Hey Folks.  Happy Super Bowl Sunday.   I figured I"d take my bird out for a quick flight.  I flew it about 1/2 mile to the town HS...the remote then said weak video transmission.  I've had that happen before and it comes back.  Several seconds later while hovering over a tennis court, about the same distance from home, the ipad said aircraft disconnected.  I got nervous, ran in the house to get my car keys and wasn't sure if I should go there or stay put.  I figured I'd rely on the RTH settings.  The I2 ended up coming home but it a long time.  I'm still a bit shaken up.  After reviewing the video it hovered for about 2 minutes before she came home.  My question is, is this normal?  I thought I read somewhere that after 5 seconds of signal loss it would come home.  I'm just happy it came home.  Also clearly my neighborhood is congested but 1/2 mile doesn't seem great.  I've flown my mavic 2x that far from the same home spot.  I guess it could be conditions...we are about to get snow here.  Any advice, things I could have done, should have done are welcome.  I've only flown my inspire 15 times or so...

Keep testing RTH but within line of sight so you don't get into trouble. Check all your RTH settings. I don't think it should hover for two minutes, unless it wasn't really disconnected and actually came home responding to smart RTH with remaining battery. But the bigger picture is, bet as much as you can afford to lose. Send a 5,000 dollar bird out like that, be prepared to lose the money when something goes wrong. Good luck.

Good points...to be honest I kind of lost line of sight (I know that is wrong).  So perhaps I deserve this lesson.   To be honest, with a >4 mile 'supposed' limit of these things...how can anyone see any of these drones after it is >1 mile...impossible?

NJ Flying Crazy Posted at 2017-2-5 09:52
Good points...to be honest I lost line of sight (I know that is wrong).  So perhaps I deserve this lesson.   To be honest, with a >4 mile 'supposed' limit of these things...how can anyone see any of these drones after it is >1 mile...impossible?

You should review the FAA guidelines on how to operate a UAV.  This type of flying is what trucks it up for the rest of us playing by the rules.  Not to be a jerk, but "flying crazy" is idiotic and irresponsible.  What if kids were playing on the court and the bird went down on top of them. Think! Fly within your abilities, and experience level.

NJ Flying Crazy Posted at 2017-2-5 09:52
Good points...to be honest I lost line of sight (I know that is wrong).  So perhaps I deserve this lesson.   To be honest, with a >4 mile 'supposed' limit of these things...how can anyone see any of these drones after it is >1 mile...impossible?

If you had a 200mph car, how fast would you drive it? Who would you blame if you crashed?

There is seldom any need to fly that far. If you need to film something that far away, drive closer before taking off. I live on a small island and there has been times when I've wanted some shots 1 mile+ out to sea. I can clearly see there are no other boats out there but I can barely see the drone. If it goes pear shaped, the worst that happens is I lose the bird. Over land however..
The important thing is you got your investment back safely. I think the scare may teach you more about the incident than any advice on this post will.

Happy (and safe) flying dude

Mark G.

Mark Guille Posted at 2017-2-5 10:52
If you had a 200mph car, how fast would you drive it? Who would you blame if you crashed?

There is seldom any need to fly that far. If you need to film something that far away, drive closer before taking off. I live on a small island and there has been times when I've wanted some shots 1 mile+ out to sea. I can clearly see there are no other boats out there but I can barely see the drone. If it goes pear shaped, the worst that happens is I lose the bird. Over land however..

Yes Mark, you always have constructive feedback and I appreciate it (unlike others).  I was aware what I was doing and totally a lesson learned.  BUT - the question remains...is a 1/2 mile considered 'far'...in other words from a radio perspective this system should be able to handle much further so I suspect my area is just overly congested with interference...

thomasakira Posted at 2017-2-5 10:40
You should review the FAA guidelines on how to operate a UAV.  This type of flying is what trucks it up for the rest of us playing by the rules.  Not to be a jerk, but "flying crazy" is idiotic and irresponsible.  What if kids were playing on the court and the bird went down on top of them. Think! Fly within your abilities, and experience level.

