This guide covers what triggers RTH, what the drone does in each case and which settings to check before a flight. The details come from the DJI Mini 4 Pro and DJI Mini 5 Pro user manuals. Other DJI drones flown with DJI Fly use similar logic, but the numbers and options differ between models, so read the RTH chapter of your own manual too.
Three ways RTH starts
According to the manuals, RTH starts in one of three ways:
- You start it. Press and hold the RTH button on the remote controller, or tap the RTH icon on the left of the camera view and confirm. If the signal drops during a manual RTH, the drone continues home regardless of the signal-lost setting.
- Low battery. The drone keeps calculating whether the remaining charge is enough to get back, based on position, conditions and speed. When the battery only has enough for the trip home, DJI Fly shows a warning with a countdown. If you confirm or do nothing, low-battery RTH starts.
- Lost signal. If the "Signal Lost Action" is set to RTH and the remote controller signal is gone for more than six seconds, Failsafe RTH starts. The other options are Hover and Land.
The low-battery case has a second stage that catches people out. If you cancel the RTH prompt and keep flying, the drone will start landing on its own once the battery can only support a descent from the current altitude. This automatic landing cannot be cancelled. You can still steer it horizontally and change the descent rate with the throttle stick, so use that time to move over a spot you can land on. The Mini 5 Pro manual warns explicitly against holding the throttle up during this landing: thrust fades as the battery runs out and the drone can fall.
The Home Point
RTH flies to the last recorded Home Point. It is recorded at takeoff once the drone has a strong enough GNSS signal (on the Mini 5 Pro, also when the light is good enough for the vision system), and DJI Fly confirms it with a voice prompt. Wait for that prompt before flying away. The manuals say that after a takeoff near buildings the accuracy of the Home Point can't be guaranteed, and they recommend cancelling RTH near home and landing manually.
If you move during the flight, for example from a car park to a field, update the Home Point in DJI Fly under Settings > Safety. With the DJI RC 2, the Mini 5 Pro also offers Dynamic Home Point, which keeps moving the Home Point to the controller's position. This needs a strong GNSS signal on the controller. If that signal weakens, the Home Point stays at the last good position. With Dynamic Home Point the drone flies back near the controller, exits RTH and hovers, and you land it yourself.
Optimal or Preset
Under Settings > Safety you choose how Advanced RTH plans the route.
Optimal lets the drone plan the shortest safe route when the light and surroundings suit the vision system. It adjusts altitude to obstacles and signal conditions, and it does this regardless of your RTH altitude setting. Shorter routes use less battery. When the light or surroundings don't suit the vision system, Optimal falls back to Preset.
Preset uses the RTH altitude you set. What the drone does depends on how far away it is and how high it is flying:
| Situation | Good light, vision system works | Poor light or unsuitable surroundings |
|---|---|---|
| More than 50 m away, below RTH altitude | Plans a path, moves to open space avoiding obstacles, climbs to RTH altitude, flies home on the best path | Climbs to RTH altitude, flies home in a straight line |
| More than 50 m away, at or above RTH altitude | Flies home on the best path at the current altitude | Flies home in a straight line at the current altitude |
| 5-50 m away | Flies home on the best path at the current altitude | Flies home in a straight line at the current altitude |
Under 5 m, the drone simply lands where it is. When it is higher than the RTH altitude on approach, it may descend while flying forward, but it won't arrive over the Home Point lower than the set RTH altitude.
The important column is the right one. In poor light the drone cannot avoid obstacles, and the only thing between it and a tree is the RTH altitude. The Mini 5 Pro adds forward-facing LiDAR here. In the straight-line cases more than 50 m out, if the LiDAR detects an obstacle ahead, the drone climbs until the path is clear (if the obstacle is taller than the altitude limit, it brakes, hovers and waits for you). Within 5-50 m it brakes, hovers and waits for you to take over.
Both manuals say the same about power lines: if there are power lines or transmission towers on the way home that the drone can't get around, set Advanced RTH to Preset and set the RTH altitude above all obstacles. Thin objects such as wires and branches are exactly what the vision system struggles to see.
