Anafi RTH

dmbrody · Aug 14, 2018

Well I cast my vote for an adjustable RTH height. I can think of a lot of scenarios where 20 meters is not enough, even if I still have a visual contact AND the drone is close by AND I am at the takeoff point.

I can’t believe they won’t add this functionality some day. I’ll submit feedback through the site.

Chasbro · Aug 14, 2018

I want to clarify something I said earlier. The bebops, once launched on a flight plan, will complete the plan or die trying (unless you’re still connected and cancel). The Anafi will cancel the mission and RTH if the battery gets below its threshold. It will not die trying. The moral is don’t fly missions below obstacles without lots of battery. I’ve had mine abort the plan and come back on RTH a couple of times now, but I always fly high. Like DJI, watch out flying the first part of your flight with the wind.

Dirk_ANAFI · Aug 14, 2018

dmbrody said:
Well I cast my vote for an adjustable RTH height. I can think of a lot of scenarios where 20 meters is not enough, even if I still have a visual contact AND the drone is close by AND I am at the takeoff point.

I can’t believe they won’t add this functionality some day. I’ll submit feedback through the site.

I also asked Parrot for a variable RTH hight. Answer outstanding ...
But: pls. describe a few scenarios where 20m is not enough under your mentioned conditions!

dmbrody · Aug 15, 2018

Dirk_ANAFI said:
I also asked Parrot for a variable RTH hight. Answer outstanding ...
But: pls. describe a few scenarios where 20m is not enough under your mentioned conditions!

Circling a flag pole or a statue in a park.
Zig zag around trees in my yard.

Any situation where the direct path back to home is obstructed by an object higher than 20 meters. Presumably I'd be able to regain control being so close by.... but what if I’m being attacked by pack of hungry dogs?

Ok, I’m kidding, but what if there is an issue on my side with the controller or the phone. After all, I did once drop a controller in my neighbors pond. The controller battery could conceivably fail. The point is that a connection problem could happen on either side (drone or controller) and not just because of distance or an obscured view. RTH is a failsafe. Failsafe’s should not assume the drone might have an issue but the controller will work 100% of the time.

Dirk_ANAFI · Aug 15, 2018

Ok, if you (partly) fly around/behind objects viewed from the starting point, then your drone will (partly) be out of your sight and an automatic RTH can be dangerous anyway.

dmbrody · Aug 15, 2018

Dirk_ANAFI said:
Ok, if you (partly) fly around/behind objects viewed from the starting point, then your drone will (partly) be out of your sight and an automatic RTH can be dangerous anyway.

Really? A flag pole? A statue? I guess we should never orbit anything. Ever.

Let’s remove Orbit from the feature set. Too dangerous.

Dirk_ANAFI · Aug 15, 2018

Funny!
Manually flying behind or around higher objects is not necessarily dangerous, but doing so the RTH function can be dangerous for your drone.

Bobthinks · Aug 15, 2018

Agustine said:
I said sure but how much.....he started counting his fingers "un deux trois " and said tree hundred. I laughed and said done deal.
He had a small power saw and climbed to the top of each tree and brought all three down with no problems.
The problem was getting rid of all the branches after.

After watching what happened to my neighbor in a similar scenario that went south (crushed the car of the guy on the other side of his property), all such discussions start with the following question "Are you bonded?" which tends to cause the cheap ones to run away at speed.

dmbrody · Aug 15, 2018

Dirk_ANAFI said:
Funny!
Manually flying behind or around higher objects is not necessarily dangerous, but doing so the RTH function can be dangerous for your drone.

Which of course brings us full circle. An adjustable RTH height would completely solve the problem. It’s a feature pretty much every drone I’ve ever owned has had, including the ones I built from scratch 5 years ago and flew with Mission Planner.

balder.matt · Aug 16, 2018

Here is the response I received from Parrot:

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused, Kindly note that we've already communicated this request to our developers as many customers are requesting the same, we'll be providing updates soon.

Landbo · Aug 16, 2018

balder.matt said:
Here is the response I received from Parrot:

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused, Kindly note that we've already communicated this request to our developers as many customers are requesting the same, we'll be providing updates soon.

It sounds good, tnx for the update.

Regards Leif.

