This happened to another member of MavicPilot. Using Advance Return To Home the Mavic hit a tree. We dont have all the details but will be posted as soon as are avaiables. Here the picture and the link of the original post.
Please DJI !!!! Advance Return to Home should be OPTIONAL !!! If we have told electric wires, or trees with small branches, we dont want to use advance return to home. Even in the manual says the aircraft will dont detect small branches or wires, then do not use advance return to home mandatory. We dont want to crash our expensive done because of that.

Now i see many people scare to use the RTH bottom because of this.   

https://mavicpilots.com/threads/mavic3-advanced-return-home-flew-into-tree-and-destroyed-itself-4000-gone.119464/

Ouch.  Yes, and so many of us have powerlines that could be in the path of a RTH.  This makes me nervous.

Exactly! this is going to be one of many RTH disasters, I have been too scared to even open my Mavic 3 box yet to fly it due to the sheer amount of unseen bugs in the software, FIX this as soon as possible, my Mavic 2 Pro worked perfectly in RTH old style, put it back to this on the Mavic 3 with AN OPTION to enable Advanced RTH, I for one will never select it (ARTH) really feel for this pilot, such an expensive drone to be destroyed so soon by software controlling the drones landing.

I very much prefer the older method of RTH but in this guys scenario he had apas turned off so it could not detect any obstacles.

I virtually never use RTH, much rather fly the drone. Just about the only time I do is if it's a new drone and I want to see how the RTH actually works to gain a clarification as to what to expect. With the M3 it does desends as it approaches the home point and it climbs to avoid objects, all limited by how effective to front sensors perform within the operating environment.

With Advanced RTH you always have to option of giving 'up stick' to avoid objects or just to increase height.

Without being a 'party pooper' RTH is no excuse for good airmanship, the first rule being 'always maintain a good look out'.

The Advanced RTH is quite interesting, but if it fails to 'see' something then that is going to be a problem! An option to disable Advanced RTH would be useful, a work around that would work now is to turn off OA as the aircraft defaults then to one of the other RTH depending on if its a low battery or loss of signal. Assuming the correct RTH height has been set then it would perform as before.

I never use return to home. I have never even tried it even owning so many DJI drones. I just hope it works should I ever need it however I see so many people using it as a feature. What's the deal you can't follow a damn map back? So much for vlos that people need to rely on this feature to get back to Terra Firma

I think first you would need to see flight logs to comment on this. I will wait until I see flight log .

Personally believe RTH is for emergency situations and the operator should overide and take manual control as soon as the drone comes back in sight; but I am always shocked to realize so many people actually land their drones using RTH all the time.

Ye ouchhh, and I was only thinking yesterday how cool the advance RTH is, sorry for this guys loss.

HI,

if connected to the drone remote pilot can always fly back home manually and don`t use the Advanced RTH as he/she feels bad about this RTH....

but

Failsafe RTH > sufficient lighting + vision system working normally = Advanced RTH...[ omg ]
Failsafe RTH > not sufficient lighting + vision system not working normally = original route RTH >straight line RTH.

Reading the M3 manual, don`t have a M3, think i would also ask for an option to de-select the Advanced RTH.

cheers
JJB

I personally use all the time the RTH and Precision landing even when Precision landing fail half of the time.
The more you practice emergency situations, the better prepared you are for a real emergency situation.

This crash had nothing to do with twigs branches or cable wires. His drone flew straight into a tree at high speed according to him. There is nothing in advanced rth that shows anything even close to that happening and many tests have been done.

i use rth alot.  probably at least once per outing.  it's part of flying recreationally for fun.  landing a drone manually is not a skill, it doesn't need to be practiced routinely and repeatedly.  when i'm done flying around doing stuff, i often hit the button if the drone is not close to me.

The Saint Posted at 12-6 14:19
i use rth alot.  probably at least once per outing.  it's part of flying recreationally for fun.  landing a drone manually is not a skill, it doesn't need to be practiced routinely and repeatedly.  when i'm done flying around doing stuff, i often hit the button if the drone is not close to me.

Same here and any problems hit it back into manual and land manually.

Is like I always say.. This is not a $100 drone, is capable to go home and land automatically, lets doit even for showing off. Nothing wrong with that.

That's a painful experience.  Maybe a careful reconnaissance of the area to be flown in, before take-off, could have allowed for the setting of an appropriately high RTH altitude and averted this catastrophe.

Blériot53 Posted at 12-6 16:21
That's a painful experience.  Maybe a careful reconnaissance of the area to be flown in, before take-off, could have allowed for the setting of an appropriately high RTH altitude and averted this catastrophe.

You've missed the point entirely.
The Mavic 3 doesn't stay at an appropriate set RTH height all the way home.
The manual suggests that it doesn't even go to a set RTH before returning and it starts descending at some point that the user has no control over.


From p16 of the M3 manual:

Blériot53 Posted at 12-6 16:21
That's a painful experience.  Maybe a careful reconnaissance of the area to be flown in, before take-off, could have allowed for the setting of an appropriately high RTH altitude and averted this catastrophe.

With the current firmware, ARTH does not care about your RTH altitude. I will go in lower altitude than what you set as RTH altitude. That is the danger of that. If you know there are potential hazards and you want to RTH with a higher altitude you cant disable that as today 12-6-21 unless there is not sufficient light for the vision sensor to work, then switch automatically to regular RTH.

I think You can do two things when You don't want Advanced RTH. (You can test it. I don't have MAVIC 3 Yet)

Before pressing RTH You can go at a height more than obstacles are.
And a second thing is to turn off OBSTACLE AVOIDANCE and without it then it will use the old RTH.

