RTH Graphic Tutorial

Without GPS, the Phantom can't find its way home.
But you're unlikely to be losing GPS unless you fly in a cave or a deep canyon etc.
I believe your right, but if I am flying in a valley it may occur. So looking for info on being prepared for that scenario.
Thanks
 
I believe your right, but if I am flying in a valley it may occur. So looking for info on being prepared for that scenario.
Thanks
You have to lose quite a lot of sky to lose GPS with the P3.
If your Phantom can see half the sky, you're usually going to have full GPS cover
 
CAUTION: Almost had an incident... (first time in 4 years of flying DJI products) flew behind a rock pinnacle (although FPV showed I was ABOVE the top, I was in the "radio shadow") and as I lost radio control and FPV feed it actuated the failsafe return to home.... FORTUNATELY I was indeed above the top of this pinnacle and I flew over the top with 50 feet to spare, but that is too close for comfort.

I feel a BETTER return to home system would be for the RTH "height" to be ABOVE the point where the RTH is initiated, NOT the height above your take off point. I would have had to set my RTH height at 850 feet to be safe on this flight... and I only figured out that height looking at my flight info afterwards.

SO: Be very careful and as they say, set your RTH height to the tallest object in the area, which means you need to KNOW what that height is!
 
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Ya I hear you, I do set my RTH WELL above.
Fly low in a valley with rocks and heavy tree cover it could happen even if only for a short time.
I want to be prepared in a situation where I DO lose GPS
There is no info I can find to indicate what it would do.
I'll try to find out from DJI ( I know good luck)
Thanks
 
I want to be prepared in a situation where I DO lose GPS
There is no info I can find to indicate what it would do.
IF you lose GPS, your Phantom will default to atti mode.
Everything else will work just fine but you would not have horizontal position holding and you would have to counter any drift from wind.
The Phantom will not be able to RTH until it has GPS again.
You would still have full control and telemetry as long ast there is a clear unobstructed line of sight.
 
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Thanks for the info.
Do you have any documents ( cant find it in the manual) or have you tested it?

Thanks for asking this and forcing me got think about it more. I figured it would hover since that is the other fail safe option, but now that I think about it further it cannot hover in place without gps. As a result, I believe it would land after it loses RC signal for 3 seconds if gps is not available, but that is only what I think it will do. To test you would need to block gps (I have read aluminum foil on top will do this) and fly somewhere safe and then turn off the RC...I would not try this myself and anyone that does should take extreme caution...you could turn RC to gain control back in theory...I will edit my original post in case someone doesn't read the whole thread...
 
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Thanks for asking this and forcing me got think about it more. I figured it would hover since that is the other fail safe option, but now that I think about it further it cannot hover in place without gps. As a result, I believe it would land after it loses RC signal for 3 seconds if gps is not available, but that is only what I think it will do. To test you would need to block gps (I have read aluminum foil on top will do this) and fly somewhere safe and then turn off the RC...I would not try this myself and anyone that does should take extreme caution...you could turn RC to gain control back in theory...I will edit my original post in case someone doesn't read the whole thread...
Ya will post back when I figure it out. Thanks for the info
 
Solar,

As a newcomer, I can not tell you how much I appreciate this thread and the magnificent work that you have put in to it.

The mods should sticky it as it will always be of great use for reference.

Jim
 
Thank you Solar!! A calm, friendly and informative voice in the wilderness!! As BDinLV said, a HUGE help for those afraid to ask.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app
 

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