I had my first heart-stopping moment (and I made it through)

[THEHOFF]

Happened two me last year as I was going up the Bosque River in Waco Tx to show the route from Boat dock to Baylor stadium. Mine too did same and headed back from launch site back up river and would have attempted to land back on water. Raced under it on boat flipping switch to cancel RTH and it finally did and landed on boat, but did get very nervous that it was a gonner. Learned you could reset the start point as you go, just don't get it too far ahead of you.

TL;DR - Lost signal and my drone returned to home but I wasn't there. Had to go back to my point of origin to recover. Found it and all is well. Skip to the end for my questions. For the whole story, read on.

This weekend my family and I participated in a local walk for charity. One of the organizers asked me I felt I would take drone video of the event. I'm a bit of a noob...I've been flying my P4P+ for about 4 months...but I was game.

I had a few firsts in this flight. First time around a city. First time around a lot of people. First time someone was counting on me. Suffice it to say, I was a bit nervous.

Everything started out fine. I got some good shots of the start of the event. Then I walked down the road a bit and relaunched and started to follow the walk route. I was walking the route and flying the drone on ahead. Everything was fine and I was feeling pretty good. Then the drone got out about a half mile out from me and I lost signal. I didn't panic yet. I figured I was heading toward the drone and it was heading back to me so I should reaquire. It did and then I realized it was heading to the home point which was about a half mile back. I tried cancelling RTH so I could bring it to me but I kept losing signal and the battery was dying at this point. I still didn't panic and I figured the best thing to do was to let it go home and then I'd go look for it so I turned around and started hoofing it back up the street.

Now I was starting to worry. The battery had to be dead at this point but I knew the behavior should be to RTH or land. A few minutes later I ran into some event staff in a golf cart. They saw my controller and said, "Oh! Are you flying the drone? It landed up the street!" So now I find myself riding in a golf cart explaining how smart and cool my drone is. A few minutes later, we pull up to my drone sitting precisely where I took off from and now I'm feeling pretty good!

So, all's well that ends well but I have a few questions for the veterans.

1. I knew I was going to be on the move. What would have been the best way to handle being away from the home point? Can you update it in flight? Or better yet, can you have RTH come to the controller? I had another thought later that I could've tried follow-me mode and it should've come to the controller.

2. I was surprised by the loss of signal only a half mile out. I was in a clear area but there were power lines and houses. Could power lines, other wi-if or cell towers cause that much interference? I was up about 300 feet.

3. Is there a way to monitor the signal strength in flight?

4. The drone passed me on the way to the home point, it had to, but I didn't see it (I did hear it). I was surprised the controller didn't reconnect when it got close to me. Any thoughts on that?

5. Any other constructive criticism would be welcome!

 

[Ckcampbell248]

G'day mate. You should try facing the antennas up and out it really helps my Phantom 4.

Thanks for the reply!

Interesting point because that is how I used to arrange my antennas as it seemed to make sense. However, recommended is to have them straight up.

This is just one other thing I should have tried during my LOS. Live and learn.

 

[Ckcampbell248]

Happened two me last year as I was going up the Bosque River in Waco Tx to show the route from Boat dock to Baylor stadium. Mine too did same and headed back from launch site back up river and would have attempted to land back on water. Raced under it on boat flipping switch to cancel RTH and it finally did and landed on boat, but did get very nervous that it was a gonner. Learned you could reset the start point as you go, just don't get it too far ahead of you.

Nice save!

 

[rodgerbwg]

TL;DR - Lost signal and my drone returned to home but I wasn't there. Had to go back to my point of origin to recover. Found it and all is well. Skip to the end for my questions. For the whole story, read on.

This weekend my family and I participated in a local walk for charity. One of the organizers asked me I felt I would take drone video of the event. I'm a bit of a noob...I've been flying my P4P+ for about 4 months...but I was game.

I had a few firsts in this flight. First time around a city. First time around a lot of people. First time someone was counting on me. Suffice it to say, I was a bit nervous.

