120ccpm Posted at 1-20 15:58
You're not convincing me as much as I'm not convincing you, so let's agree to disagree. In any case, I doubt DJI called a meeting this weekend to discuss what user 120CCPM proposed in the forum, out of his infinite wisdom. So even if I try to put some brainpower into this stuff, it's all for fun, at least for me.

I’m just being pragmatic about this , I have seen it many times before, I do believe it gets some attention and everything has its merits, I think most debates educate others either way and I just like you don’t like seeing anyone lose their drone.
My comments may not be what your looking for, but maybe they help getting attention and bumping up the thread .
Good luck .

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-20 03:47
People, RTH speed is simply a parameter set in the firmware.  Most DJI models RTH at 22 mph.  The Mini is set to RTH at 17.9 mph.

RTH speed is like selecting your RTH altitude.  There isn't some bit of code deciding, "I'm set to climb to 500' before RTH but I'm getting blown away so I'm only going up 250'."

If you fly an Inspire 2 downwind in a 30 mph wind until RC contact is lost, it's not coming back!  It's that simple.

I'm going back to your post again, as it brings up an interesting subject. Are you certain that an Inspire 2 won't make it home on RTH against a headwind of 30mph, considering its max speed in Sport Mode is 58mph? Before you rush to an answer and quote the "22mph RTH speed", how do you know that the Inspire 2 is not programmed to try and achieve that speed, to the best of its abilities, vs. being programmed to have a set tilt angle for RTH, and hope it's enough? Maybe not all DJI RTH algorithms are created equal...

Do you know those German cars that can trace back their route nowadays ? Why can't a Mini with attitude control just trace its path back.... without even risking an RTH. If you did come to a failsafe mode it is probably because you were pushed too far... why not tracing your route back ? Just my 2 cents.

m80116 Posted at 1-20 17:02
Do you know those German cars that can trace back their route nowadays ? Why can't a Mini with attitude control just trace it's route back.... without even risking an RTH. If you did come to a failsafe mode it is probably because you were pushed too far... why not tracing your route back ? Just my 2 cents.

I think for a simple reason: if you flew for 20 minutes going in all sort of directions before RTH kicked in, I would not want to the AC to retrace that. I want it to come home in the shortest space/time.

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-20 17:20
RTH speed & max tilt are separate parameters.  Tilt alone does not control speed.  It's also a matter of the aircraft's thrust.  Obviously a big big like an Inspire or P4 has more available thrust than a Mini, so they can lift more & fly faster even at the same angle of attack.

The modern birds do slow down with a tailwind.  Back in the day you could rock with a strong tailwind.  A buddy did 70 or 80 mph doing that.  Now DJI backs off if you get much beyond the rated speeds.

You didn't quite answer my question: does the Inspire 2 try to reach its programmed RTH speed?

As for "tilt alone does not control speed", it actually does. The steeper the tilt angle, the bigger is the horizontal component of the thrust force, hence you need more power to maintain altitude. In other words, you need more power to go fast (i.e. to support a steeper tilt angle), but you don't go fast if you have more power (unless you increase the tilt angle).

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-20 17:28
When you play around with the parameters RTH speed is a parameter given in m/s.  The default is 10 m/s which is about 22 mph.  If you change it to 13 you get 30 mph RTH.  That's I how I have my Mavic Pros set.

Ah... interesting... so you can change the RTH speed in the Mavic Pro? What's the max you can set it to?

I think, in my limited opinion since I only got my MM for two weeks, RTH in S mode is pretty dangerous in a sense that the drone will have a longer braking distance.
Why I said this? Because the first time I tried S mode nearly crash my MM because I didn’t realise its quick, and also the taking distance is so far.
So imagine MM flying full speed, no OA in front, crash.....

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-20 17:53
Also I meant to add, I could see DJI deciding to bump the Mini's RTH speed up to 22 mph.  It's an easy solution, a low risk of unforeseen side effects, well within the flight envelope, & I suspect still relatively efficient.   Change one parameter from 8 to 10 & recompile.  Done.  I don't see them trying to implement any sort of complex 2-stage RTH feature.   KISS is the best solution.

