Flying with obstacle avoidance off lost connection RTH

[Bon]

With the spark, If I am flying with obstacle avoidance off and I lose connection and initiates a return to home will it enable obstacle avoidance on for the return to home?

 

[Blue Baron]

The opposite is true.
Even with obstacle avoidance on (or off), RTH from farther than 100 meters away will ALWAYS be with obstacle avoidance OFF!

This is because the aircraft will return home at a speed of 10m/s and it then can't avoid obstacles. With obstacle avoidance on while RTH, it would be slow and probably run out of battery before returning home. This is why you set an RTH altitude in the menu so the craft doesn’t run into anything when RTH. So, it would ascend to RTH altitude first.

When closer than 100m to RTH though, it doesn’t ascend to RTH altitude and returns straight with obstacle avoidance on. DJI says that it then uses obstacle avoidance ON even if disabled otherwise; but I never checked it ...

It is however an interesting question: you easily loose connection behind a nearby building (between 20m and 100m away) and with obstacle avoidance off, it would run straight into the building when returning home. So I guess, DJI is right and obstacle avoidance is enforced in this particular situation (it would then not just stop but climb above the building).

 

[Bon]

The opposite is true.
Even with obstacle avoidance on (or off), RTH from farther than 100 meters away will ALWAYS be with obstacle avoidance OFF!

This is because the aircraft will return home at a speed of 10m/s and it then can't avoid obstacles. With obstacle avoidance on while RTH, it would be slow and probably run out of battery before returning home. This is why you set an RTH altitude in the menu so the craft doesn’t run into anything when RTH. So, it would ascend to RTH altitude first.

When closer than 100m to RTH though, it doesn’t ascend to RTH altitude and returns straight with obstacle avoidance on. DJI says that it then uses obstacle avoidance ON even if disabled otherwise; but I never checked it ...

It is however an interesting question: you easily loose connection behind a nearby building (between 20m and 100m away) and with obstacle avoidance off, it would run straight into the building when returning home. So I guess, DJI is right and obstacle avoidance is enforced in this particular situation (it would then not just stop but climb above the building).

Thank you for clarifying!