Can P4 return to a spot other than home?

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I like to launch my P4 from my deck and then fly it under the tree line and out to above open water. The launching and flight out work great. However, if I lose visual sight of the P4 and hit RTH, it will crash into the trees above my deck as it lowers itself to land. Is there any way to set a point out over the water in front of my house to have it return to and simply hover. Then I could visually find it again and bring it into the deck manually.

Thanks,
Bill
 
I like to launch my P4 from my deck and then fly it under the tree line and out to above open water. The launching and flight out work great. However, if I lose visual sight of the P4 and hit RTH, it will crash into the trees above my deck as it lowers itself to land. Is there any way to set a point out over the water in front of my house to have it return to and simply hover. Then I could visually find it again and bring it into the deck manually.

Thanks,
Bill
Yes - it used to be an icon on the main screen to reset the home point to the A/C position, now you have to visit one of the sub menus to reset . Also - likely would just be able to cancel rth along the return path once the remote reconnects.
 
You can definitely reset your home point during flight. You have two options: set to the aircraft position or set to the controller position.

If you want to set it over water, fly your craft there and from the main controller settings press the aircraft button.

It should reset it technically. I suggest you to try it on an open field first and try RTH. If successful you can try over water :)


Keep in mind that once you change your home point, all references will change. You need to really experience it.

Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
This is hugely helpful! By the sound of it, I could set the home point to be a spot hovering over the water. I will try it out over land first. I want to be sure it won't RTH and try to land 10ft above the water and then shut off the motors. That would be bad. I assume it is smarter than that.

Also, by the sounds of it, I can reset the home location if I move the controller, even while the aircraft is in flight. Meaning, if I launch from a boat, I can then follow the aircraft in the boat and reset the home point to the controller when I want to land, thus having the aircraft return to the boat, which is now in a different location than where it originally took off. Is that logic correct? I always wondered why there was no "return to controller" option, but this seems to be the same thing.

Thanks,
Bill
 
This is hugely helpful! By the sound of it, I could set the home point to be a spot hovering over the water. I will try it out over land first. I want to be sure it won't RTH and try to land 10ft above the water and then shut off the motors. That would be bad. I assume it is smarter than that.
Don't assume anything about operating the Phantom.
Test to see how it will work first.
Forums are full of crashes caused by users that assumed things would work the way they wanted.
My favourite was the guy that flew till the battery got to 0% and was surprised when it fell from the sky.
He assumed that it would have a reserve like his car's fuel gauge
Also, by the sounds of it, I can reset the home location if I move the controller, even while the aircraft is in flight. Meaning, if I launch from a boat, I can then follow the aircraft in the boat and reset the home point to the controller when I want to land, thus having the aircraft return to the boat, which is now in a different location than where it originally took off. Is that logic correct?
You can reset to the current location of the Phantom or the controller.
To reset to the controller's location you must have a GPS enabled phone/tablet so the Phantom knows where the controller is.
 
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Great point about testing it out and not assuming.

Does anyone have experience with resetting the Home Point to the A/C while it is hovering (say 10ft above the ground) and then utilizing the RTH feature? Does the aircraft try to "land" ten feet above the ground, or does it go to that point and hover?
 
I like to launch my P4 from my deck and then fly it under the tree line and out to above open water. The launching and flight out work great. However, if I lose visual sight of the P4 and hit RTH, it will crash into the trees above my deck as it lowers itself to land. Is there any way to set a point out over the water in front of my house to have it return to and simply hover. Then I could visually find it again and bring it into the deck manually.

Thanks,
Bill


Why would the P4 crash into the trees? I would assume the obstacle avoidance would prevent that upon RTH as long as you run in P mode and daylight conditions. Anyway, sounds like you have a predefined flight plan in witch case Litchi is your best friend :)
 
Why would the P4 crash into the trees? I would assume the obstacle avoidance would prevent that upon RTH as long as you run in P mode and daylight conditions. Anyway, sounds like you have a predefined flight plan in witch case Litchi is your best friend :)

The trees have no leaves on them right now and I am not convinced the object avoidance would detect every small, end branch. I will have to check out Litchi. As you can tell, I am totally new to this and appreciate all the help.
 
I'd be leery setting RTH above water because RTH will land unless you cancel it before it gets home, slight distraction at the wrong time and it's in the drink. I get your dilemma, I fly off my porch with an overhanging tree but no water. This thread helped me, I did not know you could reset RTH where the drone currently is.

As Tommy mentioned, another option for you could be to fly with Litchi. Setup a saved mission with a single waypoint called home that's 100 feet (or more) above the water and tell it to wait 'n' seconds at the way point. Load that mission when you are ready to come home (3 clicks on the screen). Litchi uses the same normal emergency RTH as GO and I'd leave that set to your porch and would think nailing the tree is slightly better than water. Again this is assuming you don't get distracted or the app / RC decides to puke at the wrong time. You can also swap from GO to Litchi mid flight with no problem.

Hopefully someone who knows Litchi better than I has a better idea, I'm thinking out load again which is never good :) ;)



Edit, try all this somewhere else over dry land first for obvious reasons.
 
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Does anyone have experience with resetting the Home Point to the A/C while it is hovering (say 10ft above the ground) and then utilizing the RTH feature? Does the aircraft try to "land" ten feet above the ground, or does it go to that point and hover?
Homepoint is just a Lat/Long position without any altitude data.
If you let it land, your Phantom will go to a point above home and descend until it can descend no more.
If you are flying from a boat(unless it's a very big boat), you don't want to let it land.
Hand catching is the way to go on a boat.
If you are just filming around the boat, you'll have the Phantom fairly close anyway and won't need RTH.
If you want to fly well away and lose sight you can reset home(if the boat has moved far enough) and cancel RTH and resume control when the Phantom is back in visual range.
If you want to play Phantoms+boats, make sure you have experience in all functions you intend to use on dry land.
Out on the water is an unforgiving environment and one mistake is often the last.
 

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