Possible, yes. I do see advantages in the two-stage approach, though.

do I get something wrong here? RTH speed is a set ground speed and has basically nothing to do with wind speed. Thrust power is regulated to maintain RTH speed at the given constant ground speed. More headwind = more thrust/power.
Is the highest possible thrust/power limited at RTH? If that is really the case it would be stupid.
Full RTH power does not mean faster RTH speed - just full ability to move against headwind.

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-20 17:41
I dont own an Inspire 2 so I can't say for certain.  Clearly the larger birds are more powerful & capable of making better headway against the wind.

Do you know if the M2 tries to achieve the set RTH speed, or if what DJI let you change in the app is actually the max tilt (masked as a "speed"), and then the AC will just proceed at that angle, thus slowing down as soon as it encounters headwind?

oldhasbeen Posted at 1-20 19:28
do I get something wrong here? RTH speed is a set ground speed and has basically nothing to do with wind speed. Thrust power is regulated to maintain RTH speed at the given constant ground speed. More headwind = more thrust/power.
Is the highest possible thrust/power limited at RTH? If that is really the case it would be stupid.
Full RTH power does not mean faster RTH speed - just full ability to move against headwind.

I'm trying to find out, but I do not know for sure. Couple options:

[1] RTH keeps the AC at a set tilt angle, and the AC will move at whatever (ground) speed that angle gives it, based on current conditions. DJI might let the user set the RTH "speed" but in reality what gets set is the max tilt angle (which, at sea level and with no wind, would result in that speed).

[2] RTH tries to keep the AC at the set speed, regardless of conditions, to the limit of its abilities. In this case, users are truly setting the max speed.

It would be something fairly easy to determine, by looking at flight logs: if during RTH the tilt angle stays constant and speed changes, then it's option 1. If the angle changes trying to maintain the speed constant, then it's option 2.

It would appear that the MM is operating in the first mode (fixed tilt angle). If instead it turns out that it works in the second mode (fixed speed), then my request is completely pointless, as the AC is basically already doing what I asked.

Jim_H Posted at 1-20 17:49
I think, in my limited opinion since I only got my MM for two weeks, RTH in S mode is pretty dangerous in a sense that the drone will have a longer braking distance.
Why I said this? Because the first time I tried S mode nearly crash my MM because I didn’t realise its quick, and also the taking distance is so far.
So imagine MM flying full speed, no OA in front, crash.....

Not really... the MM has no OA, so going fast or slow won't make any difference, as in any case it won't stop for obstacles. And since the AC knows exactly how far it is from home, it could easily slow down to P speeds once it gets closer.

I can see both sides, but I’m FOR enabling it.

I never use RTH...I think it’s lazy and don’t like to rely on it to bring my drone back.  I flew RC planes and helis for years so I’m used to being in control.

However!  I have also lost contact with the mini (and spark) and thank god for RTH without it, I’d be at least 2 drones short now :-)

I am FOR enabling S mode for RTH as I fly within what I can do with the mini, ie taking a risk in the wind, but if I lose connection I no longer have the ability to change to S mode myself and bring it home.

It seems it would be a simple change to monitor range in RTH and if it’s going backwards, then increase your max speed/tilt.   As you get closer to the home point, that speed can be compensated to slow down until you are basically matching speed witth distance to home point being equal.

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people that fly in strong wind and then use RTH, but we’ve all pushed it at one point, and we know things can change and we know wind increases with altitude so it doesn’t hurt to enable this feature.  It won’t address all the situations and it will just mean people will start flying in more wind, but it will save some people.

Cookster670 Posted at 1-20 23:14
I can see both sides, but I’m FOR enabling it.

I never use RTH...I think it’s lazy and don’t like to rely on it to bring my drone back.  I flew RC planes and helis for years so I’m used to being in control.

Exactly my point.

120ccpm Posted at 1-20 23:16
Exactly my point.