Yep read and I actually wasn't over the courts, I was on the edge of them.  I don't fly over anyone.  Actually my new 45mm is helpful for this.  Also I wasn't 'flying crazy'.   

NJ Flying Crazy Posted at 2017-2-5 11:02
Yes Mark, you always have constructive feedback and I appreciate it (unlike others).  I was aware what I was doing and totally a lesson learned.  BUT - the question remains...is a 1/2 mile considered 'far'...in other words from a radio perspective this system should be able to handle much further so I suspect my area is just overly congested with interference...

Flying outside visual line of sight...check

Flying anywhere in the state of NJ before 12 noon today..less than 3 mile s of vis.  I know cause I live in NJ and I checked, because that is what is required....check

Flying over people...how would you even know without VLOS...check.

Considering abandoning your control station/ home point to get in a vehicle...hence operating out of a vehicle .....check

Careless and reckless....check and check.

Don't be a muppet  thinking that you are smarter than the guidelines set out for all of us...despite having a 45mm zuiko or whether you think you are "flying crazy" or not you broke 4-5 regulations today .

thomasakira Posted at 2017-2-5 11:23
Flying outside visual line of sight...check

Flying anywhere in the state of NJ before 12 noon today..less than 3 mile s of vis.  I know cause I live in NJ and I checked, because that is what is required....check

LOL, all assumptions.  The truth is all of what you implied is incorrect with the exception of one thing...flying before noon as that I wasn't aware of.  As I indicated I didn't fly over anyone.  The VLOS wasn't perfect but I could see the bird in the air just at times had to move because of the tree line as I was 380ish feet up.  I went through my video 3x and confirmed nobody was 'under' my flight path.  So check yourself...in an institution.
Oh my OP was actually inaccurate, I yelled to my wife to get me the keys so myself 'abandoning' my control station is again false - check

to be clear, on this post, I didn't hover over anybody (have the video, first trip out with my 45 1.8 so while flying it appeared as I may have) - but I reviewed the video 3x already.  I saw the bird and yes it was at times out of sight because of the tree line, but in most cases I had my eye on it.  Lastly my wife brought me my keys.  But in all seriousness I almost ran into my house but was afraid too.

NJ Flying Crazy Posted at 2017-2-5 11:02
Yes Mark, you always have constructive feedback and I appreciate it (unlike others).  I was aware what I was doing and totally a lesson learned.  BUT - the question remains...is a 1/2 mile considered 'far'...in other words from a radio perspective this system should be able to handle much further so I suspect my area is just overly congested with interference...

Hi NJ,

Distance is always going to be a difficult one to answer when it comes to radio signals. So many variables, things that can interfere with/block your signal. You say you were just over the tree line, trees will block the signal, rock can contain a lot of iron which can affect the signal, buildings, metal roofs/structures can reflect signals and then in most built up areas there is an untold amount of aerials/ antennae bouncing all sorts of signals about. One of my favourite places to fly is from, Vale Castle, situated 50 ft from the beach and approx 80ft above sea level. I have flown out nearly 1.5 miles from there without any radio related glitches. If I was to turn around and fly inland from that point, I wouldn't expect to get even half that distance without having to check the positioning of my antennae.
I guess the range would be very much dependent on the environment you are flying in/from.
From an elevated position over a flat open area with nothing to interrupt/interfere with your signal, I wouldn't consider a couple miles to be far but over a tree line or built up area I would expect problems if I flew more than 500m.

Mark G.

Mark, you are a solid dude with a tremendous amount of constructive feedback.  Thanks so much...makes sense.  You think I would know this....I totally should given what I do for a living.

The go app will tell you if the RTH is initiated , then you can cancel if you wish , make sure your setting are for it to return to home and not to hover.  I have had that happen to me , I lost signal to the aircraft , the RTH started and then I cancelled it .  Keep the aircraft in tight while getting  the hang of it , then you can push the boundaries a bit , but do it safely as you can .

donnie  

thanks for the feedback Donnie.  I did check it was set to RTH after disconnect.

