might catch some flak for this and in really, i've never done it so it's all talk, but if i were flying around buildings that were 450 AGL, my rth would be set to 500 AGL.  doesn't mean i fly my drone higher than 400 AGL but it may mean if i encountered an emergency at my drone had to fly 50 feet over the tallest building in it's path in order to avert a disaster, i'll take it.  hopefully by the end of the day, rth never kicked in and all laws have been complied with.  ultimately i wouldn't fly around 450 foot buildings unless i was in mexico and for me personally, the tallest building in my metro area is only 175 feet and i live in a flat area so that's for 25 miles in every direction.  it has already been mentioned, if you drone starts a building fire or breaks a window that was improperly installed or otherwise caused massive damage......

First of all, I am sorry that you lost your drone. Secondly, I have now read all this information here a few time and learned a lot of what not to do plus all other valuable information, which already are in the manual. Thank you all very much for your input. Take great care and fly safe.

Eric L Posted at 12-12 13:18
Ah I see, thanks! I assumed drones can equip stuff widely used in vehicles. Plenty of radar technologies have been implemented and being used everyday, but I forgot they are also much more expensive than cheap cameras. They could cost a few hundred dollars themselves so it is not economically wise to implement in Mavic drones. I somehow assumed DJI has found out cheap ways to achieve this.

Well, if my robot vacuum has LIDAR and can avoid obstacles, I would think a drone should be able too.  But not the A2S.  Sorry for your loss.

GaryDoug Posted at 12-12 22:20
I may be opening a can of worms here. But is the OA actually daylight required? I see a lot of IR flash when video recording my drones with an IR device recorder, so why is that not light independent? Just asking.

Good question Gary.  My only input is when my A2S was new I could fly at dusk no problem,  Now, after several firmware and fly app updates, I consistently get warnings that the ambient light is too low for the OA and the red indicators on the OA icon light up.

dr6583 Posted at 12-14 12:21
Well, if my robot vacuum has LIDAR and can avoid obstacles, I would think a drone should be able too.  But not the A2S.  Sorry for your loss.

Your robot vacuum cleaner does not have to do OA in 6 axis and lift all that OA gear into the air. No comparison..

dr6583 Posted at 12-14 12:21
Well, if my robot vacuum has LIDAR and can avoid obstacles, I would think a drone should be able too.  But not the A2S.  Sorry for your loss.

If your robot vacuum can keep the house clean, would you think a drone should be able to as well?
The drone you bought doesn't have Lidar, it has visual sensors.
If you want Lidar, find a drone with that and pay what that costs.

Labroides Posted at 12-14 13:38
If your robot vacuum can keep the house clean, would you think a drone should be able to as well?
The drone you bought doesn't have Lidar, it has visual sensors.
If you want Lidar, find a drone with that and pay what that costs.

Surely the day will come, as miniaturization continues, for some type of RADAR in DJI consumer drones.  The vacuum cost a little over $500....I doubt more than $200 of that was the LIDAR component.  I do, however, realize this is not at present a fair comparison.

AntDX316 Posted at 12-13 01:11
The #1 rule of setting RTH higher than everything in your flight path was not done.  It's a rule that everyone should know but unfortunately isn't taught to everybody.  Having the 400ft law prevent you from not being able to set the RTH correctly made you crash.  If you are scared about breaching 400ft then fly where you can see it and ensure that anything near is not taller than 400ft from your take-off position.  I try to teach everyone this when I show them about drones.  That is the #1 thing to always do besides updating all the firmware, doing all the calibrations, and ensuring you have GPS signal.  I've had jobs where I had to do them without GPS and it is stable but this is because there is little to no wind in the areaI'm flying, I can see it, and I feel confident it responds to All my intents.

I always set proper RTH when in the air (flying as high as the tallest obstacles and setting Higher).  I also ensure to know what the failsafe procedure is when the signal is lost, RTH, hover, land.  I change them depending on what I'm doing.  If I'm flying under trees, you should not use RTH or it will crash into the branches above.  If you are over water, you better not set land unless you are on a boat.  It's so common sense to me but it's 100% understandable when people new to the activity don't know how things should be done.  The logic is good though, not breaching 400ft AGL but ultimately that screwed you.  Who knows if there is an on-going investigation to find the pilot that caused damaged to what it hit.

Indeed.  I check, double check, and triple check all the settings in the Safety menu twice.  The first thing in pre-flight, and again the last thing just before takeoff.

dr6583 Posted at 12-14 13:49
Surely the day will come, as miniaturization continues, for some type of RADAR in DJI consumer drones.  The vacuum cost a little over $500....I doubt more than $200 of that was the LIDAR component.  I do, however, realize this is not at present a fair comparison.

Your vacuum doesn't have LIDAR either. It has IR and visual sensors. And a few touch sensors.

Mobilehomer Posted at 12-14 14:30
Your vacuum doesn't have LIDAR either. It has IR and visual sensors. And a few touch sensors.

Do you know what type of vacuum robot he uses? Because there are plenty of different types of robots and many of them are equipped with Lidar:

dr6583 Posted at 12-14 12:21
Well, if my robot vacuum has LIDAR and can avoid obstacles, I would think a drone should be able too.  But not the A2S.  Sorry for your loss.

I appreciate your good will man, and I certainly won't make this same mistake ever again. Happy flight!

dr6583 Posted at 12-14 13:49
Surely the day will come, as miniaturization continues, for some type of RADAR in DJI consumer drones.  The vacuum cost a little over $500....I doubt more than $200 of that was the LIDAR component.  I do, however, realize this is not at present a fair comparison.

Yup, it is not alien tech no more in 2021 and let's hope DJI figure this stuff out in the field soon. For now, I fly with tails between my legs