There is an element of “do stupid things win stupid prizes” here, but at the end of the day, there are newbies here that will make mistakes..as we all have.   If there is a simple way to reduce risk with no downside, then why not.    It’s not like we are asking for the Mini to do something its not capable of.  Its that the Mini’s software is hobbling itself when it can least afford to.

I’m a little surprised at how much resistance there is to this suggestion.   If people ask for active track, or RAW, or manual white balance..etc No one seems to disagree so vehemently yet they are essentially the same type of request.   We bought the Mini knowing it can do X, we are asking it to do Y because its doable with software.  RTH-S mode is no different to any other feature requests other than it means I can’t say “I told you so” to a poor noob that’s too eager to fly in the wind.

Cookster670 Posted at 1-20 23:14
I can see both sides, but I’m FOR enabling it.

I never use RTH...I think it’s lazy and don’t like to rely on it to bring my drone back.  I flew RC planes and helis for years so I’m used to being in control.

I agree. Someone maybe don't understand that we mean only one situation - when the plane is capable to return (on S-mode) but due to beginner's pilot error (or due to signal loss) is bird blown away by wind in P-mode. And solution could be simple - when the forward speed during RTH is low or negative->increase speed to S-mode forward speed. When the 20 meters to Home point distance is reached return to to P-mode forward speed...

I LIke the OP's idea, too.

Sure, if you've still got contact with the Mini, then of course, you have various options at hand.

But in the case where the Mini has lost contact with the RC, and it goes into RTH, AND it has enough battery left, etc., then why not have it look at ground speed, and if it's "losing the battle" fighting the wind, then increase its airspeed as required to achieve decent ground speed progress on its own.  This might not always work, but it's better than just giving up and drifting backwards IF it does have the power to make some good progress.  This would not require any heroic amount of programming to achieve.  As has been pointed out, the drone already has plenty of information to make this assessment.

If and when you regain contact with the mini, and you know where it is, then you can take control again and try to use the most effective and safe speed, altitude, path, etc., to bring the drone back to you or to a safe (and known) landing location.  Even if the drone can't make it back home, at least getting it back into RC range may allow you to get it to a safer landing area and perhaps find it afterwards.


I don't see the point in NOT doing this.  People arguing that it will just make ALL mini fliers fly more recklessly are not correct.  Does having anti-lock braking, airbags, or seatbelts in your car make you drive more recklessly?  OK, maybe don't answer that!  ;)


And those imagining that the drone will fly faster and be more of a danger to others forget that this would only kick in if the drone was unable to fly toward home due to wind.  The drone doesn't have to achieve a higher ground speed than some limit.  It just needs to overcome the wind and achieve SOME ground speed.  Just set up a ground speed limit for RTH.

Sigmo Posted at 1-21 02:48
I LIke the OP's idea, too.

Sure, if you've still got contact with the Mini, then of course, you have various options at hand.

I don’t think anyone said it would make ALL flyers act reckless, what was said was it wouldn’t make any difference , I don’t believe that most of those who lost their drones where one bit worried about the wind at altitude or the way they were flying, i hazard a guess that most ignored the manual and I do believe if Rth speed was 36mph they would still do exactly the same thing, I seen many at 400ft and above many flying in winds over 30mph, so no amount of changing will help these guys.

All dji drones are rated for wind, all safety features are passed by dji international bodies and are given the correct certificates to be as safe as required.

You are now asking for dji to send in new safety submissions in the shape of, we need a new safety feature because our safety feature of Rth is no longer safe and on top of that we are calling it an emergency, now that might cause a panic.

I have seen this many times before, with most of dji craft, and what usually happens is Mavericks learn how to work the drone or they lose their drone, and after the new release hype we will see less and less of this, and we will see those who now own the drone being well able to work it at its present parameters.

This is the same with all drones and particularly when we see a lot of new flyers coming into the hobby for the first time.
I have every faith that the new crop will be just as good at flying and photography as any that went before them, it’s not more tech they need it’s just more experience, give them a chance in six months they will be mostly over this .