Probably DJI will optimize sensors in order to see smaller items.

Niknik Posted at 12-6 18:27
I think You can do two things when You don't want Advanced RTH. (You can test it. I don't have MAVIC 3 Yet)

Before pressing RTH You can go at a height more than obstacles are.

By disabling Obstacle Avoidance do not change anything in RTH that is a specific mode that will use APAS even if is disabled when using Advance RTH. Does not make difference.

By gaining altitude is a "workaround"  when you still have connectivity. The idea of RTH is you insurance in case of emergency like, your application crash, your remote control run out of battery or fail or you just lost connectivity because obstruction or interference. The RTH will be trigger automatically and there is nothing you can do until reconnect. You will be at the mercy of DJI with Advance RTH. I know works but always is a small chance the aircraft will not see a power line or small branches if you are flying low.

hallmark007 Posted at 12-6 13:22
This crash had nothing to do with twigs branches or cable wires. His drone flew straight into a tree at high speed according to him. There is nothing in advanced rth that shows anything even close to that happening and many tests have been done.

He had the OA turned off hence it flew into the tree.

ZeuS-FL Posted at 12-6 12:32
I personally use all the time the RTH and Precision landing even when Precision landing fail half of the time.
The more you practice emergency situations, the better prepared you are for a real emergency situation.

Agree with you this is true. Not bad to try it to ensure it works but I like to control and land it myself. Personal preference of course.

Hello there ZeuS-FL. Thank you for reaching out and for sharing these information with us. I will cascade these information to the designated DJI department for attention. Thank you.

Sorry to read about the accident, we may need to analyze the data of the accident to find out the actual cause of the accident. Of course, the request will be forwarded to our engineers for their attention.

See my posted topic from last month.
https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=252957

DJI Susan Posted at 12-6 19:43

Sorry to read about the accident, we may need to analyze the data of the accident to find out the actual cause of the accident. Of course, the request will be forwarded to our engineers for their attention.

It was not his drone. He posted a link to another forum where another member there had the problem.

Suren Posted at 12-6 18:38
He had the OA turned off hence it flew into the tree.

Did he put up his flight log ?

Labroides Posted at 12-6 16:50
You've missed the point entirely.
The Mavic 3 doesn't stay at an appropriate set RTH height all the way home.
The manual suggests that it doesn't even go to a set RTH before returning and it starts descending at some point that the user has no control over.

I can see no advantage in that. It would also imply that the drone would have been beyond VLOS in the example shown.  It would seem, then, that an option to turn off this feature would be desirable.

ZeuS-FL Posted at 12-6 16:52
With the current firmware, ARTH does not care about your RTH altitude. I will go in lower altitude than what you set as RTH altitude. That is the danger of that. If you know there are potential hazards and you want to RTH with a higher altitude you cant disable that as today 12-6-21 unless there is not sufficient light for the vision sensor to work, then switch automatically to regular RTH.

Sounds more like a backward step, than progress.  I'll stick with my M2Z  for the time being.

hallmark007 Posted at 12-6 23:34
Did he put up his flight log ?

Not as yet

Niknik Posted at 12-6 18:27
I think You can do two things when You don't want Advanced RTH. (You can test it. I don't have MAVIC 3 Yet)

Before pressing RTH You can go at a height more than obstacles are.

I did a test and even with the OA turned off, during Advanced RTH they still work, my sensors picked up the obstacles during landing

Suren Posted at 12-7 00:17
I did a test and even with the OA turned off, during Advanced RTH they still work, my sensors picked up the obstacles during landing
https://youtu.be/UYnL9dtFINs

Hi Suren,

I have read that with OA off the sensors will detect obstacles, and show on the screen + sound, but are not used as in the ON situation.

But how to test that out....

cheers
JJB

Suren Posted at 12-7 00:17
I did a test and even with the OA turned off, during Advanced RTH they still work, my sensors picked up the obstacles during landing
https://youtu.be/UYnL9dtFINs

Interesting finds!

GaryDoug Posted at 12-6 19:56
It was not his drone. He posted a link to another forum where another member there had the problem.

Oops, sorry for my confusion, and thank you for your reminder.

Visual Air Posted at 12-6 18:50
Agree with you this is true. Not bad to try it to ensure it works but I like to control and land it myself. Personal preference of course.

That is always the best thing!

Labroides Posted at 12-6 16:50
You've missed the point entirely.
The Mavic 3 doesn't stay at an appropriate set RTH height all the way home.
The manual suggests that it doesn't even go to a set RTH before returning and it starts descending at some point that the user has no control over.

At least the RTH height is not mentioned.
I personally feel they should really skip these automatic features, as they usually do more bad than good.

Totally agree advanced return to home should be optional. but it still amazes me how many people use RTH,  for me its there if I get in trouble or disconnected.

Just for the record. From the DJI manual.

DJI accepts the altitude or orientation can not be adjusted in ARTH. Also accepted is the possible inability of the vision sensor to detect small branches, transparent objects, power lines, or problems flying over water.
Bottom line,
DJI absolutely should give us the option to disable ARTH since we as humans have the best judgment in what is safe or not for the aircraft.
I personally love the idea and concept behind ARTH. Is a smart way to go home, saving time and battery, but there are moments that can not be used because every environment is different is just not safe for the aircraft.

In this video that I created I extremely tested the ARTH under the trees, I know I was pushing it and really perform very well but at the minute 6:50 demonstrate the system is not perfect by hitting a small branch. Nothing happened to the aircraft but there are limitations in the technology. Having that says, DJI PLEASE make this optional.

I will keep using it as long as the environment is safe to do so.