Dirk_ANAFI · Aug 16, 2018

Today I also received an answer from Parrot (European Customer Service).
I asked (translated):
"The RTH hight is fixed to 20m. Under certain circumstances it could be much safer to have an adjustable RTH hight. Is this option planned for a future software update? If yes: when?"
Answer (translated):
"It is quite possible that the RTH hight shall be made adjustable with a software update, but here I have no information about when this will happen." [Jan, Parrot Customer Service & Support]

Leandrov · Aug 16, 2018

balder.matt said:
This is the response I submitted here under "Technical Questions":

Contact our support

What if I want my return to home altitude to be more than 20m? That seems very low to me. Say I was flying at 10m and I went around some trees that are 50m tall and lost connection? What is going to happen? My drone is going to rise to 20m and fly straight into the trees! Please modify the Free Flight 6 app so that I can set a fixed RTH altitude based on takeoff location (it would be more than 50m in this case). This is a huge flaw and will cause MANY crashes with your new product!!!

If you are in the same frame of mind as me, please copy and paste the same response and submit it to Parrot. They will listen if enough people complain.

Done.

AR23 · Sep 3, 2018

AR23 said:
think the good thing about this test is that it illustrates that the RTH is set to a minimum of 20m meaning if it is lower than 20m it fly up to 20m then RTH ..not what some people think that it will drop from whatever height your flying at above 20m ...if your at 60m and you RTH it will stay at 60m all the way home that’s my understanding

Yeah thats right but it does not matter now you can change the hight all the way up to 100m from your launch hight. The thing is you will have to set this every time you switch the drone and RC off, which is good beacuse you should get in the habit of setting it for each flight based on your environment. The updates are great, it still can be tweaked a bit more but im happy with it. One thing i see we have losted is the option to change from 2.8 to 5ghz the 5ghz is greayed out in the UK, I hope when im in south america its back on.

Jagerbomb52 · Sep 3, 2018

AR23 said:
Yeah thats right but it does not matter now you can change the hight all the way up to 100m from your launch hight. The thing is you will have to set this every time you switch the drone and RC off, which is good beacuse you should get in the habit of setting it for each flight based on your environment. The updates are great, it still can be tweaked a bit more but im happy with it. One thing i see we have losted is the option to change from 2.8 to 5ghz the 5ghz is greayed out in the UK, I hope when im in south america its back on.

Not at all true. The update to Android V6.1.1 keeps your RTH setpoint and no need to keep resetting it and that is just stupid to keep setting it unless needed. A good pilot knows when to make adjustments, no need to do it every time you fly.

AR23 · Sep 4, 2018

Agustine said:
Not at all true. The update to Android V6.1.1 keeps your RTH setpoint and no need to keep resetting it and that is just stupid to keep setting it unless needed. A good pilot knows when to make adjustments, no need to do it every time you fly.

I will check it again but im sure when you turn off the controller and drone it defualts back to 30m RTH if im wrong i stand corrected. Im sure if i turn on my drone now it won't say 42m RTH but will say 30m i will check.

Jagerbomb52 · Sep 4, 2018

If your App for Android is up to date (V6.1.1) then indeed it will be the same as you had set it. Today Apple released the update for the iOS App. It is now at V6.1.1 for this very reason.

Release Notes

AR23 · Sep 4, 2018

AR23 said:
I will check it again but im sure when you turn off the controller and drone it defualts back to 30m RTH if im wrong i stand corrected.

Agustine said:
If your App for Android is up to date (V6.1.1) then indeed it will be the same as you had set it. Today Apple released the update for the iOS App. It is now at V6.1.1 for this very reason.

Release Notes

I have the latest updates ie 2.7k recording and i checked it if you switch your RC of and drone off your RTH hight WILL defualt back to 30m and not what you set it at last time you flew. So you will have to set the Hight again when you switch on and connect the devices. So you wrong try it and you will see set it and turn off the RC and drone and turn it on and see if it at what you set it at last or its at 30m.

AR23 · Sep 4, 2018

AR23 said:
I have the latest updates ie 2.7k recording and i checked it if you switch your RC of and drone off your RTH hight WILL defualt back to 30m and not what you set it at last time you flew. So you will have to set the Hight again when you switch on and connect the devices. So you wrong try it and you will see set it and turn off the RC and drone and turn it on and see if it at what you set it at last or its at 30m.

Agustine said:
If your App for Android is up to date (V6.1.1) then indeed it will be the same as you had set it. Today Apple released the update for the iOS App. It is now at V6.1.1 for this very reason.

Release Notes

If you read the comments in you you will see i have left one too a few days ago.Major update: ANAFI and FreeFlight 6 - Parrot Blog