120ccpm Posted at 1-20 19:40
Do you know if the M2 tries to achieve the set RTH speed, or if what DJI let you change in the app is actually the max tilt (masked as a "speed"), and then the AC will just proceed at that angle, thus slowing down as soon as it encounters headwind?

You cannot set a speed for Rth , but you can turn off OA this will increase the speed not the pitch, M2 is programmed to turn off rear OA in some Rth mode, loss of signal no it just follows route flown for 60 seconds and if signal returns you can take back control failing that it waits 11 seconds and then Rth with no rear OA.

It never flys in sport mod and neither do any dji drones, but all can be flown controlling altitude speed and orientation, but perhaps one thing might help with mini is simply add option of lost signal to land, hover would be no use as it will only blow away.

The Watchman News Posted at 1-20 11:54
I just wish it would go into S mode during RTH. I really can't see any disadvantages to it.

In Sport Mode you have much more air-resistance so it drains more battery. Without wind you can make much mor distance in P-Mode than in S-Mode.

I think the only good option would be to add an switch wich uses S-Mode during Connection-Lost-RTH.
After Connection is back again it can switch to P-Mode to make more distance and the pilot can decide if s-mode is nessesary.

120ccpm Posted at 1-19 16:41
I called it "Emergency RTH" simply because it would not be the default RTH mode, but something that the AC activates only when needed. DJI must have had their reasons for selecting 18mph as the RTH speed (efficiency? safety?) so a two-stage approach seemed a better option: use the standard speed most of the times, switch to higher speed only when needed.

"DJI must have had their reasons for selecting 18mph as the RTH speed (efficiency? safety?)"

Maximizing battery life is the reason I hear most often.

I do not disagree with you on this request.

Cheers!
=C=

Maximizing battery life seems like a reasonable reason.

You can't have everything, and there are certainly situations that the Mini wouldn't be able to successfully return from even if the controls were suddenly taken over from the fool who put it in that situation by the most skilled pilot.

So as a first approximation, flying at a medium power drain rate is probably smart for most situations.  But it does still seem that the mini knows when that approach isn't working based on ground speed.  So why not waste some power to try to overcome the wind in that otherwise hopeless situation when contact is lost?

We all agree that pilots often put their drones into these bad situations through negligence.

It does seem, though, by the tone of some of the posts, that some would rather see newbies and fools lose their drones as sort of a punishment.  I disagree, especially in cases of signal loss.  An out of control drone crashing is not good for any of us.  So try hard, little Mini!

Sigmo Posted at 1-21 05:58
Maximizing battery life seems like a reasonable reason.

You can't have everything, and there are certainly situations that the Mini wouldn't be able to successfully return from even if the controls were suddenly taken over from the fool who put it in that situation by the most skilled pilot.

Again your completely wrong, I don’t believe anyone likes to see anyone lose their drones and the posters you seem to be referring to are people who offer their time to help all new flyers sharing their experience answering questions and generally hoping that others fly safe and happy.
But these people seem prone to being attacked more than others because their experience tells them that sometimes it is better to educate than continue what are basically futile and ill thought out fixes for a problem that isn’t really there.

There are two cases I see on this forum where inexperience and flying in the wrong environments caused two guys to lose their craft, both these losses are part of this discussion, in one case guy was flying in winds in excess of 30mph in a second case a user flew so far that he had possible way of returning home because of battery life, but users seen this as another wind problem.
So really this is why we are seeing proposals for something that’s not going to happen, because 4 years ago new Mavic flyers were looking for the same thing.

For me I think manual controls on the camera would be a lot more beneficial for all rather than trying to nanny a few .

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 02:33
DJI doesn't allow you to change these settings.  You have to use third-party methods to access them.   RTH & max flight speeds are separate settings from max angle of attack.

Sorry, when you said you could change the RTH speed in your M2, I though you meant through DJI GO.

