My mini 3 Pro (I'm new to it) has the basic RC (the one used with my iPhone as a screen).

Today I wanted to test reliability of the RTH button of the RC, but that gave me some fears. That being said, I am far from ready to use it at night when sight-view may be more challenging.

Conditions: Winds (on and off) came at some points relatively strongs (probably near or past the 30 KmH or 18 MPH limit).

Here's what I experienced on several trials:

- When tried close to take off site, it worked OK once or twice.
- When tried perhaps 200 to 300 feet away, altitude of perhaps 100 feet, still at view:
        - in at least 2-3 instances, I feared when it turned it would go straight in the building (window) or trees, so I cancelled RTH
        - in at least 2 instances, it was unable to RTH (process of RTH did not even start)

In some instances, I saw it was updating it's RTH point, but not always. (Is there a way to select one manually ??)

Before I can try it at night, I need more confidence in this process... Even for daytime longer distances.

On same locations, we usually have no issues to manipulate the drone manually - so I don't think there is interferences issues here.

Rob

You need to set your RTH height to be higher than obstacles around it.    If you are too close RTH will not come back to you.    You can update the home point in the fly app under safety

DAFlys Posted at 1-16 00:44
You need to set your RTH height to be higher than obstacles around it.    If you are too close RTH will not come back to you.    You can update the home point in the fly app under safety

[view_image]

Well not sure I get it...

Higher than obstacles would mean in this case I cannot have a RTH point on ground level if I have a 25 story building around but would need to have a RTH over the 25th floor??  

If the drone take off at ground level  besides a building or nearby some trees, it would not come back ?

Then if I use it ant night and have to fly it between two buildings to send it further, it would not be able to get back ?

CrabshackPilot Posted at 1-16 05:48
Well not sure I get it...

Higher than obstacles would mean in this case I cannot have a RTH point on ground level if I have a 25 story building around but would need to have a RTH over the 25th floor??  

RTH Altitude is the height it comes back at,  so if you set this to 400ft and you loose connection it will first fly backwards to re trace its track a bit and if that does not get you connected it climbs to the height set (in this case 400ft) it will then fly back to the home point where it will then try to land if you dont reconnect and take back control.  

if you have a drone with OA and it flys towards a building it should see the building,   stop and hover, then eventually it will do a low battery forced landing.  

DAFlys Posted at 1-16 06:04
RTH Altitude is the height it comes back at,  so if you set this to 400ft and you loose connection it will first fly backwards to re trace its track a bit and if that does not get you connected it climbs to the height set (in this case 400ft) it will then fly back to the home point where it will then try to land if you dont reconnect and take back control.  

if you have a drone with OA and it flys towards a building it should see the building,   stop and hover, then eventually it will do a low battery forced landing.

Thanks flys.  That really explains it. I wondered how that worked.

Prezzodrone Posted at 1-17 12:26
Thanks flys.  That really explains it. I wondered how that worked.

No probs Prezzo.

DAFlys Posted at 1-18 01:40
No probs Prezzo.

A pleasure as always!

Prezzodrone Posted at 1-18 11:15
A pleasure as always!

Hi CrabshackPilot,

The RTH button/function is quite reliable. The biggest difference of the landing  I’ve seen is about 1 m from its original take off point BUT in windy weather so it’s understandable.

You ONLY need to update you RTH if you move from the initial RTH point. Otherwise, no need to update it. Also, when the drone is about to land be careful because if it misses the precise RTH point, it may land in a nearby whatever – river, dust… That’s why they say that you should start flying from a wide open area with no obstacles around.

Max Altitude – the max hight the drone is allowed to fly, given that you are not in a restricted zone.
Max Distance – how far you are allowing the drone to fly, given that you have clear VLOS (Visual line of sight).
Auto RTH Altitude – to what hight the drone will rise before it starts returning to home. I set mine at 50 m because it’s safer.
Here is page 17 from the manual:



I think you should check your options on the RC – what the drone does in case of obstacles. I’d select “Bypass.”



One thing I’m not sure, though, how is the “Bypass” function related to the RTH function, i.e. is the bypass helping in such cases?

Anyway, as the manual and even in the drone cert lectures they say many times: You must be aware of your circumstances at all times

Hello today we tried our drone for the first time in the open rice fields in Bali. After flying for a few minutes we tried to fly the aircraft back to the home base where we were still standing. As the aircraft did not respond and it started to gain altittude we used the return to home function. (aircraft was set at max altitude of 100 mtrs and flyback altitude of 120mtrs. Everything around the aircraft was open. Unfortunatley the aircraft did not reponds and gained altitude to 300 mtrs. Then  it started to crash. Wind was low and hardly any obstacles only some trees but we stayed away from them. Anyone any advise on what we can do next time? The aircraft was found again but one of the arms is broken. So as soon as we get it repaired we want to avaoid this issue next time.

Thanks for helping

djiuser_eg2euJVrRvGi Posted at 11-1 06:33
Hello today we tried our drone for the first time in the open rice fields in Bali. After flying for a few minutes we tried to fly the aircraft back to the home base where we were still standing. As the aircraft did not respond and it started to gain altittude we used the return to home function. (aircraft was set at max altitude of 100 mtrs and flyback altitude of 120mtrs. Everything around the aircraft was open. Unfortunatley the aircraft did not reponds and gained altitude to 300 mtrs. Then  it started to crash. Wind was low and hardly any obstacles only some trees but we stayed away from them. Anyone any advise on what we can do next time? The aircraft was found again but one of the arms is broken. So as soon as we get it repaired we want to avaoid this issue next time.

Thanks for helping

well .. the max altitude has to be set higher than the RTH altitude, else how can it return?
I don't know about the rest,

djiuser_eg2euJVrRvGi Posted at 11-1 06:33
Hello today we tried our drone for the first time in the open rice fields in Bali. After flying for a few minutes we tried to fly the aircraft back to the home base where we were still standing. As the aircraft did not respond and it started to gain altittude we used the return to home function. (aircraft was set at max altitude of 100 mtrs and flyback altitude of 120mtrs. Everything around the aircraft was open. Unfortunatley the aircraft did not reponds and gained altitude to 300 mtrs. Then  it started to crash. Wind was low and hardly any obstacles only some trees but we stayed away from them. Anyone any advise on what we can do next time? The aircraft was found again but one of the arms is broken. So as soon as we get it repaired we want to avaoid this issue next time.

Thanks for helping

Check your flight log here:-
https://www.phantomhelp.com/logviewer/upload/
It may give you some insight into what went wrong.

Some tips for RTH.
Make sure the GPS is working before take off. Ensure the home point is recorded before flying away. If you move, update the home point.
Don't set RTH height too high or too low. You had it above the max height, which makes no sense. Setting it higher than it needs to be will use more battery climbing and make it harder to see. Setting it too low means it will have to climb to avoid hazards above that height.
When it gets near to you, check where it will auto land, it may not be a exact take off spot and may not be suitable. You can stop and take manual control if needed.
Read the section about RTH in the manual, it explains RTH behaviour in different scenarios.

thanks for the suggestions. we are going to look into it. :-)