I just figured how to get it in the sport mode in the Litchi app and was doing good. I got the low battery warning and pressed the go home button. It started heading for a large tree. I was trying to cancel it but was unsuccsessful. I then tried to get it out away from the tree using the stick. It ended up landing on my shop roof. All is well, Just a scare. Why was it that far off?  I had just got it in sport mode in the Go app for the first time and wanted to see if I can get it in the Sport mode in Litchi on the next battery. I think all that speed threw it off?? I dont want to use the land button any more now.

How do you abort a landing if you are headed down in the wrong place? I tried the pause button and it did not work. The times I have used the home button it is never right on the takeoff spot. I would like to use it to get close and finish the landing myself and a little softer landing than whith the Home button gives you.

Good idea not to use the land button, better to fly it and land it yourself, much more control that way. And it is also a good idea to read the manual fully, as what happened to you is explained in the manual.

When a Phantom is less than 20 Metres from its home point, the RTH function will cause it to land straight down, it does not rise up and fly to the home psoition.

to cancel, you hit the home button again

simbad66@mchsi. Posted at 2016-9-17 20:23
to cancel, you hit the home button again

I knew it was something simple but am still a Noob. Ill have to practice landing in different situations.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-17 20:23
Good idea not to use the land button, better to fly it and land it yourself, much more control that  ...

I didn't want to land in sport mode because the controls are much more sensitive. I guess I could have gotten it close and switched back to the p mode. Live and learn.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 11:37
I didn't want to land in sport mode because the controls are much more sensitive. I guess I could  ...

Even doing a landing in sport mode is not hard, the sonar sensors will stop the aircraft from hitting the ground too hard. And like anything, just use a light touch on the controls.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-18 11:31
Even doing a landing in sport mode is not hard, the sonar sensors will stop the aircraft from hitt ...

I normally do a soft landing manually but tonight I tested this. I was descending pretty rapidly and instead of slowing my descent I just kept the stick down and the craft automatically slowed it's descent and landed nicely and shut the motors off (since I was holding the stick down the whole time). Those sensors really work.

KM5RG-Robert Posted at 2016-9-18 14:04
I normally do a soft landing manually but tonight I tested this. I was descending pretty rapidly a ...

Congratulations, it took some courage to do that, glad it worked out.

KM5RG-Robert Posted at 2016-9-18 05:04
I normally do a soft landing manually but tonight I tested this. I was descending pretty rapidly a ...

A brave man, I always fancied testing that

I guess that when It landed on the roof of my shop, It had to sense the rooftop (different altitude than the ground take off point) and slowdown to land.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 12:09
I guess that when It landed on the roof of my shop, It had to sense the rooftop (different altitude  ...

I really think Hawkeye read the manual and when you have it finished go back to it for reference

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-18 10:53
Good idea not to use the land button, better to fly it and land it yourself, much more control that  ...

The <20m logic on RTH has always intrigued me.. as you said, it probably explains why the OPs drone was heading for a landing in a tree.

I'm curious if anyone here could explain the rationale behind this <20m behavior?
I've been tempted to ask DJI to add a setting to disable this - and always RTH (more for failsafe situations, as opposed to hitting the RTH button)

hallmark007 Posted at 2016-9-18 07:06
I really think Hawkeye read the manual and when you have it finished go back to it for reference

Yes I have read and watched so many videos on both DJI Go and Litchi. When you are relatively new, sometimes information overload can bite you in certain situations where I just need to drill drill drill. This is why the military makes you do so many touch and go landings.
I dont remember reading where it just lands within 20 meters though. Thats a new one on me.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 14:41
Yes I have read and watched so many videos on both DJI Go and Litchi. When you are relatively new,  ...

Good luck safe flying..

There are a few good tips on this video

As a Noob, you might want to stay away from the sport mode till you really get the hang of it, and read, read, and read some more!

Never tried going in and out of sport mode through the app. Always used the switch. Just easier imo.

Sport mode was the fun part. I will just use it at a safe altitude where I cant get in trouble. RTH button was what the issue was on this flight. I had used it before and it has been off by a few feet but this time it caught me off guard being off by around 60 feet and going down over a tree.

lightningshark Posted at 2016-9-18 22:55
The

It has been asked before, many times, with no result. The only logic in the situation is one that was mentioned a long time ago that the feature was implemented for people flying their Phantoms indoors. When indoors, it is relatively unlikely you will be more than 20 Metres away from where you took off from, and the last thing you need is the aircraft trying to climb up inside a building and hitting the roof.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 19:09
I guess that when It landed on the roof of my shop, It had to sense the rooftop (different altitude  ...

glad i'm not the only one that has done a roof retrieval.  I asked my wife to hold the ladder and she was ready to kill me.   In many ways it would have hurt less to just buy a new drone. lol.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-19 02:21
Sport mode was the fun part. I will just use it at a safe altitude where I cant get in trouble. RTH  ...

