Disconnected and she came back!

[Warchild]

Well it happened...and it scared the sh*t out of me. Today was beautiful, sunny, with a slight breeze. I was up about 280 ft. and a little under 2000 ft away. Line of sight was good but I would go any further. Then, without warning, the connection was lost, screen went black and I was like "you've got to be kidding". I activated the "Oh Sh*t Button" (was hoping I would never have to use the RTH) and after a long 45 seconds (which seemed like 45 minutes...she came back. I was working off of 17 satellites and battery was at approx 50%. I'm glad I took the time to do the pre-flight inspections, calibrated the compass and made sure my home point was locked. I noticed a large cell/radio tower approx. 1/4 further east of the point where I disconnected....I assume that caused the interference. I had all the bars showing on the rc leading up to that point. It was a definite immediate loss of signal. Only thing I can say is.........RTH worked like a charm! I hope I never have to use it again

 

[jamesbastable]

Glad everything worked out ok in the end! Great story!

 

[go fast]

Yea I've tested (not on purpose) the return to home feature and what I've found is you don't even have to hit the button when the screen goes blank its on its way back to you in seconds but I know many times I still hit the button just to be sure...

 

[emtea]

Yea I've tested (not on purpose) the return to home feature and what I've found is you don't even have to hit the button when the screen goes blank its on its way back to you in seconds but I know many times I still hit the button just to be sure...

Hah, I didn't even think of hitting the button. This happens to be on a regular basis and I tend not to fret any more because it's always RTH each time and the signal actually comes back on in 15-20 seconds once the bird has climbed and then started heading back towards you. Remember what you set your RTH altitude to (in my case, I use 50m as my default), the bird is programmed to turn and face home, go straight up until RTH altitude, and then head straight to the home point, so it could take a little while for it to climb (i.e. just relax and breathe, it's probably trying to come home).

With that said, doesn't the bird RTH when the RC signal disconnects? If so, what good does hitting the RTH button do if the bird is out of RC range?

 

[go fast]

Hitting the RTH button is good for the nerves , what if it glitched and just hovered in place instead of heading back and of course if your battery's getting low that always adds to the concern...

 

[Warchild]

Hah, I didn't even think of hitting the button. This happens to be on a regular basis and I tend not to fret any more because it's always RTH each time and the signal actually comes back on in 15-20 seconds once the bird has climbed and then started heading back towards you. Remember what you set your RTH altitude to (in my case, I use 50m as my default), the bird is programmed to turn and face home, go straight up until RTH altitude, and then head straight to the home point, so it could take a little while for it to climb (i.e. just relax and breathe, it's probably trying to come home).

With that said, doesn't the bird RTH when the RC signal disconnects? If so, what good does hitting the RTH button do if the bird is out of RC range?

I thought it was supposed to automatically RTH....but as Go Fast said....My nerves were shot!

 

[emtea]

I thought it was supposed to automatically RTH....but as Go Fast said....My nerves were shot!

I hear you, the first time it happened to me all I thought was "oh well, it happened." I'm sure you felt the same relief as I did when you saw the bird coming back

 

[STClassic01]

When you lost signal, did you happen to notice if the "Status Indicator" (or as I like to call it, RC signal indicator) was green or red? If red you lost RC signal, if Green you still have RC signal and control of your I1. It could have been that you just lost the DJIGO app.. Which would explain, when you hit the RTH button your I1 came home as it should. But also... DJI has had the feature, "RTH" long before the I1, the NAZA series controllers also had it and that was before there were any apps to rely on.

 

[Raymondo]

As part of my license test, I was asked to turn off the controller to prove that RTH worked! Yes, I did know that beforehand and had tested it. Got the adrenalin going for a while.

 

[Warchild]

As part of my license test, I was asked to turn off the controller to prove that RTH worked! Yes, I did know that beforehand and had tested it. Got the adrenalin going for a while.

I bet.

What test exactly?

 

[Warchild]

I hear you, the first time it happened to me all I thought was "oh well, it happened." I'm sure you felt the same relief as I did when you saw the bird coming back

Man...you got that right!

 

[Raymondo]

The CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority - FAA equivalent) UOC commercial UAV license. Flew a number of routines for an hour. Then I was grilled on rules and procedures, aviation radio work, flight planning, and how I would handle emergency and other situations.

 

[Dave Armbrust]

Yea I've tested (not on purpose) the return to home feature and what I've found is you don't even have to hit the button when the screen goes blank its on its way back to you in seconds but I know many times I still hit the button just to be sure...

Probably not a good idea. If the RTH button is hit, while it is in failsafe RTH mode, it cancels RTH. If the RTH is pressed while it is ascending it will cancel the ascent and

If the aircraft is in RTH mode, and you have regained signal, the RTH button should be flashing white. (You should also have a green status light on the RC if you have regained signal.)

 

[Dave Armbrust]

Hitting the RTH button is good for the nerves , what if it glitched and just hovered in place instead of heading back and of course if your battery's getting low that always adds to the concern...

Actually by pressing the RTH button while it is ascending with tell it to stop and hover. (Not a glitch, operator error.)

 

[AnzacJack]

The CASA (Civil Aviation Safety Authority - FAA equivalent) UOC commercial UAV license. Flew a number of routines for an hour. Then I was grilled on rules and procedures, aviation radio work, flight planning, and how I would handle emergency and other situations.

strange that they would have forced you to use the RTH function. It certainly isnt a requirement for the licence. It is actually in one of those "grey areas" that state we may not fly autonomously. Fail safe functions are meant to put the aircraft on the ground ASAP. On fixed wing craft this is the throttle off and flight controls to a position to spiral down. Technically the failsafe on our "drones" should go into auto land immediately as a safety feature. Of course, as the owners of these craft we certainly dont want this to happen and want our treasures to come back to us. BUT...this is autonomous flight. As i said, a grey area for the rule makers (comments based on Australian and CASA rules)

 

[go fast]

Probably not a good idea. If the RTH button is hit, while it is in failsafe RTH mode, it cancels RTH. If the RTH is pressed while it is ascending it will cancel the ascent and

If the aircraft is in RTH mode, and you have regained signal, the RTH button should be flashing white. (You should also have a green status light on the RC if you have regained signal.)

Mine didn't cancel I watched it back with the shou app when I hit RTH ( while it was already coming back ) it just continued on its path back home , in any case it's a great fail safe and after a while you get to really trust it ( not sure that's a good thing )