Anyways, even if DJI doesn't let you change it, I'm still curious to know if RTH on all DJI drones is the same, and it's fixed tilt or fixed speed, or a combination.

No need to request, mini already engage extra power on its own when fighting a headwind when flying in any direction. If you want to increase RTH speed like others have suggested, simply  increase roll speed and it will go quicker. If your coming home in tail wind in RTH it will actually fly faster than sports mode getting you home even quicker.

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 10:47
The models I have been privy to are the P3 (Standard/Advanced/Pro), P4 (Standard & Pro), & the Mavic Pro.  On all of them, speed & max tilt are completely separate settings.  There are separate settings for each flight mode as well as RTH.  Increasing speed doesn't require or modify a mode's max tilt setting.  I suspect this is the same for all.

Can you change tilt and speed from GO, or is it some sort of hack? I don't remember this setting in my P3S, but I admit it's been a while since I had it.

For the same AC, speed is directly and exclusively a function of the tilt angle. If tilt remains the same, more power won't make it go faster, just gain altitude. So I don't understand why they would let you set them as if they were unrelated parameters... maybe is to limit one or the other, whichever is reached first. Curious if you set speed to its max value and tilt to its minimum, what would happen when you go full stick ahead...

I will go on record as saying I am for this modification also. There is no sensible reason to fear it. It can be a feature that is enabled or disabled in the settings. I have done only about 50 flights so far and have never even tested the RTH feature, nor do I intend to use it voluntarily. But some day, the need may arise for the drone to try to save itself. I am seeing people in other forums and this one who report loses due to no explained and proven reason. The logs do not tell us everything. What is known is that sometimes the wind speed can be too much for the standard RTH feature to handle, especially at the the RTH altitude. And there are a variety of reasons for that. Once the drone is on it's own, it should have available all the tools possible. Perfsonally I would like to be not responsible for dumping another piece of plastic in the ocean.

Opponents like to brag about their expertise in avoiding these situation but fail to admit that their experience was developed over years of practice. If you lose you first drone right away, you may decide it is not worth the expense to continue. The opponents would evidently like to keep the user list short.

People who insist that something is not possible have been one of the the main reasons for my success in my careers. I have made a lot of money over the last 50 years in proving them wrong.

I respect all opinions on this subject, even those completely against it. I just want to reiterate on point: I don't see this feature request as a way to further encourage people to do stupid things, and push the limits of the MM. People are doing that now, will do it if the RTH speed is increased to 25mph, or 250mph. These people and scenarios are not the reason behind my request. I was thinking at those who find themselves in a bad situation because of a mistake (e.g. misjudging the conditions where the AC ends up being) or events out of their control (e.g. conditions changing abruptly), not because of negligence. It's not always black and white... there are conditions that are at the limit but not over the limit... and you might decide to risk it because you're on a nice location, it's the last day of your vacation and you want that last shot. And you trust your skills in being able to bring the AC home manually. On that day and those conditions, should I lose connection for any reasons (not unlikely on a MM, with its Wi-Fi)  I'd like RTH to push a bit more on the throttle and try to bring the AC back in range, since we know it can go a little faster than 18mph. Nothing more, nothing less.
Maybe that's not possible for technical reasons, I'm fine with that. But I don't find it to be an unreasonable request, and certainly not something that should irritate anyone!

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 12:25
You have to access the firmware through third-party software to make these changes so yes, you have to hack your drone to access these settings.  You can modify all sorts of things.  My favorite is you can eliminate the "Autoland @ 10%".  If you fly long Litchi missions you will appreciate the ability to disable auto land.   It's the difference between making it home, or auto landing in an irretrievable location.

THERE ARE SEPARATE SETTINGS for speed & max angle (tilt).   It is a MAXIMUM angle so this would allow you to enable a faster flight speed.  On models with multiple flight modes you can adjust each mode, plus RTH speed, independently.  My assumption is if you attempt to set a speed beyond what the max tilt would allow, it would only attain the speed afforded by the set maximum.

