Having 5 hours on my new P3P and managed to get my movie almost ready but needed the perfect zoom up and out for a shot of downtown Cincinnati from a nearby hillside park across the river in Kentucky.  I was a little (ok, a LOT) nervous because it was a tad windy (9mph), but felt I should be able to handle it since I've got years of RC experience and was very confident of the P-mode.  

Everything went perfect but 3 things happened that almost did me in.

1.  Just as I finished the shot, the wind picked WAY up; I estimate 25mph.

2.  I'm standing on a 400' AGL hill-side flying above trees on a steep hill sloping down to the Ohio River 400' below.  I'm using Litchi for only the 2nd time and decided I needed help so searched for the RTH button on the screen but couldn't find it.  In DJI go I always used the sliding button to trigger RTH but am getting very nervous so start punching the RTH button on the controller.  Nothing is happening. I remembered you had to push it twice, but forgot you have to hold it down on the second push.  Meanwhile the drone is wobbling back toward me; as I keep pushing frantically on the button.

3.  Getting pretty close  to home but sill a little distance out over the trees when I heard the chilling words" "Landing".  wtf !!!  I pushed the left stick up (I think I bent it), and managed to stay out of the trees.  whew

I actually did a pretty good job of getting back down to the home point but a BIG gust did grab the bird just as I touched down.  I remembered to pull throttle down, but it did tilt me over and got grass stains on a prop.  

Later that night at home, I did discover on you tube that if you attempt to RTH and are closer than 70', the system automatically goes to auto land.  I'll never make that mistake again, but really question why that's necessary.  

What if you were standing at the edge of surf and are coming back from a flight out over the ocean and when you're about 70' out decide to RTH because you're distracted or feel the need to RTH?  Maybe you don't hear the "Landing" because of surf noise.  Wonder how many landings in the surf might have been caused by that?

Just wondering.

it will land if u press RTH within 20meters, 70ft, if u initiated RTH further out, it will complete RTH unless you cancel it. It DOES NOT mean it will always land as soon as it comes into within the 20m radius...  And yes, this functionality did cause many issues for many pple who did not read the manual.. That sucks.. but on an aircraft like this, read the manual well and many times... I am not sure why u got the "landing" unless u capt going into and aborting rth repetedly, so u actually did initiate it within 20meters. Why using litchi as opposed to GO? Sounds like you are not as comfortable with it, as with GO?

No need to repeatedly push the RTH button (why would you use the one in the app, the button on the RC is easier?). Push the button and hold for a couple seconds. That initiates RTH.

'I remembered you had to push it twice, but forgot you have to hold it down on the second push.'

That method is for switching on/off the aircraft or RC unit, not for initiating RTH. If you press it successively, you cancel RTH.

A bit of practice so you know what RTH does, how it does it and how to cancel and resume control is very useful.
Why anyone would want to use RTH when their Phantom is less than 20 metres away is as big a mystery as why DJI programmed it that way.
But the only people that it catches out are timid new pilots trying RTH for the first time..

Phantomski Posted at 2017-5-22 13:33
it will land if u press RTH within 20meters, 70ft, if u initiated RTH further out, it will complete RTH unless you cancel it. It DOES NOT mean it will always land as soon as it comes into within the 20m radius...  And yes, this functionality did cause many issues for many pple who did not read the manual.. That sucks.. but on an aircraft like this, read the manual well and many times... I am not sure why u got the "landing" unless u capt going into and aborting rth repetedly, so u actually did initiate it within 20meters. Why using litchi as opposed to GO? Sounds like you are not as comfortable with it, as with GO?

The only reason I switched to Litchi for this project was I needed to use the tracking option to accomplish what I needed for the video clip.
After further review, I think I was successful in initiating RTL when just inside the 75' zone which immediately triggered auto-land.
Lesson learned: push the RC button twice but hold down on the second push.

Thanks,
Bud

Labroides Posted at 2017-5-22 16:26
A bit of practice so you know what RTH does, how it does it and how to cancel and resume control is very useful.
Why anyone would want to use RTH when their Phantom is less than 20 metres away is as big a mystery as why DJI programmed it that way.
But the only people that it catches out are timid new pilots trying RTH for the first time..

Actually I was considerably further out than 20 meters when I first requested RTH but kept trying the button (which I'd never used for RTL before),  fighting the winds, and wobbling towards me and apparently managed to finally push the correct sequence...  after crossing the 20 meters line. That immediately switched me to auto-land.  
So I'll accept the 'timid' and "new pilot" monikers but I do use the RTH most of the time.  I feel that is the best way to always land safely; especially under wind conditions that I've never encountered before.

And that is exactly why people on this forum keep saying the thing that no one likes to hear, but it's a must - Read The Manual, Use the FlightSim, learn all the features and understand them, ask questions, before you fly! When you are in any sort of emergency situation, you need to ALREADY KNOW the procedure...  look at how pilots train...  there's a good reason for it, and DJI as any advanced RC aircraft, is an AIRCRAFT and needs to be treated as one.. Things happen, and they will surprise you - be prepared as much as you can be! That is the reason why it's nice that people share their mishaps or near mishaps here - so we can all learn from mistakes of others, and avoid the same mistake on our own.

BTW, autoland is NOT the best way to land in winds or gusty winds.. it is better to hover about 1 ft higher than your head, about 1-2 ft ahead of you, then extend your right hand, while holding throttle with your left, grab the landing gear, and then throttle down till the unit powers off.....  This takes some practice, so practice with no wind, then little wind.. but this is actually the best way to land and avoid the bird tipping over in wind landing...  how do I know? Well, I'm just not gonna tell you ;)

Phantomski Posted at 2017-5-24 08:30
BTW, autoland is NOT the best way to land in winds or gusty winds.. it is better to hover about 1 ft higher than your head, about 1-2 ft ahead of you, then extend your right hand, while holding throttle with your left, grab the landing gear, and then throttle down till the unit powers off.....  This takes some practice, so practice with no wind, then little wind.. but this is actually the best way to land and avoid the bird tipping over in wind landing...  how do I know? Well, I'm just not gonna tell you ;)

I'm going to start practicing catching the drone immediately.
I've done that for years with my RC sailplanes but they don't have the built-in food blenders.

Thanks phantomski and everybody.

I always make sure it is hovering steadily a bit away from me, usually with wind in my back, than i step towards it and grab it.. I know many people "literally" catch it out of the air as it lands.. I think that's unsafe.... I like to do it slow and happy.... GPS usually holds it rather well....  Good luck and happy flying ;)