I was flying my P2 Vision+ a few days ago during an unseasonably warm day here in Northeast Ohio. I was operating in GPS mode with about 10 sats locked and I lost signal about a mile out (I have Sunhans amps and pinwheel antennas on my bird so I can do long distance flights). Sure enough, I flick off the controller power to initiate RTH function. I was able to maintain FPV link so I could see video of the bird turning around and heading back home to my takeoff point on my Vision app.
However, I noticed the airspeed dropped from around 15-20 MPH down to 2 or 3 MPH during it's RTH flight. There was some slight wind that day, but not more than occasional 15 MPH gusts. I have witnessed at least 25 RTH flights since I bought my Vision+ in July and never seen it slow down this much! It was still about 3,000 ft. out when I noticed battery was down to around 40% so I knew I had to act quick or it was going to auto-land kinda far from my takeoff point in a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with. I flick the S1 switch down to Position 2 so I can regain control of the bird, flick it back into Position 1 so I can have GPS mode and then max. out right stick and notice airspeed increases up to 20 MPH like normal. Luckily, I was able to land and hand-catch with about 12% battery remaining.
Can a headwind really make an RTH flight practically stall out like this? This could've been disastrous if I was further out when RTH was initiated, or if I lost FPV signal and couldnt see how much battery was remaining. I have the Flytrex Live 2G device but the idea of rummaging around in peoples' backyards looking for my bird doesnt appeal to me much. I suppose I should've kept S1 in ATTI mode when I stopped RTH so I could achieve max. airspeed, right?
However, I noticed the airspeed dropped from around 15-20 MPH down to 2 or 3 MPH during it's RTH flight. There was some slight wind that day, but not more than occasional 15 MPH gusts. I have witnessed at least 25 RTH flights since I bought my Vision+ in July and never seen it slow down this much! It was still about 3,000 ft. out when I noticed battery was down to around 40% so I knew I had to act quick or it was going to auto-land kinda far from my takeoff point in a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with. I flick the S1 switch down to Position 2 so I can regain control of the bird, flick it back into Position 1 so I can have GPS mode and then max. out right stick and notice airspeed increases up to 20 MPH like normal. Luckily, I was able to land and hand-catch with about 12% battery remaining.
Can a headwind really make an RTH flight practically stall out like this? This could've been disastrous if I was further out when RTH was initiated, or if I lost FPV signal and couldnt see how much battery was remaining. I have the Flytrex Live 2G device but the idea of rummaging around in peoples' backyards looking for my bird doesnt appeal to me much. I suppose I should've kept S1 in ATTI mode when I stopped RTH so I could achieve max. airspeed, right?