RTH Test...

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Was i a massive park yesterday and decided to test the RTH feature, and what happens if disconnected etc...

We turned the ipad off, and pushed the RTH button on the controller... The bird landed directly straght down from where it was, and not from its take off point.

Does this mean that if I am flying over water, or over a cliff face for example and the ipad disconnects or fails for whatever reason that the bird will land into some water?! :-(

We didnt have time to test further - I wasn't sure if we still had control of the bird even though the ipad was switched off?
 
If your Phantom is not 20+ meters away, it will land at its current location. That's an undocumented "feature".
 
Was i a massive park yesterday and decided to test the RTH feature, and what happens if disconnected etc...

We turned the ipad off, and pushed the RTH button on the controller... The bird landed directly straght down from where it was, and not from its take off point.

Does this mean that if I am flying over water, or over a cliff face for example and the ipad disconnects or fails for whatever reason that the bird will land into some water?! :-(

We didnt have time to test further - I wasn't sure if we still had control of the bird even though the ipad was switched off?
First, you don't need a tablet attached to fly. It's only used for setup and FPV. Second, make sure your Failsafe mode was set to return to home and not to land immediately. I have used it as a last resort and it worked perfectly, landed about 1m from where it took off.
 
I am not so sure about that. I was less than 20 feet away from the bird and the home point was less than 150 ft away got a low power going home and bird shot straight up to the preset 50 m alt that was set. I had trees above it and just luckily got it to miss some branches on it's assent & then cancel go home.
 
If your Phantom is not 20+ meters away, it will land at its current location. That's an undocumented "feature".

Yeah i know that, which is why we took it away to 40 odd metres... I had a home lock (I assume by this you mean calibration + slow flashing green lights before take off)...

I have RTH height set at 125m to cater for any tall trees that could potentially be in the way...

I was just a bit confused as to why it went straight down...
 
Another fine example of pilot error. Did you check your settings to make sure rth was set to return home and not auto land?
 
I have RTH height set at 125m to cater for any tall trees that could potentially be in the way...
125 metres (410 feet) would be a very tall tree and is fine if you are flying out in the open or above tree height but you need to be aware that in RTH your Phantom will climb that far + 20 metres .. even if there are trees or other obstacles in its path.
Unless you are flying around Douglas firs and Redwoods 125 metres might be more than you need.
If you were in a low battery situation, you might not appreciate the additional time to climb that high and to descend as well.
Rather than a blanket 125 metres, one useful option is to reset the Phantom's home point to the P3's current location when you have climbed to a height that is clear of your local obstacles.

I'd suggest going to a large open area and further testing RTH. It's an important exercise for all Phantom owners.
You need to be confident in its operation and understand what it does and how it does it.
You also need to learn how to cancel RTH and resume control.
No need to switch off your tablet. You can use the controller button or the on-screen RTH button.
 
Will do Meta ty
125 metres (410 feet) would be a very tall tree and is fine if you are flying out in the open or above tree height but you need to be aware that in RTH your Phantom will climb that far + 20 metres .. even if there are trees or other obstacles in its path.
Unless you are flying around Douglas firs and Redwoods 125 metres might be more than you need.
If you were in a low battery situation, you might not appreciate the additional time to climb that high and to descend as well.
Rather than a blanket 125 metres, one useful option is to reset the Phantom's home point to the P3's current location when you have climbed to a height that is clear of your local obstacles.

I'd suggest going to a large open area and further testing RTH. It's an important exercise for all Phantom owners.
You need to be confident in its operation and understand what it does and how it does it.
You also need to learn how to cancel RTH and resume control.
No need to switch off your tablet. You can use the controller button or the on-screen RTH button.
 

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