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Auto Return to Home from a building.
- Thread starter Francisco Aguilar
- Start date
How tall is the building? How far away from the building will you be RTH from?
Generally you will need to be sure the RTH altitude is high enough to clear the building and land safely with no vertical obstruction over the landing zone because the drone wants to land vertically from your preset RTH height. So it will fly to the building at the preset RTH setting and then land directly vertical to the TO RTH location.
If the building is 400 feet high the drone will have to proceed from it's RTH location to over 400 feet. If you are close to the building that's fine, but if you are a mile away and you are now flying over 400 feet to get home we have a problem.
Thoughts?
Generally you will need to be sure the RTH altitude is high enough to clear the building and land safely with no vertical obstruction over the landing zone because the drone wants to land vertically from your preset RTH height. So it will fly to the building at the preset RTH setting and then land directly vertical to the TO RTH location.
If the building is 400 feet high the drone will have to proceed from it's RTH location to over 400 feet. If you are close to the building that's fine, but if you are a mile away and you are now flying over 400 feet to get home we have a problem.
Thoughts?
Jagerbomb52
Well-Known Member
First off taking off from the top of a building is a really bad idea. Think about all that rebar that went into that building if it was made from cement and metal. Its a great way to confuse the compass on your UAV. This is what happened to the guy who owes the FAA over 20 grand for his fly a way in Vegas.
Just saying be smart when flying from buildings.
Just saying be smart when flying from buildings.
Hello…
My opinion
I occasionally work with our local sheriffs and city police departments regarding their decisions to purchase and use drones for their departments need for drones.
With their supervision I regularly fly from three 4-8 story city parking garages top floors over the city and our local correctional facility. All flights are recorded and given to the departments for their review.
I currently fly my EVO and one of their Typhoon H’s which I am the only
One who ever flew it, and one DJI Phantom 4 (Each Department has one of the drones)
I have no problem with take off and return to Home features with any of the drones, within limits.
The Phantom and EVO RTH and land within feet of the take off landing pad, and the Typhoon within 3 feet of the take off point most of the time.
One of the main concerns of both departments is battery life and charging. Both units are a couple of years old and they are not flown that much, and the batteries discharge and are not readily available replaceable, so if the drones are not used that much, they don’t want/need to purchase a new drone every two years. They also don’t want to train a new officer on how to operate a drone every year.
And the local legal lawyers are not helping by questioning the legalities of using drones for surveillance.
So to answer your question, I say if the drone can take off from a building with no magnetic interference, It would be safe to fly from a high rise, from my said flights.
Hope this helps !
EDIT: I would also like to state the the EVO is much more sensitive to magnetic interference than the other two drones. I have to takeoff more in the center of the parking area and away from the elevator towers. Also when I I fly, its on the weekends and no cars are in the top parking floors.
My opinion
I occasionally work with our local sheriffs and city police departments regarding their decisions to purchase and use drones for their departments need for drones.
With their supervision I regularly fly from three 4-8 story city parking garages top floors over the city and our local correctional facility. All flights are recorded and given to the departments for their review.
I currently fly my EVO and one of their Typhoon H’s which I am the only
One who ever flew it, and one DJI Phantom 4 (Each Department has one of the drones)
I have no problem with take off and return to Home features with any of the drones, within limits.
The Phantom and EVO RTH and land within feet of the take off landing pad, and the Typhoon within 3 feet of the take off point most of the time.
One of the main concerns of both departments is battery life and charging. Both units are a couple of years old and they are not flown that much, and the batteries discharge and are not readily available replaceable, so if the drones are not used that much, they don’t want/need to purchase a new drone every two years. They also don’t want to train a new officer on how to operate a drone every year.
And the local legal lawyers are not helping by questioning the legalities of using drones for surveillance.
So to answer your question, I say if the drone can take off from a building with no magnetic interference, It would be safe to fly from a high rise, from my said flights.
Hope this helps !
EDIT: I would also like to state the the EVO is much more sensitive to magnetic interference than the other two drones. I have to takeoff more in the center of the parking area and away from the elevator towers. Also when I I fly, its on the weekends and no cars are in the top parking floors.
Last edited:
I have had magnetic interference in the middle of a park in the city of Providence RI to the point that I couldn’t take off. Must have been some underground wiring or other infrastructure. I had to move several feet before I could launch.
I have also seen recently discussions here about hovering for a bit to allow the drone to examine the landing area before flying of for a more accurate landing.
I have also seen recently discussions here about hovering for a bit to allow the drone to examine the landing area before flying of for a more accurate landing.
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The building is 15 floors and I’ll be returning from no more than 1000 feet away.
Will the drone recognize the altitude from where is launching, and add the programmed RTH altitude? That is my real question.
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I normally let the drone to hover at about 20-30’ over the landing pad for about 15” with the camera pointing down (I don’t know if the last is of any help, but eon’t hurt for dure) and then I start flying. All my RTH are at most, within a feet of the landing mat.
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Let’s say your normal RTH altitude is 100’; if you launch from a 500’ roof top, you program the RTH altitud at 600’ or just leave the 100’ because the drone acknowledges the launching altitude?
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I live in the last floor of this building and have friends playing golf a few meters away, so, for me, would be easier to launch my EVO from the roof vs from the ground as I did it for this photo. I’m really new flying drones (did it three times with a lesser drone before upgrading to the EVO) and this is my first flight with the EVO, so, a lot of doubts and questions come to my mind. Thank you all for your patience.
Attachments
I believe that since the drone does not have an altimeter it considers the take off point as 0 AGL and goes from there.
autelpilots.com
Pay close attention to the controller so you are aware of the altitude being reported by the drone at take off and while flying.
you can use the search tool for this forum to try to find more help.
Email Autel support or call them to ask your question. Let us know what you find out.
practice flying
Question about height limits
This probably applies to all drones, but asking specifically about the Evo. The built in height limit is 400 feet if I recall correctly, but that is from take-off height. If you take off from a height of 2000 feet above sea level and fly it away from the takeoff point to an area where the...
autelpilots.com
Pay close attention to the controller so you are aware of the altitude being reported by the drone at take off and while flying.
you can use the search tool for this forum to try to find more help.
Email Autel support or call them to ask your question. Let us know what you find out.
practice flying
Go Home Height in the mountains
Hi everyone. I need to photo map a piece of private property in the mountains. The problem I’m worried about is the go home height. There is only one clearing to take off from at elevation 2000 feet (See “A” on attached flight path map). The rest is all HEAVILY treed with some trees at the...
autelpilots.com
I have my RTH Altitude set at 200'....The EVO and my old Typhoon H returned at 200' from my take off point.
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Being your take off point higher or lower than 200’?
My whole question is: My RTH altitude has to be set higher than the take off altitude, or the EVO will adjust recognizing the take off altitude.
