off like the manual suggested.

Ex Machina Posted at 2018-2-13 16:52
Welp, I'm not seeing the feature in Go 4 while connected to my Mavic Pro, either, using the recently released app and firmware updates.

FWIW, the language you are quoting from the MA manual is not present in the latest Mavic Pro manual.

Interesting, was it described in earlier manuals?

Looks like DJI doesn't want the feature to be turned off anymore if you read the current Mavic Pro manual

One major diffence though, the Mavic Pro's (safe) altitude is 10 meter instead of 2,5 meter with the Mavic Air

I think the Mavic Pro never got the switch to turn this on or off in the settings.
Return to home at current altitude was introduced as a switch with the Spark. I also think this is just mistakenly copied from the Spark to the Air manual.

Dirk52 Posted at 2018-2-14 02:24
I think the Mavic Pro never got the switch to turn this on or off in the settings.
Return to home at current altitude was introduced as a switch with the Spark. I also think this is just mistakenly copied from the Spark to the Air manual.

You could be right that that the Mavic Pro doesn't have the switch either, I don't own a Mavic Pro so I can't tell.
The feature itself has been implemented in the Mavic Pro's, probably after being introduced with the Spark, you can tell because the flightprocedure differs from what it used to be if you compare it to an older manual.

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-2-14 01:50
Although that may sound reasonable, choosing to use, or not use RTH within 20 meter is not valid reasoning because it's is a documented feature of the Aircraft.

It's also documented how it works within 20M of home point.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2018-2-14 11:03
It's also documented how it works within 20M of home point.

No it doesn't, its documented that you have a choice in how it works within 20M of home point, which you don't.
It will spear home at a mere minimum height of 2,5 meter.

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-2-15 00:09
No it doesn't, its documented that you have a choice in how it works within 20M of home point, which you don't.
It will spear home at a mere minimum height of 2,5 meter.

I think there are too many versions of the manual out there.

AG0N-Gary Posted at 2018-2-15 11:27
I think there are too many versions of the manual out there.

There is just one actually, the one in the startpost. The others I've posted are from the Mavic Pro. Which you could argue being to many, but I think most actually appreciate a new manual when automated flightprocedures change.

LoSBoL Posted at 2018-2-16 00:02
There is just one actually, the one in the startpost. The others I've posted are from the Mavic Pro. Which you could argue being to many, but I think most actually appreciate a new manual when automated flightprocedures change.

https://draftable.com/compare/ivBvWDGCQCyI

Here‘s a comparison between v 1.0 and v. 1.2 (takes a bit of time to download)
There are still some discrepancies between the 2 versions.

That's one smart website! thanks for sharing

Just some typo corrections and added Smartcapture capabilities, no differences in RTH procedures for the Air though, unlike with the Mavic Pro.

There has been a new release of the Mavic Air manual on the 5th of March, version number didn't change, but RTH procedures got a few revisions:
The option to turn off RTH at current altitude has been removed and has become standard procedure.  

eYeSkYeYe Posted at 2018-2-13 13:41
Whoever presses RTH intentionally at less than 20m distance from a home point, deserves some "lessons learned". I think DJI did this right, actually.

I agree if you can see it land it.