My assumption is if you attempt to set a speed beyond what the max tilt would allow, it would only attain the speed afforded by the set maximum.

Yes, it makes sense. In any case, expert-only settings, not exposed to the average user.

has anyone confirmed yet that RTH power is really limited?
The whole talk about RTH speed seems misguided to me.
I am not interested in higher RTH speed - only in maximum power to go against head winds.

oldhasbeen Posted at 1-21 18:54
has anyone confirmed yet that RTH power is really limited?
The whole talk about RTH speed seems misguided to me.
I am not interested in higher RTH speed - only in maximum power to go against head winds.

This is basically what we're talking about. When we mention "speed", we're usually referring to ground speed in calm conditions, at sea level. This is also what DJI does in their specs, when it tells you that P-Mode is limited to 8m/s and S-Mode to 13m/s.
Increasing the RTH speed means that the AC would be able to make (ground) progress against stronger headwinds.
But your question is very legit, see post #62.

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 12:36
You are welcome to be for it but mark my words, THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE RTH SPEED for the Mini.  It will be whatever DJI decides.  They may choose to increase it, but they are NOT going to muck up the firmware with some convoluted attempt to detect forward progress & adjust on-the-fly.  If they allow an increased RTH speed they are simply going to modify the parameter.  The new max RTH speed will be full-time.  K.I.S.S.

EDIT:  Allow me to add I have my two Mavic Pros set to RTH @ 30 mph.  This is a good setting.  It is efficient & fast.  It's the speed at which I fly my long-range Litchi missions.  For the Mini, I think raising the RTH speed from 17.9 mph to 22 mph is a good idea.  This is well within the Mini's performance envelope & still relatively efficient.  I don't favor making RTH speed the max of 29 mph (for the Mini or any other drone) because it is very inefficient & wastes too much power.

"For the Mini, I think raising the RTH speed from 17.9 mph to 22 mph is a good idea."

OK so now you are compromising? That's a start. Maybe we can make a deal for 25 mph?

As for being a "convoluted attempt", well.....we coders in the U.S. can do it easily but I do understand your reluctance with these designers ;-)

Wait, did you say you set your RTH to 30 mph on your others but then say it is too inefficient to use on any drone? Did you mistype something there?

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 12:36
You are welcome to be for it but mark my words, THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE RTH SPEED for the Mini.  It will be whatever DJI decides.  They may choose to increase it, but they are NOT going to muck up the firmware with some convoluted attempt to detect forward progress & adjust on-the-fly.  If they allow an increased RTH speed they are simply going to modify the parameter.  The new max RTH speed will be full-time.  K.I.S.S.

EDIT:  Allow me to add I have my two Mavic Pros set to RTH @ 30 mph.  This is a good setting.  It is efficient & fast.  It's the speed at which I fly my long-range Litchi missions.  For the Mini, I think raising the RTH speed from 17.9 mph to 22 mph is a good idea.  This is well within the Mini's performance envelope & still relatively efficient.  I don't favor making RTH speed the max of 29 mph (for the Mini or any other drone) because it is very inefficient & wastes too much power.

I just noticed the KISS line! And I can assure you that I am not stupid ;-) Although Wife may disagree...she is 161 IQ

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 20:27
I have said multiple times throughout the thread that DJI may choose to increase the Mini's RTH speed.  I have also suggested 22 mph several times as this places the Mini on par with other DJI models.  It will not be 25 mph because it is inefficient & too close to the Mini's maximum speed.

What's NOT going to happen is the dream for a complex multi-stage RTH algorithm.  RTH will remain a single speed flight mode   As an engineer you should know K.I.S.S. is an acronym for "keep it simple stupid".  This is a reference to a design philosophy & not an attack on your intellect.

"What's NOT going to happen is the dream for a multi-stage RTH algorithm"

Agreed.

"... anyone who chooses to fly a Mini in 25 mph winds deserves to lose it."

So does that mean you would support dji if they were able to prevent the mm from taking off if it could detect winds 25mph or higher?

