Here's a hypothetical question... Let's say that your drone can really go out 3-4-5 miles, you fly out that far, maybe in the desert as the terrain is flat. You've flown too far to come back home, but you have a friend who lives out there and he keeps a spare battery that you gave him. Can you land your drone and have your buddy swap batteries, then reconnect and fly back?  Provided that the signal is strong enough to reach out, is this possible?

Thanks!

Why not, that's nothing more than if you fly 50 meters, land, change the battery, go 50 meters back to your starting point and start again. You only have to pay attention to the wind direction during the return flight and you should adjust the home point. But I think that it still doesn't work, at least not that far, unless your friend's landing point is higher and / or you have (theoretically) line of sight to him and no obstacles in between.

I've read somewhere in this forum that someone successfully flew a drone from 6100m. Started from completely turned off drone at that distance but both he and the drone were on towers 5m high to avoid obstacles in between. I always thought the RC would startup in low power and after pairing would raise power depending on the demand of the drone (range etc). You could always test it and if it doesn't go then myth busted

Once your friend has changed the battery and th AC got airborne again, you should set the RTH point to your current position (position of the remote controller). Otherwise, if some problems occur, it would return to your friends position. And he might have been gone for dinner or so yet.

Your hypothetical case would work, withing the parameters you describe.
A while ago, I had a similar experience although i had to drive to the drone and swap the battery.
I planned my flight looking at WW2 bunkers from out at sea. That part was completed much sooner than expected, so I decided to fly on to the breakwater. It would be touch and go to get there, take shots and get back.
Having taken the breakwater shots, I decided the battery charge was to low for a safe return, so I landed on the breakwater.
The 1 mile drive around the coast and nearly a mile walk along the breakwater took a while, but the drone was sat there, lights still flashing.
I did a battery swap, took off and flew to another destination.
So it can be done.

AlansDronePics Posted at 5-23 07:00
Your hypothetical case would work, withing the parameters you describe.
A while ago, I had a similar experience although i had to drive to the drone and swap the battery.
I planned my flight looking at WW2 bunkers from out at sea. That part was completed much sooner than expected, so I decided to fly on to the breakwater. It would be touch and go to get there, take shots and get back.

But didn't you approach the drone with your remote with you when you did the battery swap? Of course that would not be the same case the OP described wanting to know. He wants to stay put right where he is (home point), land the drone couple of miles away at his friend's house, have his friend change the battery there, and then try to fly back. If at that distance the remote can pair with the drone at startup that would be awesome.
Nice shots bytheway.....

My biggest concern would be the radio link from your ground level location to his ground level location.  Unless you are on a hill, or the friend's house is on a hill, or both of you are on hills, there could very easily be obstructions blocking the radio link enough that your remote controller can not connect to the drone during landing or after the battery swap.  At the microwave frequencies that we are using, all it takes is one tree in the wrong spot when dealing with fairly long range links.
And AlansDronPics, beautiful photos.

doglaboi Posted at 5-23 09:09
But didn't you approach the drone with your remote with you when you did the battery swap? Of course that would not be the same case the OP described wanting to know. He wants to stay put right where he is (home point), land the drone couple of miles away at his friend's house, have his friend change the battery there, and then try to fly back. If at that distance the remote can pair with the drone at startup that would be awesome.
Nice shots bytheway.....

Point taken, however, the communication between the drone and controller on restart was a viable one. By that i mean, the two were close enough to communicate and not out of range.
Just think, whether you are stood next to it or within range some miles away, the drone and controller will communicate just fine.
I know this also works if the phone or controller breaks communication and they have to be rebooted whilst the drone is in flight, communication becomes restablished.  Yes, the drone will be returning to home by then, but still a long way off.

AlansDronePics Posted at 5-23 07:00
Your hypothetical case would work, withing the parameters you describe.
A while ago, I had a similar experience although i had to drive to the drone and swap the battery.
I planned my flight looking at WW2 bunkers from out at sea. That part was completed much sooner than expected, so I decided to fly on to the breakwater. It would be touch and go to get there, take shots and get back.

doglaboi nailed it, however, those are some gorgeous pictures you took!

doglaboi Posted at 5-23 09:09
But didn't you approach the drone with your remote with you when you did the battery swap? Of course that would not be the same case the OP described wanting to know. He wants to stay put right where he is (home point), land the drone couple of miles away at his friend's house, have his friend change the battery there, and then try to fly back. If at that distance the remote can pair with the drone at startup that would be awesome.
Nice shots bytheway.....

Exactly! Maybe a better way to describe it would be if I flew the drone out a great distance until it did a forced landing, how ever far that might be... Then send a friend out to find it with a fresh battery, and fly it back home.

K6CCC Posted at 5-23 09:36
My biggest concern would be the radio link from your ground level location to his ground level location.  Unless you are on a hill, or the friend's house is on a hill, or both of you are on hills, there could very easily be obstructions blocking the radio link enough that your remote controller can not connect to the drone during landing or after the battery swap.  At the microwave frequencies that we are using, all it takes is one tree in the wrong spot when dealing with fairly long range links.
And AlansDronPics, beautiful photos.

Yes, those are considerations, which is why I used the desert as an example, simply because of the flat terrain.

Most likely you will loose signal if if it lands on the ground.  Remember signals are line of sight on radios.