NJ Flying Slow  Posted at 2017-2-6 08:12
thanks for the feedback Donnie.  I did check it was set to RTH after disconnect.

Then assume it is not coming home if the RTH does not announce itself or  the warning  does not pop up on the screen , this will happen sometimes, you will get a momentary signal loss or video loss and then  it will come back.
Ok regarding LOS,    I fly long distance sometimes but do that in a very rural area  or over water ,  I have lights  attached and fly at or near dawn or dusk  , I have clear line of sight this way up to 2 miles .  I have almost 30 years flying RC, and the only time I came close to loosing one of my drones was when I lost signal and it flew about 5 miles away  ( Chroma Blade not DJI ) , and it was only about 100  feet in altitude  and 150  feet distance away. Most of my flying is done pretty close to me because I like to fly and enjoy the low altitude manuvering , like My Old RC Nitro heli's did.    ( My point is it can happen at any time ,close or far away ) landed on a Farmers front lawn , lucky I had my name and address on it .  Just go slow for right now and gain experience,  It will become second nature in no time.   Just kind of avoid the subsivision for now and get to some open areas , this will help you gain confidenceand experience , then when emergencies do pop up you will be ready .     
I found you name change to be hilarious too, from "Flying Crazy " to Flying Slow " that made me laugh out loud for sure !!

donnie  

Donnie, amazing thanks.  I found a college close by that is generally not occupied on the weekends (sunday) and there is a few golf courses right next door.  I just want to make sure to examine the land by driving around to ensure there aren't a lot of parked cards and or people around.  Anyway this gives me a good distance of LOS.  Hilarious about the name, ha?  I had not choice after that dude lambasted me for no reason.  

Schools can be tricky signal areas, so be careful. It may be that they have an unusually strong wifi output to and some even have fairly decent powered radio stations within that put out a decent amount of power over their antennas. I have one school bear me that does that. For pure range ability, you're not getting near close to what you should. I've seen range reports all over the place. It's hard to say. Hovering for 2 minutes, if truly disconnected is not normal behavior, though. Neither is consistent short range. It may just be the area you're flying. Try another, safe in both ground and airspace, to see if you do better.   

I would agree with the consensus that where you were flying had a lot of signal interference that contributed to the short range.

Guys makes sense...definitely have a ton of Wifi.  I have 4 enterprise APs in my house alone and I know when I conduct my spectrum testing there are countless APs found.

NJ Flying Slow  Posted at 2017-2-6 12:50
Donnie, amazing thanks.  I found a college close by that is generally not occupied on the weekends (sunday) and there is a few golf courses right next door.  I just want to make sure to examine the land by driving around to ensure there aren't a lot of parked cards and or people around.  Anyway this gives me a good distance of LOS.  Hilarious about the name, ha?  I had not choice after that dude lambasted me for no reason.

You are doing fine , go to those open areas and put the machine through its paces and push the RTH button and see how it reacts, It comes back at a snails pace so be aware of the  ( the inspire 1 anyway ) the fastest way to cancel a RTH is on the Home button on the RC, this way it is immediate and you don't have to fumble for the GO app Cancel tab on the screen .  When setting the RTH setting make sure you understand it is in Meters, and you don't want to be any higher than is necessary , sometimes when low on battery the RTH ) or signal loss video or control )  can engage and you don't want to waste any battery on unnecessary altitude  .  I take the highest point gauged on previous flights and add about 5-10 meters, this should be plenty .  

Have Fun

donnie

Great point on the RTH...I figured higher is better, didn't think about battery on the way home.  I usually am at 70 meters which is 'safe' for the treeline where I flying.  The I2 does ascend/descend fairly quickly.

NJ Flying Slow  Posted at 2017-2-7 06:52
Great point on the RTH...I figured higher is better, didn't think about battery on the way home.  I usually am at 70 meters which is 'safe' for the treeline where I flying.  The I2 does ascend/descend fairly quickly.

Enough is as good as a feast , regarding altitude anyway !

Have Fun ,

donnie