Setting the RTH altitude
The Mini 4 Pro manual gives a default RTH altitude of 100 m and says to set a suitable altitude before every flight. That last part is worth taking literally, because the right number depends on the place:
- Higher than the tallest obstacle on any possible route home, with a margin. Think of tall trees, masts, wind turbines and buildings at the edge of the area.
- Within the legal limit. In the EU open category the limit is 120 m above the closest point of the ground. Check local rules and any geographical zones where you fly.
- Not much higher than needed. The manuals warn that with a large difference between the current altitude and the RTH altitude, the battery estimate for the return becomes less accurate because wind changes with height. Strong wind at 100 m can turn a comfortable return into a struggle.
A few rules from the manuals are easy to miss:
- The RTH altitude can't be changed during RTH. Set it on the ground.
- If you lower the max altitude below the current height during RTH, the drone first descends to the max altitude.
- If the drone hits an altitude limit while climbing in Preset RTH, it stops climbing and flies home at that height.
- If the Home Point is inside an altitude zone and the drone is outside it, the drone will descend below the zone's limit when it gets there. That can be lower than your RTH altitude.
- GEO zones can affect the route. The Mini 4 Pro manual says the drone bypasses GEO zones it meets while flying forward during Advanced RTH.
When the signal drops
With RTH as the signal-lost action, the drone waits six seconds and then starts Failsafe RTH. In good light it uses the route it had already planned before the signal was lost. It stays in RTH even if the signal comes back, and DJI Fly updates the displayed route.
In poor light it switches to Original Route RTH:
- More than 50 m from home, it turns and flies back 50 m along its original route, then switches to Preset RTH.
- Between 5 and 50 m, it flies straight home at the current altitude.
- Under 5 m, it lands right away.
If the signal returns during Original Route RTH, the drone carries on with Preset RTH.
Hover and Land keep the drone near the place where the link was lost, so you either get the signal back or go and fetch it. RTH with a well-chosen altitude is the only option that brings it back to you.
During RTH
- To take back control, tap the cancel button in DJI Fly or press the RTH button on the controller. The signal has to be good.
- The pitch stick changes speed during Advanced RTH, but you can't steer left, right, up or down. Pushing forward drains the battery faster, and above the effective sensing speed the drone can't avoid obstacles. Pull the pitch stick fully back and the drone brakes, hovers and exits RTH.
- The camera tilts to show the route, and an AR line shows the planned path. The manuals call this line a reference only. Watch the live view.
- Changing Advanced RTH settings mid-flight makes the drone brake and replan with the new settings.
Landing
When the drone starts descending over the Home Point, Landing Protection checks the ground. If the surface looks suitable, it lands. If not, it hovers and waits for you. If Landing Protection isn't working, DJI Fly asks for confirmation at 0.5 m. Tap confirm or hold the throttle stick fully down for a second.
Precision Landing tries to put the drone back on the exact takeoff spot by matching the ground below with what it saw at takeoff. It needs these conditions:
- The Home Point was recorded at takeoff and not changed during the flight.
- The drone climbed at least 7 m vertically after takeoff before moving sideways.
- The ground hasn't changed much and has distinct features. A snow-covered field won't work.
- The light is neither too bright nor too dark.
Moving any stick other than throttle cancels Precision Landing and the drone descends vertically. The 7 m vertical climb is easy to build into your routine: take off, go straight up, then fly out.
Pre-flight checklist
- Wait for the voice prompt confirming the Home Point.
- Check the RTH altitude against the tallest obstacles around and the local altitude limit.
- Choose Preset if power lines, masts or thin branches could be on the way home. At dusk the drone falls back to Preset anyway, so the RTH altitude matters even more.
- Check that the Signal Lost Action is set to what you want.
- Update the Home Point if you move during the flight.
- Watch the battery warnings, especially in wind, and don't fly past the low-battery RTH warning.