your P4 is 3km away, 200m above water
the battery is at 50%
the head wind is strong

what is the best action to take?

Learn from the experience and plan flights with your next Phantom to make sure you don't get in that situation again.

In a strong wind situation, never fly away any distance with a tailwind.
And if you know the return trip will be against a headwind, never let the battery run down to  50% before you turn for home.

If it was me, I'd put it in Sport mode and fly it in a straight direction back towards me. It'll drain battery faster but at least it'll be able to fight through the wind and return pretty quick.

I did switch to sport mode and it drained the battery so quickly, and the radar view was replaced with useless tachometer.  Would it be better to switch to ATTI mode?  or just let RTH take over?

raywongmusic Posted at 2016-4-5 13:40
I did switch to sport mode and it drained the battery so quickly, and the radar view was replaced wi ...

RTH is a slow driver and will cruise at 10 m/sec if you let it do the driving.
In a strong headwind situation that is useless if it means the Phantom gets blown backwards or flies so slowly that it doesn't get home before the  battery dies.
You can fly much faster yourself.

In the  situation you describe, it may be already too late to save the Phantom.
Whether it can be saved depends on how strong the wind is.
But you could try descending as winds are likely to be less down lower.
You could disable object avoidance which will increase P-mode speed to 15 m/s (in still air)
You could look to land somewhere else if there is a safe location closer in another direction.

As labroides said,  you can try changing altitude.  Lower if possible but there are times when the wind will be blowing a different direction at higher altitudes as well. This is how hot air balloon operators can change course when they compete in waypoint races and have to grab a flag at each waypoint.  They fail often though.
You could also hand the controller to someone else and have them fly it towards you while you jump in the water and swim like mad towards the drone,  hoping to get to it before it hits the water.  Good luck with that and with the sharks.
Finally,  if all else fails,  you can record the inevitable with another camera and post the video on youtube, and post a link to the video on here for all to learn from.

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-5 08:25
As labroides said,  you can try changing altitude.  Lower if possible but there are times when the w ...

"You could also hand the controller to someone else and have them fly it towards you while you jump in the water and swim like mad towards the drone,  hoping to get to it before it hits the water.  Good luck with that and with the sharks."

erm...that's got to be some of the worst advice I've heard yet! LOL

If he can't plan to fly his drone back, what chance does he have swimming back with a drone!  Someone's gonna drown one day for sure.

nigelw Posted at 2016-4-5 05:39
"You could also hand the controller to someone else and have them fly it towards you while you jump ...

You have to admit, it would provide a permanent solution to that particular problem though.

Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-5 14:03
You have to admit, it would provide a permanent solution to that particular problem though.

He didn't say if the entire return flight was over water, or just at the start of the return flight ;)

Head towards land and fly closer to yourself until you have to land the bird.
Retrieve.

I would turn off anything that consumed power - so stop video recording, turn off obstacle avoidance etc - maybe go to ATTI (no GPS so presumably less power consumed ?) - I would then toggle the map view to full screen to check out where the nearest point of land was (taking into account the wind direction) and then head for it on a fast downward slope on the basis a remote landing on land has to be better than ditching.

So that you could concentrate on returning the aircraft the most direct route and concentrate on flying, you could tap the "Obstacle Sensing Button" on the GO App screen and enter Intelligent Flight Mode, selecting HOME LOCK. Then simply pulling the Pitch Stick backwards will fly the P4 back to its recorded Home Point by the most direct route.....

But I agree that not getting into this situation is a far better solution, by observing the wind and always flying the outbound leg against the wind if possible. Makes getting home much easier....

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Kneepuck Posted at 2016-4-5 21:03
You have to admit, it would provide a permanent solution to that particular problem though.

You guys are cracking me up

As Terry stated, best way.
Other best way is to always head out into the wind so the return home is always fast.

terrylewis Posted at 2016-4-6 06:51
So that you could concentrate on returning the aircraft the most direct route and concentrate on fly ...

As mentioned earlier, using object  avoidance would only slow the Phantom making its return in a strong headwind even more difficult.
Besides, there are no obstacles to worry about when flying over the  sea.