GaryDoug Posted at 1-21 19:50
I just noticed the KISS line! And I can assure you that I am not stupid ;-) Although Wife may disagree...she is 161 IQ

If you could refrain from p*ssing contests it might make this discussion more amiable. Frankly we don't care if your wife has a genius intellect or that you used to be a code-basher. There are probably people on here a fair bit smarter than you, Dirty Bird is one of them, so try listening and you might learn something.

120ccpm Posted at 1-21 19:25
This is basically what we're talking about. When we mention "speed", we're usually referring to ground speed in calm conditions, at sea level. This is also what DJI does in their specs, when it tells you that P-Mode is limited to 8m/s and S-Mode to 13m/s.
Increasing the RTH speed means that the AC would be able to make (ground) progress against stronger headwinds.
But your question is very legit, see post #62.

In my understanding ground speed is not wind dependent. It is derived from the variations of gps positions.
Same as a car speedo does not care about wind or hill.
The issue is whether the mini uses all its resources to maintain RTH ground speed.

I don't really know what the MM is programmed to do during RTH, as I mentioned in post #62 there are a couple of options and probably a few variations. It seems that the MM is limited to P-Mode during RTH, which means a max tilt angle of 20deg and a max ground speed of 18mph. If there is no wind, the AC travels back autonomously at 18mph. If there is headwind, it likely tries to reach 18mph but it won't go past the 20deg tilt. The ask here is to allow a steeper angle so the AC can make it back against stronger winds. I was suggesting for the AC to switch to S-Mode when it detects that staying in P-Mode is not enough to achieve the desired ground speed (because of headwind). Others are proposing to simply increase the RTH speed (which implies allowing more tilt).

Based on what I learned (or learned that I don't know) about RTH in the past few days, if I'd go back I would simply ask DJI to give the MM more "power" for RTH so the AC could fight stronger winds, and let them figure out the best way to do it, rather than making certain assumptions which - it turned out - might not be correct.  

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-21 20:27
I have said multiple times throughout the thread that DJI may choose to increase the Mini's RTH speed.  I have also suggested 22 mph several times as this places the Mini on par with other DJI models.  It will not be 25 mph because it is inefficient & too close to the Mini's maximum speed.

What's NOT going to happen is the dream for a complex multi-stage RTH algorithm.  RTH will remain a single speed flight mode   As an engineer you should know K.I.S.S. is an acronym for "keep it simple stupid".  This is a reference to a design philosophy & not an attack on your intellect.

Issue of RTH speed itself aside, I have two comments regarding this:
1. Automatically increasing speed in RTH mode if not achieving enough forward speed is honestly laughable wrt complexity, especially when comparing with the hugely complex calculations a drone does every few ms just to stay in the air and not tumble over. Arguing that DJI would not implement such a logic in their RTH for the reason of it being too complicated makes absolutely no sense. Its level of complexity as an algorithm is as low as it gets.
2. The K.I.S.S. concept refers to the way you design your app. Not skipping features to keep the software simple. So in this scenario, K.I.S.S. refers to how DJI would implement this feature, not if. Whether or not this is a feature worth* implementing is a separate issue not related to the K.I.S.S. principle.

*"worth" meaning user requests, utility, side effects (like flying faster into obstacles for users not setting correct RTH), time needed for development and testing, other features in their backlog and so on

At the end of the day, RTH speed is not al imitation of the drone, it’s of the software.  The mini can fly in wind conditions in excess of it’s RTH speed,   How would people feel if DJI decided to halve it’s RTH speed?  Do we say “well that’s the limitation of the drone and DJI made it for good reasons, so don’t fly in windy conditions in excess of that”.     No, we wouldn’t because we know it’s capable of more.  

Im sure DJI chose it’s RTH speed for good reasons at the time, but given the amount of posts we see about lost or almost lost Minis as a result of RTH speed,  Then I would hope they would revisit this.   In the posts that I’ve read and remember, the Mini was flying around ok in the windy conditions UNTIL RTH kicked in.  

+1 for a great idea.