Everything started out fine. I got some good shots of the start of the event. Then I walked down the road a bit and relaunched and started to follow the walk route. I was walking the route and flying the drone on ahead. Everything was fine and I was feeling pretty good. Then the drone got out about a half mile out from me and I lost signal. I didn't panic yet. I figured I was heading toward the drone and it was heading back to me so I should reaquire. It did and then I realized it was heading to the home point which was about a half mile back. I tried cancelling RTH so I could bring it to me but I kept losing signal and the battery was dying at this point. I still didn't panic and I figured the best thing to do was to let it go home and then I'd go look for it so I turned around and started hoofing it back up the street.

Now I was starting to worry. The battery had to be dead at this point but I knew the behavior should be to RTH or land. A few minutes later I ran into some event staff in a golf cart. They saw my controller and said, "Oh! Are you flying the drone? It landed up the street!" So now I find myself riding in a golf cart explaining how smart and cool my drone is. A few minutes later, we pull up to my drone sitting precisely where I took off from and now I'm feeling pretty good!

So, all's well that ends well but I have a few questions for the veterans.

1. I knew I was going to be on the move. What would have been the best way to handle being away from the home point? Can you update it in flight? Or better yet, can you have RTH come to the controller? I had another thought later that I could've tried follow-me mode and it should've come to the controller.

2. I was surprised by the loss of signal only a half mile out. I was in a clear area but there were power lines and houses. Could power lines, other wi-if or cell towers cause that much interference? I was up about 300 feet.

3. Is there a way to monitor the signal strength in flight?

4. The drone passed me on the way to the home point, it had to, but I didn't see it (I did hear it). I was surprised the controller didn't reconnect when it got close to me. Any thoughts on that?

5. Any other constructive criticism would be welcome!

On the constructive side you can switch to ATTI and take over. Use you instruments to determine where it is. On the other side think of what could have happened. You were flying over people, the drone was out of sight. What if there were people now at the home point and it came down on top of them.

 

[Ckcampbell248]

Thanks for the reply.

I wasn't flying over people. I kept the drone over the easement on the side of the road for as long as I had control.

Your question about the home point is a fair one and is one of the reasons I am asking about practices that others have followed when they have moved away from the original home point.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Every time, before you take off, you must critically assess what RTH option you want to use. In your case there may have been power lines or a canopy of trees over the road. Either of these make the concept of return to home by flying vertically first and then horizontally s very poor choice.

The fact that you were walking along the path that the drone was to fly would have suggested to me that you should have used the hover in place RTH option.

When flying near people, the fact that you could not tell which way your drone was heading also suggests that you were much too far away to make any form of line of sight work. After the drone gets to be more than about 200-300 feet away you have no idea as to whether it is over people or where it is relative to other things you should stay clear of.

"Live and learn" is a good concept, but it's better to gain experience in some other way then exponentially. There are three ways I think you can benefit from others experience. One is through this forum. Another is to look at all the ways people crash on YouTube. Finally whether not you take the 107 test, preparing for it is another good way to learn.

 

[Meta4]

The fact that you were walking along the path that the drone was to fly would have suggested to me that you should have used the hover in place RTH option.

The only option you have for RTH it to set the RTH height.
The app does give you options for Loss of Signal which include RTH, Hover or Land.

 

[flybug]

My first go at canceling RTH is always flipping to ATTI to P. Doing it even a few times to cancel RTH and then take over with the sticks. Quickest way I know.

Oh and I try to keep my bird above 20% battery before calling it quits and landing.

 

[blmeanie]

I had a similar situation happen last weekend. I was flying over a lake while in a boat. As we progressed I kept an eye on the battery level, I prefer to call a flight over before the first warning, just me. But, I didn't think to take into account the distance we had traveled from the launch point/RTH point. The bird, noted the distance in its ever calculating mind and must have determined it needed to head home which was a hand launch from who knows where

So a warning came on and in the heat of the moment I believe it said it was going to initiate RTH but there was a button to cancel which I did. I had bird in sight entire time, within 100 yds of the boat I would guess and only 20-25 feet up. So after cancelling I brought it in for a hand grab landing.

I've been reading and searching and reading since. I realize I am lucky. Updating RTH point periodically would have kept it closer to me and also looking at settings to have it hover on loss of signal JIC.

Glad OP story had a happy ending.