fans30254479
 Second Officer
Flight distance : 78612 ft
United States
Offline
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I'm only a moderately experienced Phantom 3 pilot. The other day I finally worked up the nerve to pilot my bird across a pretty good-sized body of water. I'm now 72 years old and my vision isn't what it used to be. By the time I reached the marina on the other side of the lagoon (about half a mile), my P3 was pretty much just a little dot in the sky - and I lost track of it.
Knowing I had flown directly there, I just pulled back on the right stick and after a couple of minutes I could both hear it and see it and all was well. So I decided to try the next step.
I flew back across the water, again lost track of my P3. I climbed higher into the sky and I was able to "recapture" the little dot and recognize that it was most likely my P3. I then tried to "steer" it normally, but it was really hard to tell positively what direction I was now heading. Turned it some to the right, looked at the tablet and recognized that I was pointing toward some very tall cypress trees - NOT the direction back to where I was. So, for the very first time since I bought my P3, for a couple of seconds I pushed (and held) the Return to Home button. I was able to see the P3 climb. Then it sort of disappeared again, but, within about 20 seconds or so, I could hear it. It eventually came back in sight, directly overhead and finally started to descend. When I took over manual control, the Return to Home function stopped and all was fine. Now, finally, for my question(s).
In the lower left-hand corner of the display on my tablet, there is a small triangle that shows the front (kind of a headlight look, if you will) and, supposedly, the direction it's pointing. From my various experimentation both before and after, it appears that the arrow direction is a compass direction, i.e., it is identifying what compass direction the P3 is currently pointing to. It is NOT pointing back to me.
If I look at the map on the lower right (I can full-screen the map with one of my programmable buttons on the bottom of the RC controller), *that* triangle appears as if the little triangle *is* the actual physical orientation of the P3 and I can use that to point it to where I am (even if I've moved well away from my original Home Point). Is that correct?
Also, somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember seeing a display where the "track" of my flight is shown - WHILE I'M FLYING! - but I can't remember if that shows up on the map or elsewhere. I figured if I saw that track, I just need to fly back to the beginning of that line, i.e., the point from where I took off.
I'm trying to overcome the feeling that I always need to be able to physically see my P3. As long as there's clear area between me and my P3, I'll have control (up to its max distance, of course) whether my old, tired eyes can see it or not. The compass orientation seems the least helpful aspect of the info provided on my tablet. If you fly around in random or semi-random directions, the compass direction back to your home point is no longer obvious. It would seem that the track and the map (and what you can see via the camera) are far move valuable pieces of information.
Apologize for the long question(s) but I wanted to be clear about my attitude - no pun intended!
Art - N4PJ
Leesburg, FL
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