Had a little fly today only at my local park/woodlands. Having a lot of fun with my daughter fly overs ect, she loves coming with me when I fly the drone.  

I think were all done it at some time. But, enjoying the moment then all of a sudden a momentary loss of orientation and the drone flies off in a unknown direction and seconds later its out of eyesight.  A blind panic trying to check the orientation on the IPhone, but as its such a sunny day all I can really see is my reflection …..Its like looking in a dam mirror...  So I hit the RTH button. ….  

For the next 3 or 4 minutes I'm trying to find a shaded area so I can check my IPhone so I can see where the Drone is.

4 Minutes later I hear a swarm of bees above somewhere and seconds later the word you want to hear “Landing”from the Iphone.

I think everyone one of us has experienced those 3 or 4. minutes, wondering if you just watched $1000 fly off into the sunset, RTH Anxiety  

It's even more scary when it's 13-14 minutes.  Baby aspirin seems to help a little...

Mark The Droner Posted at 2018-6-24 04:23
It's even more scary when it's 13-14 minutes.  Baby aspirin seems to help a little...

13-14 minutes? I think I'd have given up by then ....

13-14 minutes... I think I'd have given up by then ....

Haha... this was a while ago.  I had a Flytrex Live tracker on the Phantom but my ten dollar 90-day cell service expired the day before and I didn't know it.  But I could see one red bar on my Litchi's FPV signal kind of coming in and out - but with no other info, but at least I knew it was out there somewhere trying to get home.  FPV did eventually come back but it was a long wait.  It did finally make it home with the lamps in back flashing red like a strobe.  I think I landed with 6% battery.  That flight is why I avoid flying in a strong cross wind.

You just have to be patient and trust it to do it's thing.

Only thing that crosses my mind .... flying in ''local park/woodlands'' ..... I hope the RTH altitude was set to clear woodland !!

Obviously it was OR the AC never went over the trees ... very lucky !!

I have had a few occasions where you stand and pray RTH is cutting in to get it back. Tense moments that make certain 'cheeks' clench. So far loss of connection has done its job. Only time I was stumped for a few seconds - I was videoing local park and fountains .... tablet shut down unexpectedly and AC was other side of trees and I couldn't see it...... wiseguys - i know VLOS .... for a few seconds my **** fluttered and then sense kicked in - i knew it would hover as the Controller LED was still green. I pressed controller RTH and then rebooted tablet ..
AC came into view overhead and I cancelled RTH, tablet relocked in and i continued to complete the video.

Nigel

solentlife Posted at 2018-6-24 10:20
Only thing that crosses my mind .... flying in ''local park/woodlands'' ..... I hope the RTH altitude was set to clear woodland !!

Obviously it was OR the AC never went over the trees ... very lucky !!

Yes, Its were I normally go and fly. No buildings no electrical towers phone masts ect. I have my RTH set to 60M. More than high enough to avoid the woodland.

The smart RTH a great feature.
I had my first loss of signal event on the weekend, the aircraft was over 1km away at the time.
All I had to do was to wait and let the aircraft do its thing.

fans21546423 Posted at 2018-6-24 14:20
Yes, Its were I normally go and fly. No buildings no electrical towers phone masts ect. I have my RTH set to 60M. More than high enough to avoid the woodland.

Unless they are very big trees or the terrain changes substantially, isn't 60m a bit excessive?  By all means, clear your largest obstacle with a comfortable margin, but an excessive RTH altitude can affect flight time and affect smart battery calculations.   The aircraft will spend unnecessary time ascending and descending and can add minutes to your return, which reduces your intended flight time.

3 minutes is my longest wait and it felt like hours!