Auto Land/RTH Question

[Craig Kershner]

My wife works about 1.3 miles from our house, with only a couple of houses between here and there. I have flown over to her place of work a few times.....but when I tried to land there (huge parking lot) I lost signal at about 100 feet and of course RTH kicked in. She recently forgot a key to a safe she needed at work (I drove over and gave it to her) and it got me to thinking....if I had flown the key over to her attached to my P3P....and used the Auto Land feature.....would RTH still kick in at 100' (loss of signal) and bring it back or would the Phantom just land as instructed? She could have then just brought it back to me after work.

Obviously the best way to find out is to try it, but I figured someone might know before hand. Thanks.

 

[Meta4]

.if I had flown the key over to her attached to my P3P....and used the Auto Land feature.....would RTH still kick in at 100' (loss of signal) and bring it back or would the Phantom just land as instructed? She could have then just brought it back to me after work.

In the advanced settings of the app, you have three choices for what your Phantom does when signal is lost.
These are:

Return to home (the default setting)
Landing
Hover​

If you set that to Landing, the Phantom would not RTH.
Before you lose signal you would, however need to ensure that it was set to descend onto a point where safe landing is guaranteed.
You don't want it to come down on a busy road, a fountain or tree etc.

 

[GadgetGuy]

In the advanced settings of the app, you have three choices for what your Phantom does when signal is lost.
These are:

Return to home (the default setting)
Landing
Hover​

If you set that to Landing, the Phantom would not RTH.
Before you lose signal you would, however need to ensure that it was set to descend onto a point where safe landing is guaranteed.
You don't want it to come down on a busy road, a fountain or tree etc.

Good info.
For the OP, it sounds like the best strategy would be to reset the HP to the current aircraft location, once he has reached a safe area to land, very near to the location he is trying to reach, and either have the wife meet the drone there, or retrieve it from there, if his attempt to reach her fails. Close enough might be good enough. If he reset the HP in the air, at high altitude above the wife, before trying to land, if it lost signal, it would also land there anyway, if it lost signal during descent, without changing the default loss of signal behavior from RTH to Landing.

 

[III% Streve]

I would rig up a system that allowed the camera to face strait down on the flight to her, but once you are over the drop location you rotate the camera upward and the key/payload would drop. You could then confirm delivery by panning down again, and fly home as usual. Although this is technically illegal. This would allow you to always have control and never have to rely on an automated system to protect an $1800 delivery service. OR.. Make her remember her **** key!

 

[Craig Kershner]

GREAT information. Thanks to all that replied.

And yes...she SHOULD have remembered the key.....but YOU tell her that!

 

[RoyVa]

Don't chance loosing your quad .. Drive over and hand over the key. Once you land it at her office. She would have to turnout off and then baby sit it for the day or put it in the hot or cold car. Not really good options but good idea though. Happy wife is a happier life.

 

[GadgetGuy]

I would rig up a system that allowed the camera to face strait down on the flight to her, but once you are over the drop location you rotate the camera upward and the key/payload would drop. You could then confirm delivery by panning down again, and fly home as usual. Although this is technically illegal. This would allow you to always have control and never have to rely on an automated system to protect an $1800 delivery service. OR.. Make her remember her **** key!

I was thinking of the same method using the gimbal to drop the payload, but then realized that the weight, even if just a key, might mess with the fragile gimbal mechanism, which is not designed to hold anything other than the tiny camera. Too risky for me. Feel free to test it and report back though!

 

[III% Streve]

I was thinking of the same method using the gimbal to drop the payload, but then realized that the weight, even if just a key, might mess with the fragile gimbal mechanism, which is not designed to hold anything other than the tiny camera. Too risky for me. Feel free to test it and report back though!

I dont let my wife work... so I have no need!

 

[Corvette595]

Hmm, How about a 150 ft piece of string? Tell the wife to come to the parking lot with scissors to get her key.

 

[hexhome]

What about when she gets sacked for carelessness with the safe key?

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

 

[joe21]

I'm curious...

If the OP managed to land in the parking lot (using any of the ideas mentioned) wouldn't the problem be taking off again? If the signal is lost at 100ft, how do you re-connect to take off when the bird is at 0ft?

 

[D-Dog]

OP wouldn't be able to take off again - His wife would need to shut off the quad and drive it back to him at the end of the day most likely. Of course, if this was purely for the fun of it, you could have a second controller you bind the quad to for the return trip. Or perhaps use a second quad stationed approximately halfway hovering with a reflector panel to try to bounce the original signal to the landed drone. Again, for practicality, driving it over is still probably the best idea haha

Edit: the reflector panel most likely would not work at that distance (it would be fun to try though), however, if you could build a small repeater for the signals and fly that overhead, then you would have LOS from controller to repeater, and repeater to landed quad. Maybe a repeater on a 400ft balloon tethered at your house would have appropriate LOS without adding the complexity of a second quad / plane in the air haha

 

[Craig Kershner]

I like the string suggestion......and no problem about the safe key and her losing her job. It is her own personal safe and she runs the place.

As far as risking the loss of the Phantom.....it has been said if you can't afford to lose it, you shouldn't be flying it. It is a hobby and just for fun after all. Wouldn't be the end of the world to me.

As for getting it back, she knows how to push the button and shut the battery off. She would just bring it back with her after work.

I was just curious and wanted to see it I could avoid having to leave my house when I could take the Phantom off in my shorts from the back yard and get her the key!

Thanks to everyone who responded.

Craig

 

[GadgetGuy]

I dont let my wife work... so I have no need!

It's still a great puzzle to solve, even if there is no wife at all. How to use the P3P to deliver a "package" remotely and return home...

 

[johnbowen]

I dont let my wife work... so I have no need!

A bit controlling.

U must be fundamentalist Muslim, huh?

 

[Frankc]

How this. Attach the key on a fixed hook made of wire. Phone your wife ask her to talk you into a safe landing spot 100 ft away. Descend to just above head height. Stop. Let it hover. Wife walks under the drone. She takes the key. Walks away. You fly upwards and back home. Job done.

Another thought. Fly using Waypoints then you will not have to be talked in next time, but on the phone just in case.

 

[GadgetGuy]

How this. Attach the key on a fixed hook made of wire. Phone your wife ask her to talk you into a safe landing spot 100 ft away. Descend to just above head height. Stop. Let it hover. Wife walks under the drone. She takes the key. Walks away. You fly upwards and back home. Job done.

Another thought. Fly using Waypoints then you will not have to be talked in next time, but on the phone just in case.

Why not just tell her to drive back home and get the key, because you are too busy flying your drone?

 

[Frankc]

Why not just tell her to drive back home and get the key, because you are too busy flying your drone?

Obviously your not married.

 

[Richard Walker]

I like using the string with this change. Put the key on the string and place the string around her neck and go flying and not worry about landing in a bad place.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Obviously your not married.

I am, actually, but it was worth a try...
She's be much happier with your solution.