RTH i'm seeing is more of a fail safe, and I'll admit once you're burned once, it's a scary button to use.  I like to monitor my battery, fly my p4 close to me, and use the automated landing after I manually maneuver to a safe spot.

Today I re calibrated my IMU and used up a couple of Batteries flying, and landing, getting used to things including landing in the RTH mode. It was very close to the takeoff point each time. I practiced canceling it and found if you wait till the last couple of seconds, It will sometimes land anyway. I Just watched a Toms Tech time video where he explained the ATTI mode. He said that the ATTI mode can be used if your RTH goes crazy and it begins to fly away. He said to switch it to ATTI and you can take back control. I need to do some practice in ATTI mode to get used to how it handles.

I did however switch back to the P mode before I went into RTH each time. Tom also said to switch back to P mode as well.

javarizer Posted at 2016-9-18 20:42
glad i'm not the only one that has done a roof retrieval.  I asked my wife to hold the ladder and  ...

I just didn't tell my wife, I know better Hehehe.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 21:09
I guess that when It landed on the roof of my shop, It had to sense the rooftop (different altitude  ...

The Phantom doesn't care about the altitude of the place where you land.
It's just like a real plane .. it can land anywhere, not just where it took off.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-9-18 22:31
The Phantom doesn't care about the altitude of the place where you land.
It's just like a real pla ...

Yes but I would rather have more control of where it lands. My shop is a steel building and the roof panels have those 1 1/2 inch ridges every 12 ". If it caught one of those it would have tipped it over or It could have just caught the edge and crashed. I landed safely though on a flat spot about 3" from the front of the building

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-18 23:41
Yes I have read and watched so many videos on both DJI Go and Litchi. When you are relatively new,  ...

"I dont remember reading where it just lands within 20 meters though. Thats a new one on me."

I wish they would change the name though, "Failsafe" should mean just that, and RTH is anything but failsafe. It can lead people into thinking it should always work, and there are a number of instances where it has not or might not.

Hawkeye54 Posted at 2016-9-17 21:33
I knew it was something simple but am still a Noob. Ill have to practice landing in different situ ...

Just a heads up (no pun intended) all GPS' have a margin of error of around 30 feet. It is best to take over again to avoid overhead objects that may exist.

Geebax Posted at 2016-9-19 09:02
It has been asked before, many times, with no result. The only logic in the situation is one that  ...

I hope DJI do add that setting to their firmware eventually..

I would expect that flying indoors (which I agree would almost always be <20m) one would set the failsafe to Land instead of RTH.  This would emulate the <20m logic and account for any unexpected failures.  
In addition I hope that noone would be hitting the RTH button indoors - however I can see that DJI have catered for people that may panic and do this in error.  Allowing more advanced users to override the <20m behavior and manually set their failsafe to Land would address all of this.

For those flying outdoors and with this new setting I can see there would be fewer people retrieving drones from trees and roofs when they have a RTH failsafe at 19.9 metres instead of 20 metres!  In an outdoor situation I don't like setting failsafe to Land for obvious reasons..

Maybe DJI will see my logic ..

lightningshark Posted at 2016-9-20 11:55
I hope DJI do add that setting to their firmware eventually..

I would expect that flying indoors  ...

RTH can be triggered automatically by the aircraft under low battery circumstances, it is not always a case of deliberately hitting the RTH button. Equally, anyone who hits RTH when the aircraft is less than 20 Metres away is being either silly or lazy. When that close you should be flying the aircraft back to you and landing it yourself.

The more experienced pilots on here get tired of explaining that this happens, because it is mentioned quite clearly in the manual, however it seems fewer and fewer people read the manual before flying these days.

As I said, many others have asked DJI to allow this 'feature' to be selected or deseolected, but there has been no response and no change. Historically, they are not good at listening to customers and implementing user-suggested changes.

WOW this is scary! This guy is giving a litchi tutorial first impressions video. Go to 25:38, He has it in the follow me mode and the phantom starts to buzz him way too close. I thought it was going after him. He looks startled. After the second time he looked like he was ready to run for it.

I've complained loudly so many times about this "feature".  Makes no sense to me at all... not even a little.