6KM Flight and a Question

[t2adze]

Hey All
Did my new flight record. 6kilometers(3,72 miles) with my Phantom 3 Advanced NO MOD. Used only signal extenders.

So my question is this.
On the way back, a terrible wind showed up, and i understood it won't make it till the very end. So i gave it a command to land. Somewhere 2km away. So i could go and pick it up.

After when it was landing, since it was far away - the signal got lost. Meanwhile i am already getting into the car starting to drive towards that direction, when my remote says GOING HOME.
So basically, even though i gave it a LAND command, due to signal lost it still did a RTH.

How can i avoid this for future?

 

[ROD PAINTER]

When you get up to your flying altitude put it in ATTI mode and watch for drifting. If it drifts pretty fast then you know its too windy to fly. Try bringing it down to a different altitude and repeat.

 

[Oso]

After when it was landing, since it was far away - the signal got lost. Meanwhile i am already getting into the car starting to drive towards that direction, when my remote says GOING HOME.
So basically, even though i gave it a LAND command, due to signal lost it still did a RTH.

How can i avoid this for future?

If you think you might try to test that same scenario again, maybe reset the home point to the AC location before you give the land command. Of course you'd have to be 100% sure where that spot is and that its safe for landing and accessible.

BTW, you sir are brave!

 

[tevek]

Not sure if you got it back, but wind and trees are a drone killer. As mentioned above, check the wind at whatever altitude you intend flying and fly accordingly. When the drone lost control signal, it did what you had set it at, RTH, despite your previous action. As for future flights, I'd be wary of the wind in particular, fly into it to start with and return with it blowing you back. I've done a few trips longer than yours, I turn off smartRTH and OA so as not disrupt the flight but always have RTH set when signal is lost rather than hover and land somewhere inaccessible.

 

[solentlife]

The mistake was you forgot to pull left stick all way down and leave it there to switch off motors !

I guess you gave it Land command but left the left stick centered ? Ooooops!

If you don't switch off motors - the AC will still act as if its waiting for signal --- if no signal --- it will auto initiate what you set .... usually RTH.

Nigel

 

[t2adze]

When you get up to your flying altitude put it in ATTI mode and watch for drifting. If it drifts pretty fast then you know its too windy to fly. Try bringing it down to a different altitude and repeat.

Yes i know that, the question wasn't about the wind. Wind was just something that started happening during the flight.

If you think you might try to test that same scenario again, maybe reset the home point to the AC location before you give the land command. Of course you'd have to be 100% sure where that spot is and that its safe for landing and accessible.

BTW, you sir are brave!

That is a great idea! Thanks!
Yes, before landing i made sure that spot was safe to land, that the grass was low and i moved camera around for the orientation to find it.
Attaching the video of the screen capture.

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Not sure if you got it back, but wind and trees are a drone killer. As mentioned above, check the wind at whatever altitude you intend flying and fly accordingly. When the drone lost control signal, it did what you had set it at, RTH, despite your previous action. As for future flights, I'd be wary of the wind in particular, fly into it to start with and return with it blowing you back. I've done a few trips longer than yours, I turn off smartRTH and OA so as not disrupt the flight but always have RTH set when signal is lost rather than hover and land somewhere inaccessible.

Regarding the wind, the weather was perfect to fly. During the flight, the wind started occuring. Wasn't that much, but for a long flight it was a problem. If there was any signs of wind in the beggining that is exactly what i would have done. But it was just very spontaneous.
If you have done a long flight, i think you would have known that especially RTH will cause the drone to land somewhere inaccessible.
What i did was, when i understood the drone won't make it home(i knew this when i planned to do 6km flight), i i saw a nice spot to land. The question was that is there a way for RTH not to get triggered when signal is lost, IF pilot commanded to LAND.

 

[tevek]

Yes i know that, the question wasn't about the wind. Wind was just something that started happening during the flight.


That is a great idea! Thanks!
Yes, before landing i made sure that spot was safe to land, that the grass was low and i moved camera around for the orientation to find it.
Attaching the video of the screen capture.
YouTube


Regarding the wind, the weather was perfect to fly. During the flight, the wind started occuring. Wasn't that much, but for a long flight it was a problem. If there was any signs of wind in the beggining that is exactly what i would have done. But it was just very spontaneous.
If you have done a long flight, i think you would have known that especially RTH will cause the drone to land somewhere inaccessible.
What i did was, when i understood the drone won't make it home(i knew this when i planned to do 6km flight), i i saw a nice spot to land. The question was that is there a way for RTH not to get triggered when signal is lost, IF pilot commanded to LAND.

You could set your lost signal to hover or land within the app as lost signal will be the overriding command. I flew a 12 Klm round trip with smartRTH turned off and puckered up the last 1 Klm but kept RTH enabled in case I lost signal through the trees. There is no way I could access the area where I fly if I had lost it and auto land would kick in hover mode making it all the more painful.
I've had 5kph wind speed at ground level and 30kph at my flying height, if the wind speed or direction changes, I can see it as I try and maintain a steady 50kph during my long distance trips. If it picks up, I drop altitude until I can find a sweet spot and come straight home.

 

[John Locke]

The other option to resetting the home point at the present drone location, is to hover the craft while you have a connection. It will eventually run out of battery and land where it is, hopefully where you have confirmed a safe landing spot. It won't RTH once it gets to about 10% and start it's decent. However what @Oso suggested to reset home point is what I'd do in that scenario.

 

[With The Birds]

The mistake was you forgot to pull left stick all way down and leave it there to switch off motors !

I guess you gave it Land command but left the left stick centered ? Ooooops!

If you don't switch off motors - the AC will still act as if its waiting for signal --- if no signal --- it will auto initiate what you set .... usually RTH.

Nigel

I briefly had the same though untill recalling he was trying to auto land 2km from the homepoint, the chance of having signal with the AC on the ground wouldn’t be good.

 

[With The Birds]

This would have done it. Not a setting that would best suit most circumstances I wouldn’t think, probably a bad idea.

 

[John Locke]

The mistake was you forgot to pull left stick all way down and leave it there to switch off motors !

I guess you gave it Land command but left the left stick centered ? Ooooops!

If you don't switch off motors - the AC will still act as if its waiting for signal --- if no signal --- it will auto initiate what you set .... usually RTH.

Nigel

When signal is lost for more than 3 seconds, as a result of descending too low behind obstacles, the craft will stop during it's decent and never land, then enable RTH. Hence you can't stop the motors since it never lands.

Best to do what @With The Birds suggested, reset the signal loss action to land.

 

[solentlife]

I briefly had the same though untill recalling he was trying to auto land 2km from the homepoint, the chance of having signal with the AC on the ground wouldn’t be good.

I agree .... but no-one here actually knows what signal state was on landing and I was answering based on his description :
"On the way back, a terrible wind showed up, and i understood it won't make it till the very end. So i gave it a command to land. Somewhere 2km away. "
.. we only know that it appears once landed that signal was lost and RTH kicked in.
My point is that if landing had been with LEFT stick down - the RTH may not have kicked in ...

If signal was lost during the landing - it would never have landed out ... it would have RTH once the 2 -3 secs had passed.

Anyway - the LEFT STICK DOWN is a good item to remember ... even if it didn't fully apply here.

Nigel